HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-04-02 Transcription Page 1
1. Call to Order
Throgmorton: (bangs gavel) I'd like to call to order the regular formal meeting for the Iowa City
City Council,April the 211d, 2019. Roll call please. Before proceeding, I wanna
congratulate the University of Iowa's Women's Basketball team for having had
such an extraordinary season, and especially to praise Megan Gustafson for being
named a First Team All American and Big-10 Player of the Year. Bravo to her
and her fellow Hawkeyes! All right! (applause and cheers) What a great season!
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2. Student Leadership Awards- Shimek Elementary
Throgmorton: This involves three great students from Shimek Elementary; so Lucy, Meghan,
and Ela, would you come up please? (mumbled, away from mic) So,help my
memory,who's Ela? All right, we're gonna start with you, Ela. So we have three
terrific students here from Shimek Elementary and what I'm gonna do is ask you
each to read your speeches and then when you're done, I will read the awards for
each of you and it looks like that, and they're identical except for your names.
Okay? So....and I'll mix and match'em so you don't know who's gonna get what.
Only kidding! All right, so, Ela, would you go first?
Pierce: Yeah! Hello, everyone! Thank you for choosing me for the Citizenship Award. I
think being a good citizen means being kind,participating in community
activities, and volunteering to help make your world a better place. The being
kind and participating in your community is pretty-straightforward. Most recently
for volunteering I helped make weighted lap pads for kids with autism in low-
income schools. I like volunteer projects like that because they are fun, they help
people in need, and they help you meet people who also enjoy that kind of thing.
Thank you again for letting me be here today. (applause)
Throgmorton: Well done. Very(mumbled, away from mic) We're gonna go with Lucy! You're
Lucy! All right! Lucy, so read your speech, would ya?
Grulke-Mangrich: To me,being a good citizen means to always be kind to everyone around you,
and that you always try and help your community. I've served on patrol this year
since day one and I've always performed my duties faithfully. I enjoy going to
Book Buddies every Friday so I can read to Kyler, a really cute kindergartner. I
try my hardest to pick up the classroom whenever I see something left on the
floor, and plug in the Chrome books when I find them sloppily put away. This is
part of what it means to be a good citizen. I believe this is why I was chosen for
this (mumbled) Citizenship Award. So thank you all for recognizing me.
(applause)
Throgmorton: Well done. Great speech, and last, Meghan!
Mettemeyer: Hi, I'm Meghan Mettemeyer. I'm....I am in fifth grade at Shimek Elementary.
Inside of school I participate in French horn. I'm the only fifth grader in Student
Council. Outside of school I participate in piano, soccer,ballet, Girls on the Run,
and Girl Scouts. One of my favorite things to do is travel. I love national parks
and someday hope to be a park ranger. I prefer to be nice,kind, and trustworthy
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because that is the right thing to do. I would like to thank my class,my teacher...
my teacher, Miss Cordova; my Principal, Mr. Pisarik, and the Iowa City City
Council for honoring me with this special award. Thank you! (applause)
Throgmorton: What are some of the parks you've been to?
Mettemeyer: Urn, I don't know, it's too many to count. (laughter)
Throgmorton: Okay. Well there are a lot of'em out there and they're great parks. I went to one a
little while ago called Big Ben National Park in southwestern Texas, right on the
Rio Grand. It's a gorgeous place. All right, so....let me....let me.....let me read
these awards. (reads Student Leadership Award) All right, so, Ela. Here's yours.
And, Lucy, that'd be yours. Double-check it! Meghan, that should be yours. All
right, I know there are very proud ki...uh, parents out here. Who's a parent?
(laughs) That's great! You're doin' a great job,keep it up. You have wonderful
kids here and it's obvious they're doin' really well, so bravo to you! Okay, so...
the sun's still out. Go on out there and enjoy the rest of the day, and thanks for
comin'! (applause)
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3. Proclamations
3.a.Arbor Day
Throgmorton: We have four proclamations tonight. I'm only gonna read three of'em. There's
one for Delta Sigma Theta,proclaiming Delta Sigma Theta Day but there's no one
here to accept it so I will not read it. The first one has to do with Arbor Day.
(reads proclamation) Juli, I think you're gonna accept the proclamation,right?
(applause)
Seydell-Johnson: Just very quickly, Juli Seydell-Johnson, Parks and Recreation Director. Thank
you for all your support of our free canopy around the city. Um, I get the chance
tomorrow to travel with a couple of our staff to West Des Moines to receive some
State honors regarding this and we're just excited that we have this asset here in
the city. Thanks!
Throgmorton: Great! Thank you.
3.d. National Fair Housing Month
Throgmorton: (reads proclamation) So....I think Sara Barron is gonna accept this proclamation,
right? (applause)
Barron: Thanks very much. I'm Sara Barron, I'm the Executive Director of the Johnson
County Affordable Housing Coalition. I'm actually here tonight,uh,because the
Chair of our Human Rights Commission wasn't able to be here at the last minute
to accept the award, but I wanna take this opportunity to recognize, as it says in
the proclamation, the work that the City of Iowa City and in particular our Office
of; uh, Equity and Human Rights, am I saying that right? Um, and our Human
Rights Commission does on behalf of fair housing. It really does take a whole
community of people and Stefanie Bowers, Christine Watson, and the Members of
the Human Rights Commission are very diligent in ensuring that Iowa City is not
just maintaining the standards of the federal Fair Housing Act,but um, working
to be a leader in protecting folks from even additional forms of discrimination,
and so um, we wanna thank them for all the work they do to provide great access
to safe and fair housing throughout the community.
Throgmorton: Great!
Barron: Thank you.
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Throgmorton: Thank you, Sara. (applause)
3.c. Marriage Equality Day
Throgmorton: (reads proclamation) Sara, I think it's a double-header, right? (applause)
Barron: Okay,just really quickly. I'm now just Sara Barron, lesbian (laughter) not Sara
Barron,Affordable Housing Coalition Director,but um, as one of the many
people who will be celebrating a 10th wedding anniversary, um, this year, I wanna
thank the City for recognizing this moment that was so important to so many of
us,not just people who were given access to marriage through this,um, decision,
but all of our family, friends, neighbors who celebrate this day with us. So, thank
you very much! (applause)
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10. Community Comment (items not on the agenda)
Throgmorton: So anyone who would like to address us on any item that is not on the formal
meeting agenda should please feel free to come up and please state your name.
Uh, there's a big crowd here. Like ya keep your comments brief,please. So, uh,
please take not more than three minutes to express whatever's on your mind. Hi!
Jaynes: My name's Allison Jaynes and the three of us are here as delegates from the Iowa
City Deer Friends group, and I'd like to read a letter from the Iowa State Director
of the Humane Society of the United States, Preston Moore. Dear Council, last
year I addressed the Council and urged you to develop a long-term conflict
mitigation plan as part of the City's attempt to manage its deer population. Today
I ask you to do the same thing. Deer are our wild neighbors, forced by habitat
loss into the spaces where humans now live. These gentle herd animals are loved
by many,but the disappearance of wild lands has led t...them into increasing
conflicts with humans. They're often killed when they wonder onto roads,
endangering human lives as well, and they drive gardeners to distraction with
their nibbling ways. They're often targeted for mass kills to reduce their numbers,
but these are ineffective and unnecessary. There are ways to peacefully co-exist
with deer. Tolerance is needed when figuring out the best solution for your
particular deer problems. Some damage is bound to happen where there are deer,
but you can minimize the damage. Under mild browsing conditions, a good
repellent may be all that's needed. Under heavy browsing conditions, you may
need to limit your plants to the more deer-resistant varieties and use deer-proof
fencing around your garden. I've shared our deer conflict management and co-
existence plan with the Council last year,but I would ask again that the Council
review it. It is only 40 pages in length....only! (laughs) And outlines ways that
communities like Iowa City can work again in a long-term way to develop plans
to mitigate conflicts with deer. There's also a link to that in this letter. If you have
any questions about our guide or anything else, I welcome the opportunity to have
discussions on this topic with the City and so we're here to reiterate that we're, as
Iowa City Deer Friends, willing and able to work with you on long-term solutions
that do not include,uh, the one thing that we are vehemently against, which is
bow hunting within city limits. I would ask the Council I can approach with a
hard copy of the letter and a short flyer statement—no bow hunting—with our
web site: icdeerfriends.org for you to peruse.
Throgmorton: Great! Thanks,Allison (both talking) Can you just hand that to our City Clerk?
Could I have a motion to accept correspondence please?
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Thomas: So moved.
Mims: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Thomas, seconded by Mims. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries. Hi, Harry! It's good to see you.
Olmstead: Uh,two things,my name's Harry Olmstead,resident of Iowa City. First thing is,
in your proclamation regarding Fair Housing, it was inadvertently missed that
people with disabilities also have the right to housing and so (mumbled) (laughs)
uh, second of all,uh, some of you know I was recently hospitalized a couple times
and I applaud the work that the Iowa City Fire Department did in getting me to
the hospital,uh, along with Johnson County Ambulance Service. Um,when
you're in a crisis situation,uh, they were just really good about keeping me calm,
make sure that I wasn't gonna get worse. So I wanna thank you all for hiring such
fine Fire Chief,uh, Geoff(laughs) and,uh, such fine crew that we have. Thank
you very much.
Throgmorton: Great! Thanks, Harry. It's great to see you here tonight. Good evening!
Heldt: Good evening. Good....okay. Hi,my name's Brooke Heldt. I'm with AAUW,
which is a women's organization here on campus and we are proposing an
implication for bars to have signs on the back of bathroom doors with safety
protocols, as well as contact numbers for things like Night Ride, Safe Ride, as
well as Yellow Cab Company here in Iowa City. Um, as well as possibly like a
sexual assault number or the non-emergency number for the Iowa City Police,just
in case any woman or man is in an uncomfortable situation at a bar and bathrooms
tend to be the safest place that people go when they're uncomfortable. So along
with that, I did some research and in Des Moines they have a thing called an
'Angel Shot'where you can go up to bartenders and say'Hello, I'd like an Angel
Shot.' If you want it neat the bartender will escort you out. If you want it with
ice, the bartender will call you a taxi, and if with a lime the bartender will notify
the police. So, I think this would really help people who are in difficult situations
who maybe can't get away from their significant other, that might be emotionally
or physically abusing them in any sort of way and it'll just pretty much keep
everyone safe!
Throgmorton: Great. Thanks, Brooke. Could you, uh, you're making a recommendation to us.
• Can you provide that in writing for us?
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Heldt: Yeah, absolutely!
Throgmorton: Yeah, maybe sent to, I think the City Manager?
Heldt: Yeah. Absolutely!
Throgmorton: Can,uh,where's Simon? Is he out there somewhere? Yeah,would you get
contact information from Brooke please? Great, okay, anybody else want to
address us on any item that's not on the formal meeting agenda? Okay! I don't
see anyone else.
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11. Planning and Zoning Matters
11.a. Comprehensive Plan Amendment (North District Plan) -Resolution to
amend the North District Plan land use map from Multi-Family Residential
(8-13 dwelling units per acre) to Low-Medium Mixed Residential (8-13 du/ac)
for approximately 24 acres and from Low-Medium Mixed Residential (8-13
du/ac) to Multi-Family Residential(8-13 du/ac) for approximately 24 acres.
(CPA18-00002)
1. Public hearing
Throgmorton: I'm gonna open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) So let me say a little bit before
you speak,Anne, or Danielle, for that matter. So both this comprehensive plan
amendment and the proposed rezoning for the Forest View area, uh, which is the,
that's the...the rezoning is the next item on,uh, on our agenda. They're both very
important. They both pertain to a very important, extremely complex proposed
project. We're gonna hold, we will hold,public hearings on both of them, and
we're in the first one right now. But speakers addressing the comprehensive plan
amendment should feel free to comment on the proposed rezoning as well, if they
want to. Because the project is so important and complex, many people might
want to speak. I mean I see about 80 or 90 people in the room right now. Given
that, I would ask you to limit your comments to not more than three minutes. If
you want to say more about the proposed rezoning, you will have an opportunity
to do so during the public hearing concerning the rezoning, which will take place
right after we go through this comprehensive plan amendment. Okay, with that
let me turn things over to, I don't know, Danielle? Anne? Yeah,Danielle.
Sitzman: Good evening, Mayor and Council. Danielle Sitzman,Neighborhood and
Development Services. As you've indicated, this is a complex,uh, topic. Both of
these two agenda items related to Forest View. So this evening Anne will be
presenting the staff reports to you in much the same format that the Planning and
Zoning Commission received. So I'll turn it over to Anne!
Russett: Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um....
Throgmorton: Good evening,Anne!
Russett: So this is a proposed amendment to the North District Plan's land use map. The
North District Plan was adopted in 2001. This is, um, a map as it was originally
adopted in 2001. Here's the area that we're looking at. Um, in 2001 this area was
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identified as appropriate for single-family and conservation design. The plan also
acknowledged the existing Forest View Mobile Home Park that was in existence
and the Haywood Apartments as multi-family, residential. In 2016 the applicants
proposed an amendment to the North District Plan. Based on what they were
proposing, a comprehensive plan amendment was needed due to the proposed
change in land use from lower-density residential to commercial and higher
density multi-family. This was based on a concept plan that was provided that
identified a hotel use along North Dubuque Street, single-family towards the
center of the site, and multi-family towards the west end of the project site. In
August of 2017 the City Council adopted an amendment to the North District Plan
and this amendment changed the land use map from low-density residential to
commercial along North Dubuque Street and I-80, low me....low and medium-
mixed residential and multi-family residential, both at a density of eight to 13
dwelling units per acre. The map shown here is the current future land use map
for the (mumbled) the North,uh, District,based on the adopted amendment in
2007. This amendment also added several goals to the North District Plan related
to this area of the city. Um, the goals generally addressed the relocation of the
Forest View Mobile Home Park residents, reservation of the scenic North
Dubuque corridor, and then buffering commercial and multi-family development
from existing single-family. In February of 2018 applications were submitted for
a proposed rezoning and preliminary plat for this area. Over several months the
applicants worked with City staff on the concept. During those discussions staff
recommended changes to the initial concept presented at the time of the 2017
comprehensive plan amendment. These changes include....included moving the
hotel further west away from North Dubuque Street and this change resulted in
moving the single-family development further west as well. So with the current
concept, the hotel is south of I-80; the single-family is towards the west end of the
project site; and the multi-family is at the middle of the project site. Due to these
staff-driven changes in the concept that were originally presented as part of the
2017 North District Plan amendment, staff is now recommending an update to the
future land m....land use map to reflect, um,these changes. Staff received an
application to modify the future land use map in September and here's the land
use exhibit that was included with the application. The...this proposal aligns with
the current concept of single-family on the west end of the project site and multi-
family toward the center. So the map on the left shows the current future land use
map for the North District and the map on the right is the proposed revision that is
before you tonight. The proposed amendment only adjusts the land use map. It
would carry forward the specific housing, transportation, and scenic cor...scenic
corridor goals associated with the 2017 amen...an amendment and it would
accurately reflect the current land use proposal. When reviewing comprehensive
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plan amendments there are two criteria that need to be looked at. The first is that
circumstances have changed and/or additional information or factors have come
to light such that the proposed amendment is in the public interest. Additional
factors have come to light, urn, after the 2017 plan amendment was adopted. First
the location of the hotel was not ideal due to the plan amendment's goals related
to keeping the North Dubuque Street scenic corridor and the shift in the hotel
resulted in it being close to the proposed single-family community. There was
concern from both staff and the applicant that it could impact livability. Therefore
the single-family shifted further west. The current proposal provides a better
transition between the existing single-family to the west and since the lower scale
housing type is being proposed at the west end of the project site. Criteria two is
that the proposed amendment will be compatible with other policies and
provisions of the comprehensive plan. This amendment supports several North
District Plan principles, including providing opportunities for new housing
development that complements existing neighborhoods, retaining the
predominantly single-family residential character of the neighborhood, and
locating higher-density housing closer to commercial areas. In addition the 2017
plan amendment including the goal related to multi-family residential, um, being
adjacent to Mackinaw Village would need to incorporate design standards. The
current proposal shifts the multi-family away from the existing single-family and
places the proposed single-family community next to the existing single-family
community. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of
this comprehensive plan amendment, um, which again is an amendment to the
land use map, swapping the location of the multi-family residential with the
location of the, uh, low/medium-mixed residential land use designation. With that
I'll turn it back to the Mayor.
Throgmorton: Thank you,Anne. Any questions for Anne? I'm not hearing a lot of questions.
So, thanks! I may ask you to come back up here in a second, I don't know.
Would anyone else like to address this topic? This is an amendment to the
comprehensive plan. Hi there!
Decoster: My name is Brian Decoster. To be clear, I own two houses in the,uh, proposed
area, one on Knollwood Lane which is near the entrance from Dubuque Street,
and the other one is in, um, the Mackinaw Village. It's 747 Mission Point Road.
It's the Mission Point Road property that I have an issue with. It's very rare that
you see a trailer court moved into a neighborhood. Usually trailer courts
are....are built out and then the area gets filled in around it and people decide
what they wanna build around that or move into that area. I'm talking to the
developer. He explained to me that it was the City's idea to make the move of the
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trailer court. Now the trailer court originally was close to my, the first home I
referenced on Knollwood Lane, and it was there when I bought my place and I
had no problem with it. And, uh, the....the slight moving of it,just a slight shift
of it originally didn't really affect anybody. It was kind of out in the woodlands
area. But now, the City....City, for the reason that they wanted to move it away
from the hotel, they moved it into our neighborhood. This is just completely
inappropriate. This is what....this is what the City is here for—to protect...to
protect the residents (mumbled) from developers and in this case, from the City!
It's the City's decision to move a trailer court into my neighborhood! Well, how
would you guys feel if we moved it into your neighborhood? I don't think
anybody here would go for that. It just seems to be completely inappropriate, and
if you don't want it near the hotel, then don't put a hotel in! Whatever you need
to do, you shouldn't shift the trailer court into a neighborhood, and
there...the....the roads not meant for the traffic, um, I would....I would look right
out my window at it. Um, everybody in the neighborhood over the last several
months, it's funny because I actually was missing a meeting and I...I said, 'Hey,
am I gonna miss anything at a meeting?' and he was aware of my house on
Knollwood Lane, and he said, 'No, nothing's gonna impact ya on this one,' and I
was out of town and it's when the announcement was made that the trailer court
was getting shifted, which was the same week that I bought this other place
(laughs) so I missed one of the most critical meetings I could've ever missed, and
by the way, everybody, uh, everybody seems to know in the neighborhood
because everything's....if you look at all the sales in that neighborhood, they've
been off the charts. It's greatly affecting the values of that neighborhood, and it's
just wrong. You guys are supposed to pro...protect us. If you don't wanna...if you
don't want a trailer court next to your hotel, figure out something else, or
eliminate the trailer court,but I know that's a really hard political decision too.
So, thank you!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Brian. Anyone else? And please remember to keep your comments to
about three minutes, so...so we can make sure everybody has a chance to speak.
Good evening!
Mangan: Good evening. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to go now or later, so I'm just gonna
go (both talking)
Throgmorton: Go now!
Mangan: All right! My name is Ashley Mangan and I live in Mackinaw Village. I'm here
tonight to share my voice in the pending North Buq....North Dubuque Street
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rezoning. To put it simply my family and I are not in favor of the plan that was
approved by the Zoning and Planning Committee. We have several concerns
about the impending development on North Dubuque Street. Our first concern is
the sheer increase in traffic volume. After attending the neighborhood traffic
meeting held in February, this only intensified our concern. Our concerns are for
the safety of our children. Not only do our children live in the neighborhood,but
several others do as well. The traffic report mentioned the increased traffic flow
and also allowing people to park on both sides of the street, which will cause an
issue to be able to properly see kids and people in general right....in general,
riding bikes and walking in the neighborhood. We fear our roads will not be safe
for the people living in the neighborhood. We were also concerned about the
modular homes being placed off of Flint Street. There are way too many homes
being placed in that small area. Also at the last Planning and Zoning meeting, it
was mentioned that anything to be built in that area was to be a continuation of
what was already in place. I question how modular homes are a continuation of
what has already been built. Also there was ari article on March 28`h in the Des
Moines Register referencing how trailers lose instant value once put on the lot. It
was also mentioned that mobile homes depreciate in value like a car, and it doesn't
take long for them to acquire problems. Is this the same case for modular homes?
This is a worry to us because we are concerned, like others, about losing value in
our homes. We were also very concerned about how the modular homes will be
maintained. The maintenance of the current Forest View has not been a priority
and we do not want the same for this pending new development. The whole 15-
year process of obtaining the modular homes is not an experiment we want our
property value to be dependent on. We understand and emphasi.... empathize the
need for finding homes for people living in Forest View. What is wrong with
rebuilding their homes where they are at now? If low-income housing and
housing in general is a main concern to the developers, then we question why they
are simply not creating all mixed home housing. Another concern we have is
about the commercial properties being brought into the neighborhood. While we
don't see it being a necessity, we are also incredibly disappointed in how these
developments would drastically change the entrance into Iowa City. Currently
Iowa City has a beautiful and u....unique entry into town, one of the only cities
that isn't bombarded by fast food restaurants, hotels, and retail. We truly hope you
reconsider your plan and do what is best for Iowa City and not just what is best
for a developer from Des Moines. Lastly we are concerned about the
displacement of wildlife in our area and how they will be rehomed. In Mackinaw
Village and anyone living off of Foster Road, we are flooded with deer, as we
heard earlier. I can only foresee how this problem will only get worse. Deer are
not the only species of animals that will be displaced and trying to find homes in
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our yards. What is the plan for these animals? And how will the City and the
developers help preserve them and find them homes? When you are considering
the plan we hope you are considering what's best for the community of Iowa City.
Throgmorton: Thank you.....thank you,Ashley. Anyone else? Hey, you've already been up here
twice! (laughter)
Barron: I know, not my fault! I don't mean to be triple....triple dipping but, um, the
Affordable Housing Coalition does want to weigh in,uh, with you all. We have
spoken with Planning and Zoning as well. Uh, we're strongly in fla...in favor of
the comprehensive plan amendment, for several reasons. Um, the first of which is
that the residents of Forest View are advocating for this plan. They have worked
very closely with the developer to ensure that their needs are going to be met.
Um, we know that affordable housing continues to be quite a challenge, not just in
Iowa City but across the country, and the kind of creative,uh, rezoning that is
proposed through this plan for this....this, um, whole area of land, including the
commercial with the lower income housing with other development is exactly the
kind of creative solution that we need to embrace in order to make, um, creating
more affordable housing opportunities, uh, smart business decision in addition to
being the right thing to do. Um, you will hear from residents who are concerned
about property values. Um, or who say they are concerned about property values.
Urn, and we have, um, mountains of research showing that,um, homes that are
located near lower-income housing developments do not experience a decrease in
home value. So while that is a commonly held belief, it is not based in, um,
evidence, um....and so I wanna reassure people who are concerned about that that
that's the case, um, and also encourage you not to make your decision based on,
um, something that is actually a myth and not true. Um, those'll be just a few of
the things I'll say. I'm sure you'll hear lots of other great points from other folks
today,but before we got the tide going too far in the direction of people standing
up to say they had problems with this idea, I just wanted to stand up and
wholeheartedly applaud, um,moving forward with this project as proposed.
Thanks!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Sara. Good evening.
Baltazar: (speaking through interpreter) Good evening to everyone. My name is Margarita
Baltazar. I'm President of the Forest View tenants association. I think we all
know each other. I've been here many times in front of you,um, before. As you
know, urn, we've been working on this project for more than three years. As you
know, urn, we didn't begin this....this journey together,but um, over time we
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began to work very closely with the developers and, um, over those years of
meeting together and planning together, we've, urn,been able to achieve this plan
that we're putting before you today and, urn, including the affordable housing
component. I'm a single mother of a daughter, um, that has....is seven years old.
She's seven years old. I've lived for more than 13 years at Forest View. My work
is close by. Urn, and...uh huh, and close to the school that my daughter attends. I
know my neighbors. We're long-time neighbors. We're neighbors who we can
count on to help each other. So the main thing I want to say is I want to preserve
this important neighborhood, urn,but preserve it with better quality houses,
because the houses that we have, urn, are at the point of falling apart. I always
know as part of the Forest View neighborhood that if I'm five minutes late to pick
up my daughter, one of my other neighbors who I know well, and she knows well,
will be able to pick her up. Urn, we're a close-knit community. We're families
that work with dignity to maintain and sustain our families. And as people, we
deserve to have, urn, fair and affordable housing that's good quality. We're here to
support this project....because it's our project. We....we know this project inside
and out, we know this project well. We know this project because we've worked
on this project for the last three years. It's not new for us. And Forest View is
here. Many people from Forest View are here, urn, because we've been working
hard, urn, you know,uh, over these past years to achieve our dream of having,
urn, quality housing at Forest View. So, urn, we're enthusiastically supporting the
project. Our children are here in the room. They could have been home taking a
nap or sleeping, um,but they're excited about, urn, this ideal of, urn, of having,
urn, quality housing. The only last thing I wanna say is that it's time to move
forward with this project. Um, we've waited so much time. And we don't know
how much longer our houses will still be standing. Urn, if they fall apart or if this
doesn't move forward, I don't know where I'm going to go with my daughter. So
it's....it's an incredible, urn, uncertainty that I face. So I hope that your heart is,
um, touched by the idea that we're human beings who deserve, urn, dignified
housing. I would say more but I think I'm going over my time. Thank you.
(laughs)
Throgmorton: Thank you, Margarita. Anyone else? Good evening, Bill.
Gearhart: Good evening. I'm Bill Gerhard. I'm the President of Iowa State Building Trades
and a resident in Iowa City area since 1969. I'm here to give you an update. Uh,
we have been working with the Forest View tenants association,the Center for
Worker Justice, and the Carpenter's Union, uh, one, to make sure our top priority
is gettin' the tenants up there relocated to affordable, better housing; and two, to
make sure that the construction up there is done in the right way, and we met last
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fall with Blackbird Development, uh, I guess it's North Dubuque, uh,
Development, Developers, and reached, discussed several items, and I think
reached a...an agreement on those. We just recently put that together in what we
call a Letter of Intent, to send to them, so they could look it over and we'd have a
firmer commitment on how we want that job to be done. Some of the items in
that Letter of Intent included....the fact that the residents up there would have an
opportunity to work with a construction project if they wanted to. If they didn't
have the skills needed, we would have a pre....pre-apprenticeship,uh,program
available, teachin'the skills. Two, the wages that would be paid would be based
on the U.S. (mumbled) prevailing wage, and three that they,the subcontractors
they use and anyone else on the job would have the same criteria for the....for the
wages and putting the residents to work. So we're in the process and we sent the
Letter of Intent off and we're waitin' to get it back. So, for those that know me I
don't often....I don't often quote,uh, Ronald Reagan but in this case I will. Trust
but verify,that's what we're up to now. So, thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Bill. Anyone else? Good evening.
Ortiz: (speaking through an interpreter) Hello,my name is Norma. I'm speaking for
myself and some of my neighbors who couldn't be here because they have to
work. We really want to support this project. Uh huh, we think this project is
really good for the city and for the economy, and for the residents because it
offers us housing with dignity. Many of our children don't even have a,um,
bedroom to sleep in. They have to sleep in the living room. Uh huh,many of us
have wanted to have a home, um, but because of maybe our age or our credit
scores or because we're low-income, we haven't been able to, urn, achieve that in
the past. In my case I have a son going to college and I really need more space.
Um, many...we just need dignified space. Um, spaces with dignity. The last thing
I just wanna say is that, urn, we've been waiting to see this move through for a
long time,more than three years, and um, and many of our houses are old. And of
course we would like to fix them,but at the moment, not knowing the future, that
would be wasted money to....to invest in them. So we would like for you to, um,
to approve this project and, um, and to have the generosity of approving this
project.
Throgmorton: Thank you,Norma. Anyone else? Okay, I'm not seeing anyone....oh, do you
wanna speak? Yeah. (unable to hear speaker in audience)
Rodriguez: (noise on mic) Oops! (laughter) Good evening!
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Throgmorton: That's quite an entrance! (laughter)
Rodriguez: Urn, my name is Margarita Rodriguez, and I got here back in 1990 and when I
first got here I saw a sign saying 'rent to own.' I said, 'Oh my god! I'm gonna try
that!' I called a number and once I gave my name, Margarita Rodriguez, and I
told 'em a little bit about myself. He said, 'Sorry, you're not qualified.' Now I'm
getting a second opportunity with, uh, Forest View trailer court, which I've been
there for 29 years. I have lived at 153, 72, 91, and now I live at 121. As you can
see, I'm not going anywhere. I've been livin'there for quite a while. I have my
kids, they all grew up there, and they went to elementary,junior high, and high
school. They all gone and they all in college and they're married. Now I got
grandkids. I call 'em Gigi, God given son,because I love'em a lot, and of course
like I said, we have been there, I been there for quite a while, and so would have
my kids. But is now time to have our glass not halfway done,but fill it up. Let us
continue with our project, you know. You all up there and you all have a choice,
and the choice is well done, is I want it to be in our favor,because like I said
before, nothing have given to me. I work hard and I have been working, and I
think it's time for me to retire and kick back, like a lot of people. Enjoy life....
with my grandkids. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Margarita. Anyone else? Good evening.
Heresco: Hi, how ya doing?
Throgmorton: Hi!
Garcia: Urn, my name is Roberto Garcia. I've been living in the Forest View for seven,
eight years now. I mean, I know that some people are really complaining about
safety for the kids, right? Before,uh, like back in the day, not....before the
Peninsula neighborhood been built, I used to ride my bike there all the time,
before all those buildings become,right? So now I see the difference,right? But
I....I used to, um, I've been livin'there for very long time and I don't really see
any dangerous on their area. The, some of the people say it's not safety for the
kids, right,but before Peninsula neighborhood been built, it was nice place. You
can go ride, go fishin' back there. It was....it was great. You know? But now, I
mean, it's been changed now so I don't....I can't see what different(unable to
understand) they gonna be not safety. It's been not safety! Okay? It's been
changed. So I don't....I can't see what different is gonna be now buildin'
something out there. You know what I'm saying? So (mumbled)they complainin'
about....people,more cars comin' through. (unable to understand) there. They
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don't know what 25 speed limit is, you know, cause I'm sayin' I drive there every
day, so I see them sometimes with no lights on. (unable to understand) So I mean
we're gonna be fair and be honest, you know, so we're gonna see our part too.
(unable to understand) I've been livin' there and I mean I had no problems with
anybody. I never like police...call the trailer court for some reason, like (unable to
understand)but I mean like I haven't seen from this part, like from the area where
we at, it's like (unable to understand) So you know, I mean I.....I live there
because the thing is my kids go to school down like, uh, Horace Mann,but now
they move because they fixin' the Horace Mann. So...it's a good place to stay
because like the kids have more....we are more closer to the school. If somethin'
happened, we cannot drive that far like (unable to understand) right, so it's like
from my point too. It's like neighbors that would live there, we(unable to
understand) each other, you know, to help out each other like something happen,
they come help us. (unable to understand) about that (mumbled) it's true!
So....like they say about the safety problems is, it's been changed. It's not
changing now. It's been changed, okay? So I mean(unable to understand) fair
with everybody, you know. I mean....(mumbled) thank you!
Throgmorton: Great. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, seeing no one else....I can go ahead and
close the public hearing, right? That's not a problem for this. I'm gonna close the
public hearing. (bangs gavel) All right, so....the question for our Council is
basically we want to vote on this tonight or not, and let me explain a little bit both
for the Council and for the public. So we have received a substantial numbler...
number of petitions expressing opposition to the proposed rezoning. Our staff
needs to calculate, it needs to go through those petitions and calculate whether
there is a sufficient opposition, according to the law we work under, whether there
is sufficient opposition to warrant invoking what we call a super-majority
requirement for the rezoning. And a super-majority requirement means....six out
of seven, or more, Council Members would have to vote in favor of the rezoning
for it to pass. We don't know if we are in that position yet. Our staff will have to
calculate. So, we (clears throat) we're gonna, in a few minutes we will open the
public hearing for the rezoning,but we will not act on it tonight. We will
continue the public hearing to our next meeting, which is March the....or April
the 23`d, and then probably vote that night. So the question for our Council
Members is do we wanna just continue this public hearing to April the 23`d and
vote on it that night, or do (both talking)
Dilkes: Mayor...you mean defer the (both talking) you mean defer the comprehensive plan
amendment (both talking)
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Throgmorton: Yeah, we just closed the public hearing, that's right. Thank you. Uh, do we want
to defer the vote on the comprehensive plan amendment till April the 23'x, or vote
on it tonight, and....(several talking)
Mims: I don't see any reason to defer it.
Cole: I agree.
Salih: Me too. I agree not to defer it because this is....you know we have nothing to do
with the rezoning. Then we can just move forward for this and defer the rezoning.
Throgmorton: Understand. So....(several talking) Okay. All right, so we will....uh, vote on it
tonight. So...I've already closed the public hearing. Could I have a motion to
approve the resolution?
2. Consider a Resolution
Salih: So moved.
Mims: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Salih, seconded by Mims. Discussion?
Mims: To me what's before us tonight is (both talking)
Throgmorton: I....1, sorry, I...I should say (laughs) I should say one other thing I....sorry for
interrupting. A super-majority is necessary if....the Council chooses to vote
against the recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission, is that
correct?
Dilkes: If you are voting no, it will take a super-majority to....to do that.
Throgmorton: Okay. Sorry!
Mims: (both talking) To me when I look at what's in front of us tonight with the change
in the comp plan, this is a change in the map for the land use. Um, essentially
flipping the, where the single-family homes versus where the multi-family are,
and when you look at what we typically do in terms of where we have
commercial and what we put close to commercial and where, or what we butt up
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against other single-family, I think the flipping of these makes a lot of sense in
that regard. So I will be supporting the comp plan amendment.
Throgmorton: Anyone else?
Taylor: I agree.
Thomas: Yeah the staff laid out the criteria and I think....l think the amendment meets the
criteria.....for approving the amendment.
Salih: Yeah, I agree too. This is for the good and we should move forward in supporting
it.
Cole: I agree and I'd like to explain why I agree, if that's okay. Um....you know, when I
see this project,um, you know, it's hard actually not to get emotional about this.
Um, what I see is a beautiful part of our community, both those against and those
for, uh, coming together to work hard and to address an incredibly complicated
land use issue. Now obviously we have the zoning that's gonna come up,but here
we're talking about the comprehensive plan, and um, to get the sort of buy-in that
we've had on this comprehensive plan proposal, on potentially I think one of the
most complicated projects that we've probably seen in the last 50 years, easily,
and there's so many different ways that this could have been derailed. Uh, there's
so many different ways that,um, it could have gone in the wrong direction. There
were a few bumps along the road.. Um, but I just wanna extend my complete
gratitude in....in terms of what the developer and what the owner has done, Mr.
Cole, as well as the....the residents, in terms of the hard work that was put in in
consulting with the staff on this comprehensive plan amendment. I think this has
so much potential, um, and in terms of some of the questions about land use and
some of the concerns, I think once this project goes into place, um, if we approve
it, if the super-majority, um, I think you're gonna find just the opposite. This is
gonna be an asset and I think in terms of this comprehensive plan amendment, uh,
this is gonna allow us to do that. So I am gonna be in support of this
comprehensive plan amendment.
Throgmorton: Bruce, do you wanna say anything?
Teague: So I've listened to everyone tonight and I really do appreciate everybody comin'
up and (clears throat) givin'their, uh thoughts. I've read emails on, uh, some
opposing. Um, I haven't seen any about, uh....uh, supporting at this point but
what I....what I, I think what I want to say (clears throat) is it is a great
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opportunity for essentially....Iowa City, from my perspective. I....came to Iowa
City 25 years ago, and when I think of Iowa City, I think of a place where people
really do, at the bottom of everything, they love each other. When you're talkin'
about bein' emotional, I sat here all emotional. I'm gonna keep it together,but....
for me, one thing we know—change is constant—and so with change there is
always....um, pros and cons, things we would like to do different that may not
happen the way that we....we would like. So what I am going to do is definitely
support this plan, um, the comp plan, and we'll see what happens when the
rezoning piece(mumbled)with the super-majority.
Dilkes: Just to be clear, we don't know if we need a super-majority yet on the (both
talking)
Teague: If we need that.
Salih: If we need that.
Taylor: I just wanted to....build a little bit on my, uh, support comment. I also am very
emotional about this, as Mazahir knows and many of you in the room know, uh,
I've been a part of this group since the very beginning three years ago, since day
one, and saw these folks with....with their fears. They had no idea what was
going to happen to them or their homes or their families, and it came on the tails
of the terrible Rose Oaks situation that we were going through and those people
not knowing, but....but this developer and this land owner.....there were some
rocky roads, but over time worked very closely with them and they formed the
tenants association, which was wonderful. It's, that's....you're stronger together,
and they....they worked out this plan and....and these are beautiful people. Uh, I
can understand your concerns, this whole not in my backyard philosophy, but I
wouldn't mind Navin' them in my backyard, and as some folks know, I lived in
mobile homes for a number of years and there's....it is a community and people
are like family, and you will find that too, and....and I'm just definitely in support
of this.
Throgmorton: All right. Me too! Any....anybody else wanna say anything? All right, uh, roll
call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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11.b. Rezoning South of Interstate 80,West of N. Dubuque Street, and East of
Mackinaw Drive, commonly referred to as Forest View—Ordinance
conditionally rezoning approximately 73.15 acres of property located south of
Interstate-80,west of N. Dubuque Street, and north of Foster Road, from
Interim Development Single-Family Residential(ID-RS), Low Density
Single-Family Residential (RS-5), Low Density Multi-Family Residential
(RM-12), and High Density Single-Family Residential with a Planned
Development Overlay (OPD/RS-12) to OPD/RS-12 for 45.58 acres and
Highway Commercial with a Planned Development Overlay (OPD/CH-1) for
23.83 acres. (REZ18-00013)
1. Public hearing
Throgmorton: (reading description) Hm, is that right? Is....can you read that, Kellie? It....it
says from OPD/RS-12 to OPD/RS-12.
Russett: A portion of the area's already zoned OPD/RS-12. So that will remain the same.
Throgmorton: Okay. Thank you. (continues reading description) I'm gonna open the public
hearing. (bangs gavel) So,Anne, please before you start, uh, so this is the second
public hearing, right? So if you want to address this topic, please feel free to do
so after Anne speaks and walks us through the proposed rezoning. So she's gonna
describe what's,uh, being requested and what conditions the Planning and Zoning
Commission has recommended. Following that I'll invite members of the
audience to speak and again, I ask you to keep your comments to not more than
three minutes because I think a lot of people have somethin'to say, and like....
like I said earlier, we do not yet know whether a super-majority will be required,
so we're gonna continue the public hearing, after we hear from everyone. We'll
continue the public hearing and defer action to our April 23"meeting. Okay, is
everybody clear about that? I....I hope....I hope ya are! Hi,Anne. Go ahead!
Russett: Thank you, Mayor. Urn,just to let you know what I'm going to speak about
tonight, I'm going to provide a high-level overview of the entire development.
This is a planned development,um, overlay rezoning, so I'm gonna discuss what
an OPD means, as well as the sensitive areas that are on the site. I'll discuss the
proposed zoning, um....I'll discuss the OPD review criteria that need to be looked
at when we look at OPD rezonings. I'll also cover all of the requested waivers
that the applicant has requested, and then discuss consistency with the
comprehensive plan. Here's an aerial of the project site. Again it's located south
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Page 23
of Interstate 80, west of North Dubuque Street. This map provides an overview of
the development and outlines the proposed land uses, conservation areas, and
some of the proposed transportation improvements. The main entrance to the
proposed development is off of North Dubuque Street....via, uh, a new public
roadway, Forest View Drive. The land use is proposed off of North Dubuque
Street and the eastern portion of Forest View Drive are commercial, shown in the
map on red. The applicant is proposing a gas station/market on lot one. Lots two,
three, and four, along North Dubuq...Dubuque Street are anticipated to be
developed as, uh, eating and drinking establishments with drive-throughs. The
applicant plans to have a hotel south of Interstate 80, as well as some office uses.
On lots nine, 10, and 11, which are south of Forest View Drive, those areas are
intended for lower-scale neighborhood commercial uses. Heading, uh, further
west along Forest View Drive, lots 12....13, 14, and 15 are all proposed in multi-
family lots. Lot 14 is intended for senior housing development. Heading fur...
further west along Forest View Drive and located at the eastern edge, or western
edge, excuse me, of the project site is the proposed manufactured housing or
single-family home community. The applicant is proposing to relocate the
existing tenants of Forest View to...to this area or, um, elsewhere along, um,
elsewhere in the project. There are also many sensitive features, woodlands and
wetlands, on the project site. The area shaded in green with the green hatching
are preservation areas. These will have conservation easements. Um, and these
are areas that are identified for preservation of existing woodlands, wetlands.
Outlot D, which is located south of the proposed single-family community, is a
proposed dry storm water management basin, and this is also proposed as
communal,private open space for the single-family community. Additional
access to the development is provided off of Laura Drive on the east side. Also
the project, um, proposes to extend Algonquin Road north, and Flint Drive...to the
east. Again this rezoning is, um, a planned development overlay. This is required
due to the sensitive features, as well as the proposed manufactured housing that's
being proposed. OPD rezonings allow flexibility in the proposed redevelopment.
Um, clustering of uses to preserve sensitive areas is allowed, as well as a variety
of housing types. Also, OPDs allow applicants to request waivers from
development standards. There are several waivers that have been requested as
part of this rezoning. I will touch on those toward the end of the presentation. In
terms of sen...uh, sensitive features, the project site is heavily wooded. It contains
a total of just over 36 acres of woodlands, and that vast majority of these
woodlands, over 30 acres, are located on the proposed residential lots. The
remainder,just under six acres, exists on the proposed commercial lots. This table
shows a summary of the existing woodlands, the woodlands that would be
impacted by the development, and the woodlands that would be preserved,
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Page 24
compared to the retention requirements in the zoning code. The project meets the
retention requirement for the commercial area but not the residential area. Our
zoning code does allow, um.....uh, mitigating the loss of woodlands through
planting of additional trees. So the applicant is proposing to mitigate the loss of
those woodlands through planting 828 additional trees on the project site. The
applicant has submitted plans that outline the location of those restoration trees,
which have been reviewed by the City Forester. And the City Forester, uh,
generally agrees with the location of those mitigra....mitigation trees. The
applicant has also proposed a monitoring plan for the restoration trees that will
include the submission of an annual report. Staff is recommending that the details
of this monitoring be planned....monitoring plan be worked out as part of a
development agreement. So in addition to the woodlands that will be preserved,
there's also a 40-foot....wooded area along North Dubuque Street that will remain
unimpacted. And there's also woodland buffer and additional screening along,
um, between lot one and outlot A. Staff is recommending a condition as part of
the rezoning that that 40-foot area along North Dubuque Street remain
unimpacted. In terms of wetlands, the project site contains just under one acre of
wetlands. Thirty-six percent of the wetlands will be impacted by the
development. The applicant has submitted, uh, a U.S.Army Corps of Engineers
permit indicating that the City may consider filling in this wetland. The,um,
permit has been approved by both the Iowa DNR and the Army Corps of
Engineers. This map shows the existing zoning....on the project site. This area
here is the area that's currently designated OPD/RS-12. The area along the
eastern edge is zoned single-family. The majority of the site is zoned interim
development, and there's a small portion of, um, multi-family development that's
zoned on here. This shows the proposed rezoning, um, on the....the orange areas,
um, on the map would be rezoned to high density, single-family residential with a
planned development overlay. And the blue area would be rezoned to highway
commercial, with a planned development overlay. Although the base zoning
designation is proposed as highway commercial, the applicant is proposing a
hybrid zoning district, that incorporates some aspects of the neighborhood
commercial zone, so I'd like to kind of go through the proposed hybrid...
commercial zoning designation. The lots five, six, seven, and eight that are just
south of Interstate 80 here, the base zone will be highway commercial. However,
they....any development would be subject to standards related to,um, large retail
uses. These address things like visual interest and articulation, as well as different
building materials to reduce the perception of the mass of the building. Um,
there's also consideration for facades. And requiring attractive entrances, such as
large, uh, storefront windows. There's also, um....uh,proposed conditions in
the...in the conditional zoning agreement that deal with signage and building
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materials for the commercial areas. Lots nine, 10, and 11, which are located south
of Forest View Drive would also be zoned commercial highway,but they would
be subject to our neighborhood commercial zoning regulations. The
neighborhood commercial zone limits the scale,building placement, urn,
addresses sidewalk connectivity, addresses parking and loading requirements, as
well as mechanical screening. So any development on those lots would be subject
to those additional requirements, as well as the proposed conditions related to
signage and building materials. Lastly the lots along Dubuque Street, lots one,
two, three, and four would also be subject to the(mumbled)regulations with
some exceptions, mainly related to the proposed drive-throughs, urn, and the....
and the building frontages. The proposed development does not meet those
standards, so the development would be allowed to be built as is shown on the
plans. In reviewing this rezoning application the Council has several criteria that
need to be considered, since it's an OPD rezoning. Those criteria relate to density
and design, existing streets and utilities, adverse effects on light, views, air,
property values, and privacy, land uses and building types, um, and whether those
will be in the public interests. So I'm going to go through each of those criteria
now. The first related to density and design. The density is, that's being
proposed, is in line with the comprehensive plan and the RS-12 zoning
designation. The total project is around 13 dwelling units per acre. The multi-
family lots are a higher density, around 33 dwelling units in the single-family lots
or around eight dwelling units per acre. In terms of design, staff has
recommended some conditions related to design standards. Um, the single-family
would have to have clearly defined main entrances. There is requirements related
to building materials and signage, as well as the additional commercial design
standards that I just discussed, and any multi-family development would need to
meet the City's multi-family design standards. This is a....an image of the
proposed manufactured....housing that was submitted by the applicant. Next in
terms of land use mass and scale. The project proposes the lowest intensity
development at the western edge,um, so it's the single-family that would be
located next to the existing single-family neighborhood. And again the applicant
is proposing to relocate the tenants of the Forest View, um, mobile home park and
staff is recommending as a condition of approval of the rezoning that the applicant
execute an affordable housing agreement with the City that would need to be
reviewed and approved by the City Council. Toward the center of the site, the
applicant has proposed four multi-family lots. Urn, the applicant has proposed
two buildings on lot 15, three buildings on lot 14, which is the proposed senior
housing development, and one building each on lots 12 and 13. The highest
intensity uses, the commercial uses, are located south of Interstate 80 and along
north of Dubu....and along North Dubuque Street. So in summary, the proposed
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land use is transitioned from lower intensity to higher intensity as you move east.
In terms of open space, the plans show the designated areas for private open
space. On the multi-family lots, the applicant has shown the square footage of
private open space and these areas are intended to provide seating, shade, and
recreational areas. For the single-family community, the applicant has identified
1.65, urn, acres of area to be used as active recreation and communal space, and
there are several outlots being proposed that would be, uh, conserved as
woodlands and that area totals nearly 19 acres. The City also has a public open
space requirement for the project, around 2.8 acres of public open space or an in...
in lieu fee would be provided. Um, currently no public open space is proposed on
site. So this....this just shows the areas, again, for preservation, which would be
identified in the green. And then the proposed, uh, communal open space for the
single-family community would be on outlot D. And this shows the proposed
open space for the multi-family lots. It's just kind of hard to see, but it's located in
this general area for lot 15, over here for lot 14, and then south of the building on
lot 20. In terms of traffic circulation, um, there is a proposed new public street,
• which would be Forest View Drive, which provides secondary access to the
Peninsula and Mackinaw Village, and would also benefit those communities in
the case of an emergency. The access is along North Dubuque Street. Um, the
applicant is also proposing to extend Algonquin Drive and Fl...Flint Drive. In
terms of sidewalks and trails, um, 10-foot and five-foot sidewalks would be, um,
installed along Forest View Drive and Algonquin Drive. Five-foot sidewalks
would be,urn, throughout the rest of the area. And there's also a 10-foot trail
proposed along North Dubuque Street. In terms of transit, there's a transit stop at
Algonquin (mumbled) Road and Forest, um, Foster Road, and that is walkable
from the manufactured housing community. The applicants worked with the
consultant and completed a traffic study. In terms of existing traffic counts, urn,
on North Dubuque Street, it's anywhere between 22,000 and 24,000 vehicles a
day. At full build-out of the proposed projects, an additional 15,000 vehicles per
day would be added. This is a significant amount of traffic, um, however, this
study does show that with the proposed transportation improvements, this system
would be able to run at an acceptable level. Uh, due to the proximity of the
development to the I-80 interchange, both the Iowa DOT and the City were
interested in the project's impact on the interchange. So without the development,
service lev...levels near the interchange begin to fail in 2046, and this is just due
to annual community growth. With the development, the service levels fail
around 2035. So in short the proposed development would accelerate needed
improvements at the interchange by about 11 years. Uh, so the improvements that
are being proposed include, um, Foster, Forest View Drive being extended across
North Dubuque Street to the frontage road. Dedicated north and southbound left
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turn lanes onto Fos...Forest View Drive. Dedicated southbound right turn lane.
And dual eastbound left turn lanes onto North Dubuque Street. In terms of storm
water, the applicant has submitted a preliminary storm water manager.....
management report. They're proposing three types of storm water management—
detention basins on-site, underground storm water storage, and storm water best
management practice.....practices. Urn, staff does recommend a condition that
upon final plat approval, the owner execute a subdivider's agreement that
addresses the need for annual certification of private storm water management
systems. And this map here just shows the lo...proposed locations of the storm
water management, which are identified on the map in....in blue. In terms of
views, light, air, property values, and privacy, as I mentioned previously the
development does transition from single-family to multi-family to commercial. It
also includes buffers and screens between existing single-family and new
development. And also there are several conditions, urn, that I...some of which
I've mentioned before, related to the buffer along North Dubuque Street. Um....
and that the landscape buffer be maintained on the west side of the proposed
single-family development. So this shows here....the buffer that's being proposed
along the west edge of the project, as well as the additional landscape...landscape
screen. Similarly here, outlot D provides a....a buffer and the applicant is also
proposing screening between the new development and the existing development.
And then lastly along North Dubuque Street, there's a 40-foot buffer. Some
additional screening identified and then outlot A, which would be a conservation
area, and additional screening,urn,between lot one and outlot A. Urn, I'd also
like to go through the waivers that the applicant is requesting. As part of the
planned development overlay rezonings, there is flexibility and the applicant is
allowed to request waivers from zoning regulations. So there's been requests to
waive, um, building height regulations,public right-of-way widths, lot
dimensions, and private open space. I'll go through each of those. The first is
building heights. So in the RS-12 zone, the maximum height is 35-feet, and the
applicant is proposing some four and five-story buildings. Lots two, or sorry, lots
12 and 13 have four-story buildings; lots....lot 14 has a four and five-story
building; and lot 15 has a five-story building. The criteria that we use to identify
if this is appropriate is whether or not at least 35% of net area must be free of
buildings and parking, and the plans show that 44% of the net area is free of
buildings and parking, so that criteria is met. In terms of the public right-of-way,
the right-of-way standard is 60-feet, and the applicant is proposing that Cole
Drive, Cole Drive is at the west end of the project site, and Flint Drive,be 50-feet
in width. The existing Flint Drive stub here is 50, so they're just extending what
is already there. Um, the criteria that we use for reduction in right-of-way width
is whether or not the utilities can be provided within that area, and the applicant
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has demonstrated that the utilities can be provides with....with that reduction in
the right-of-way width. Um.....next is reductions in lot dimensions and size. The
minimum lot size requirement in the RS-12 zone is 5,000-square feet,but the
minimum lot width is 45-feet, and the minimum lot frontage is 40-feet, and the
applicant is proposing several lots be around 4,000-square feet, and the lot width
reduced to 36-feet. The criteria that's used in evaluating that is whether or not,
urn, there's off-street parking spaces that are restricted to private rear alleys. So,
most of the project area is...accessed via private alleys here,here, and here. So all
of these lots meet that requirement. The lots on the western edge all meet the
minimum 5,000-square feet, so there's no reduction requested there. Lastly, open
space, um, the code requires a minimum of 5,000-square feet of open space for
single-family development and it must be provided behind the building. The
applicant instead is proposing outlot D to be the communal open space. It's 1.65
acres, one acre more than would be required, and the criteria that we look at for
that waiver is whether or not that would be consistent with the comprehensive
plan, whether it would enhance the project and not negatively impact the area or
endanger public health. Lastly, I wanna touch upon the goals that were adopted in
2017 that were a part of that original comprehensive plan amendment. Urn, the
first was a housing goal related to relocating the tenants of the Forest View mobile
home park. The applicant has provided a relocation plan, and as I've already
mentioned, we're recommending as a condition of the rezoning to execute an
affordable housing agreement to really outline the specifics of that relocation.
Next there was a housing goal related to any development of multi-family
adjacent to Mackinaw Village. Um, the development that is currently being
proposed adjacent to Mackinaw Village is now single-family. Um, the applicant
is still proposing to maintain a woodland buffer along that western property line.
In terms of commercial goals,um, there was a goal related to the preservation of
the scenic corridor along North Dubuque Street. As I mentioned, there is a 40-
foot wooded buffer that's being proposed, um, as well as recommended conditions
related to design standards for those commercial lots related to signage and
building materials. In addition, the applicant submitted these perspectives. This
is the current view of North Dubuque Street facing north. And this is....this is,
urn, what the applicant has shown the development would look like along North
Dubuque Street after development. This is facing south. And so this would...this
shows the southbound right turn lane and the 10-foot trail on North Dubuque
Street. And this is looking west, toward the new Foster....Forest View Drive.
The next goal was related to buffering....buffer of existing trees and vegetation
being preserved along North Dubuque Street, as well as (clears throat) woodlands
being preserved between Knollwood Lane and any commercial development. So
again, there is the 40-foot buffer and as I mentioned previously, Knollwood Lane
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is south of outlot A. The applicant is proposing this as a conservation area and
additional screening between lot one and outlot A and the residents to the south.
Lastly there was a goal related to transportation, that upon redevelopment of
property west of Dubuque Street, um....and south of Interstate 80, access to
Dubuque Street for southbound traffic north of Foster Road maybe allowed,
provided that the access point intersection is designed to accommodate anticipated
traffic volumes. Urn, the traffic study does show that the traffic volumes can be
accommodated through the proposed transportation improvements. Staff has
received several letters, um, which have been passed along to the City Council,
expressing opposition or concerns related to traffic. Notification and then
sometimes lack of notification of neighbors. There's been concerns related to
density and intensity of the development, particularly for the proposed single-
family area. Urn, there's also been concerns raised regarding the maintenance of
the proposed single-family. Also concerns on the impact on natural areas, as well
as the commercial development, particularly potential impacts to the residents of
Knollwood Lane. Staff has also received letters expressing support for the new
housing for Forest View tenants and the secondary access being proposed for...
for emergencies. The Planning and Zoning Commission did recommend approval
of this rezoning at their most recent meeting. Urn, as the Mayor mentioned,we
have received a protest petition. Urn.....the Commission.....accepted the
conditions that were proposed by staff for the rezoning, as well as two additional
conditions related to development on lot 14, which I mentioned was prop...for a
proposed senior housing. They recommended a condition that development on
that lot shall be for senior housing. They've also added a condition that the owner
shall invest a minimum of 100,000 in private open space for the recreational areas
proposed on outlot D and lot 49 for the single-family community. Urn, in terms
of next steps, urn, assuming....the rezoning moves forward,there would be an
affordable housing agreement that would need to be executed, um, with the City
upon approval by the City Council. There is a condition related to the
development of a signed master plan, which would need to be reviewed and
approved by staff, and then the final platting, which would come back to Council,
as well as a final sensitive areas development plan that would be reviewed by
staff. So, with that I'll turn it back to the Mayor.
Throgmorton: Good job,Anne. Thank you so much. Do we have any questions for Anne?
Mims: I have a quick question on the sidewalk on North Dubuque Street. That's on the
west side?
Russett: It would be a trail on the west side, yes.
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Mims: And so how....how far south is that gonna go, because there's that retaining wall.
Russett: It would go to Forest View Drive, and then you could head east across North
Dubuque Street and head south.
Mims: Okay. So it won't go further south than Forest View Drive (both talking) Okay,
thank you.
Throgmorton: Any other questions?
Thomas: I....I have a couple. Uh(clears throat)Anne, I noticed in the, uh....notes on the
P&Z meetings that there were questions about the elevations of the buildings, and
uh, you know, that....what was stated was that they are...we....we don't know
what those buildings will be. So...providing elevations really aren't appropriate at
this time. It....it would seem that that would also apply to the building footprints,
correct? I mean they...there....there are buildings shown in this rezoning, but it
would seem to me that the actual footprint of the buildings are also uncertain at
this time. Is that correct?
Russett: Um...the, they're not uncertain,because what they're showing on the plans is what
is expected to be developed. So there's more certainty in the size of the buildings
and the height and the number of units,but less certainty in the actual, um (both
talking) design of the building.
Thomas: Uh huh. So it's still not locked in....it's....it's more certain but not locked in, in
terms of their placement?
Russett: No (both talking) the approval of the OPD rezoning,the Council would be
approving what's shown on those plans and any substantial changes to what's
being proposed would have to come back through the process and go to Planning
and Zoning and to City Council.
Thomas: Okay so the....so the site plan is....is essentially locked in then.
Russett: Unless the changes are minor.
Thomas: Uh huh.
Russett: Enough that it wouldn't be....constitute a substantial change.
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Thomas: The other question I would have is on the woodland buffers. Urn....couple of
questions. How did you establish the width, in the....in the various locations, and
also what is the species composition with respect to the, whether they are
evergreen or deciduous, I mean, for example on Dubuque Street. We see those
kind of....views to the west of the existing vegetation. What is the composition of
that vegetation, because I mean it looked like the photo was taken in....(laughs)
when, in summer let's say, um....
Russett: (mumbled)
Thomas: Yeah, so....that.....that.....that's a pretty strong visual buffer, uh,however, if these
trees are primarily deciduous, it's gonna be a very open view that would be
generated, it seems to me. I mean I looked at it today and that's....you know, most
of the,what I could see, a considerable amount of the vegetation is just deciduous
and so the....this image, urn, is not reflective of what you would see when....
when the vegetation is not in leaf, it would seem to me.
Russett: That....that's possible, but I....I, um, I guess we could see if we have any images
of what that area looks like in the wintertime.
Thomas: It would be interesting, yeah (both talking)
Russett: But the proposal is to keep....to keep the existing vegetation, as it is, for that 40-
foot area.
Thomas: So one question that leads me to ask or....ponder would be,uh, let....if we
assume that the vegetation is primarily deciduous, would there be opportunities,
which I'm seeing there, you know, there's some open lawn areas, for example, in
the foreground, to supplement.....the....the buffer with evergreen vegetation to
reinforce the buffer effect.
Russett: Um, that might be a question that....the consultants, Impact 7G, might be able to
answer. I.....I guess I would say though along that North Dubuque Street
corridor, in addition to that 40-foot, um, it's not technically a woodland buffer,but
that unimpacted area of woodlands,they're also proposing additional screening,
um, on the west side (both talking)
Thomas: On the backside?
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Russett: Yeah.
Thomas: So, yeah, on one side or the other, if....I'm just concerned that....I mean this is
such an important corridor that, uh, if we find that that buffer....needs to be
reinforced, how can we do that, in that there are ways to further supplement the
existing vegetation for the desired effect.
Throgmorton: Anne, I have a related (clears throat) a related question that has to do with the
existing woodlands. No, actually it doesn't! It has to do with planting new trees
and shrubs, sorry! So....we've heard a great deal about deer, not tonight so much,
but uh, over the past many months, and I wonder about....how thoroughly the....
the developer and the staff has thought about the effects of the....the deer's need
to eat vegetation on the survivability of any newly planted shrubs and trees. I
know that there's sort of a management plan embedded in the....the proposal that
you presented to us, but I didn't see anything in it about deer(laughs) so I'm
wondering about that. I....I'd hate to see....a whole array of trees and shrubs
planted out there and then consumed by the deer that we clearly are having
difficulty with. They need to eat! They will! So I'm curious about that. You
don't have to answer now but, you know, I'm curious about that. Do we have
other questions for Anne?
Teague: I guess I had a question about just the entry, um.....for off Dubuque into the new
area. So on the side, do you know what that...is that just like stone type entry,
um....
Russett: That area there?
Teague: Yes.
Russett: Is that what you're looking at? Yeah. They're....they're proposing a stone type
entrance, and the applicants can speak more to that.
Teague: Okay. All right. I think it, you know, it really should be, uh, very decorative, or
you know, for that area. Urn....somethin' that's really spiced up a little bit. So I
mean I just noticed that right away. Kinda looked blah to me but....I'm not tryin'
to be critical but...I think we do want to do a good job of, um, makin'that
entryway really, um....very attractive, yes! The other...the only other question
that I had is you referred to staff suggesting, um, condition for affordable housing.
Can you tell me a little bit about that?
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Russett: So the proposed condition is that the applicant would need to execute an
affordable housing agreement with the City, which would be approved by City
Council, that would lay out the specifics of the relocation of the Forest View, urn,
tenants to the new housing.
Teague: Is....will there be, urn, some of the modu...or mobile homes, will some of them be
for rent and some also be owner-occupied?
Russett: I think the applicant can address that best, but they are proposing a rent-to-own,
urn, structure where the....the.....the, uh, new tenant could rent for several years
and then they would have the option to buy.
Teague: All right. Great, thank you!
Throgmorton: Other questions for Anne?
Thomas: Can I one more, and that is, uh....the bicycle, facilitating bicycling. Is that...is
that, there's a 10....in your presentation you mentioned a 10-foot wide sidewalk
along....Forest View Drive. Is that where the....the bicycling is intended to take
place?
Russett: Yeah, I think we refer to it as a wide sidewalk,but I think a lot of people do ride
bicycles on those facilities.
Thomas: Cause we...there is no....bike lanes, I mean I was looking at the bike master plan,
and this isn't....doesn't show up. I...I view this development as being kind of
more the scale of a bicycle experience in a way, urn, so it....it does seem to me
that....accommodating bicycles is an important aspect of this. I mean we're not
providing any public....public open space. It's all private, correct?
Russett: Yes.
Thomas: So...you know, one thing I've talked about on Council is the idea that we....we
need to provide accessible, easily accessible and convenient access
to....destination parkland, and urn, I'm not even sure where that would be with
respect to this development, but....you know, out in the Peninsula you have the
dog park and....and there may be other facilities there as well but insofar as we
don't have any...within the development, I think that....that's an important
consideration, and....and again,just the scale of the development does not seem
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as pedestrian-friendly as....one might see in....in other developments. So the...
the idea of bicycle friendliness I think is important.
Throgmorton: I....I think I wanna ask you another question,Anne. It has to do with storm water
run-off. So there was in the material we received, a pretty complicated plan, if
you will, an analysis havin' to do with storm water run-off. And I can tell by the
way you looked back in the back of the audience(laughs) that you are not the
expert on that. Uh, so....let me ask the question, and if you have to turn to Ron or
somebody else to answer, that'd be fine. Uh, several weeks ago I saw a
presentation by the Army Corps of Engineers about trends in annual precipitation
here and trends in peak precipitation events, both of'em over a hundred....a
hundred year period. They both showed significant increases. With regard to
annual precipitation it was a straight-line increase. I mean, you know,best fit
line, you know, straight line that way. With regard to peak precipitation events, it
was more of a....curve like that, an exponential growth can occur. They declined,
the Corps declined to answer my question when I asked them about what they
expect with regard to precipitation and especially peak precipitation events. So,
my question is this—when the staff analyzed the storm water management plan,
did they take into account increases in precipitation that are anticipated to come
with the climate change that we are undergoing?
Russett: Someone from Public Works (mumbled) take that. (unable to hear person
speaking from audience)
Dilkes: You gotta come up.
Fruin: Jason, you need to come up!
Reichart: Jason Reichart, Engineering.
Throgmorton: Hi, Jason.
Reichart: Hi. Um,no, for the....the current preliminary storm water management plan, um,
basically shows that a complete storm water management system could be
constructed to meet our current storm water management requirements. Uh, as
we move forward, if this gets approved into development, they'll be required to
submit final,uh, storm water management,uh, calculations and details for
individual sites and phases of the development.
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Throgmorton: Okay. I ask especially with regard to the ravines that lead, the south ravines or
whatever, the ones that lead down toward Idyllwild.
Reichart: Uh huh.
Throgmorton: So I wanna make absolutely certain we don't get ourselves in a position where
under extreme precipitation events we cause flooding down in Idyllwild. That's
been a concern for the past three years and I....I think we need to make sure that
we're really looking ahead instead of looking backwards.
Reichart: I think it's also important to remember the Idyllwild drainage diversion project
that's currently ongoing. Urn, is in final design right now. Uh, is designed to
handle large flows from that northern water shed. So that should help
considerably with local flooding from....from heavy rain storms north of
Idyllwild.
Throgmorton: Okay. Uh, that's good, and I knew that was the case and I'm glad you answered it
that way. I....I think, I believe we should double-check that to see what kind of
precipitation events we're contemplating will occur(laughs)
Reichart: Okay!
Throgmorton: Yeah.
Reichart: All right!
Throgmorton: Okay, other questions for Anne?
Reichart: Thank you!
Throgmorton: Anne,there might be other questions in a bit, so hang around, please. I think you
would anyhow! (laughs) Okay, uh.....any member of the public should feel free
to come up now and address this topic. Say whatever's on your mind. Please do
not take more than three minutes. Hello, Brian!
Decoster: Despite......Brian Decoster again, despite my opposition to the modular homes
across the street from my place, I do think this whole project overall will be a
very cool project. Be great for Iowa City. That being said, uh,Algonquin's a
pretty dark street. I've often been surprised at how little lighting there is on
Algonquin and I think when the new development goes in, they need to take a
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look at the lighting on the street and increase that. Um....uh,referring, urn (clears
throat) Bruce, you were, uh, mentioning the Forest View sign. Urn, entering in off
of Dubuque Street. Uh,just the property, two properties just south of that, the
private property of the Friedman's, when the City came and redid that, they put a
lime....limestone face on. I think they poured it in concrete and put a....put a
false face on it. If you drive down there you'll see that. And it looks awesome,
and....if it matched that it would be great and it would fit in. Um....uh, Mr.
Thomas, you were speaking of the buffers and I'm concerned about that,both
from the, urn, Knollwood Lane and for the, um, Mission Point Road. Um, I don't
know what kind of trees are gonna be in there,but hopefully they'll be some non-
deciduous and they'll be tall trees and urn, the buffer's always been a concern to
me for the Knollwood Lane and the gas station that's goin'in right near there. Uh,
it seems like everybody's workin' real hard to....to, uh....preserve the
neighborhood as much as they can, but as long as we have some nice trees there
and they do need to be deer-proof; cause yes, we get a lot of(laughter) deer just
chew stuff up in our neighborhood. Urn, and the storm water run-off,just, urn,
little bit east of where you're talkin' about, from Idyllwild, um, I own a property, 6
Knollwood Lane, which has the ditch in it, right against Foster Road, and we have
all the water run-off from, uh, Forest View right now. Everything runs down
Laura Drive, comes down that ditch and comes through our ditch, and goes
underneath our lane, and then hits the intersection, where it goes and runs parallel
with Dubuque Street. That's where the storm water runs. And our drain goin'
under our drive gets clogged up occasionally, and I've called the City on it in the
past and got some pushback that it's a private drain, private storm drain goin'
under there. Well it's not all our water, it's water from everybody else, and they
did eventually come and clean it out, but um, it gets silted in. I believe it's
somewhat silted in now, quite a bit, and needs to be cleaned out by the City. You
can, urn, drive down, uh, the inter....look at,just get out of your car right at
Knollwood Lane there and look in the ditch. You'll see a stream. I was there
tonight, uh, workin'....workin' on my yard and there's a stream of water runnin'
through the ditch. Urn, so it...all the water makes its way through there to the
intersection. So that needs to be cleaned out and it needs to be cleaned out
regularly cause it silts in quite a bit. That's, uh, that's all I got. Thanks so much!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Brian.
Becker: Good evening, Mayor, Council Members, City staff,respective citizens of Iowa
City. My name is Jimmy Becker. I'm a part of the Black...Blackbird Investments,
the development team. I represent the ownership and co-applicant Forest View
tenant association on the project and uh, as I was looking at this illustration that's
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shown here on the screen, I couldn't help but think of my one-year-old son who's
just learning shapes and colors (laughter) and um, he....he just learned how to put
the square peg in the square hole, and uh, there's....there's a lot of constraining
factors,uh, that's led to the complexity of this project that has been very
thoughtfully, um, thought through, from the involvement of a very extensive team
and a lot of collaboration with City staff. So we're very thankful for all of the
collaborative effort from City staff, and as well the collaboration from the
residents of Forest View tenants association, Center for Worker Justice, and all
others who have been involved, uh, over the last three years. Urn,just to
highlight, um, I know there's been a lot of information and a lot of visuals that
have been shown tonight. Um, I wanna highlight four,um, primary objectives
that we're looking to achieve within this development and we have our consulting
team available to answer any more technical or specific questions. So our first,
and....and most important objective, is the relocation of the residents of Forest
View. And so that's represented, uh, in total there are 76 families that live in
Forest View today. And as this illustration shows with what we've proposed, there
are 57 homes. In addition to that, as it's been mentioned earlier tonight, we...we
will be executing affordable housing agreement, which we're working on with the
City....City Attorney, and uh,that will, uh, effectively memor... memorialize
what we worked with Center for Worker Justice and the City, as well as
Center...uh, excuse me, as well as the residents of Forest View over the last three
years. Uh, it's the relocation plan, which I believe that you guys have seen before.
So the affordable housing agreement is effectively memorializing the
re...relocation plan. In addition to relocation as the first objective, our second
objective is to provide a secondary access point, uh, for the residents to the west
and south of our development, especially in the case of;uh, flood or other
emergency events, and so that's been discussed, and....and illustrated, um, and
um, if there's any questions specific to traffic. I saw that Kent is here and we also
have Foth Engineering, who con...conducted the traffic study, to answer any
specific questions that you have related to traffic. Our third objective is
preservation, and I think Anne, uh, did a very good job of explaining that, and
hopefully this visual can also help represent that. Uh, the greenery is what
currently exists today. There are also, as Anne mentioned, 828 planted trees that
are shown, uh, within the development, and uh, we have Impact 7G, our
environmental consultant, and HBK Engineering, uh, who's our civil engineer on
the project, if there's any specific questions. I know a couple questions already
have been asked, and so we're happy to address those questions this evening. The
fourth objective is compliance, and going back to that illustration of trying to fit a
square,um, object into a square peg...or however that works, square hole, thank
you (laughter) um, that has....has taken a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of
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brainstorming and creativity, uh, to develop what we have as shown here today
and represented, and urn....so....if there's any questions that you have, now I open
it to all of you. I'm happy to address those questions and I appreciate your time
this evening. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Any questions for Jimmy?
Thomas: I had a question on the, urn....the profile of Forest View Road, which as I
understand it....and I don't....I don't think Anne spoke to that specifically in terms
of its design. Uh, and I was reading the Planning and Zoning notes on it. And as
I recall the...the road would be 28-feet wide.
Becker: Correct.
Thomas: Uh, allowing parking on both sides of the street.
Becker: That's correct, yeah.
Thomas: And....that concept intrigues me. I know we, you know, that many major
thoroughfares in Iowa City do not allow parking along the street and I...I do view
parking as a potential calming feature, but I guess one of the questions I would
have, do....do we really expect,um, many people to use Forest View Drive for
parking,because if not, we then end up with a 25-foot wide roadway with
effectively 14-foot lanes, which are quite wide in terms of, uh, the need for lane
width. So that....that concerns me, uh, that, you know, I've seen in certain
residential neighborhoods where we have 25-foot wide roads,um....which al....
you know,which also were designed to accommodate parking on both sides. Not
many people park on the...along the roadway because they....they have sufficient
space on their own property to....to park off-street, and so that....that....that
concerns me, how...how will this play out, urn, and....and in a way similar with
my concerns about the woodland buffer. If we find there isn't much parking
occurring along the roadway, how do we address potential impacts of having e...
effectively 14-foot lanes, uh, which would encourage higher speeds?
Becker: And so is,just make sure I'm understanding the question correctly. Is there
contemplation of the road width,reducing the road width, is that....
Thomas: I hadn't heard that, I mean the idea was, urn, if we find that speeds are higher, that
we might consider a center median, as a way of addressing that concern. Urn,
which would in effect narrow the lane widths by inserting the center median.
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Becker: I think if Kent can...I don't wanna put you on the spot.
Throgmorton: Oh go ahead (laughs)
Becker: I'm going to (laughs) (several talking)
Ralston: Uh, Kent Ralston,Transportation Planner. So...yeah, I mean that's a valid
question, you know, how much parking will be along, um....the new Forest View
Drive area. You know, I don't know that I can answer that question, I don't know
that anybody can until the actual land uses are determined or defined. Um, I
would say there is some on-street parking now on the existing portion of
Algonquin. It's actually fairly well parked. Uh, there maybe some desire to park
on Algonquin in the new manufactured housing area, although I don't know how
much will be able to park on street because of the driveway locations. So that's
sort of yet to be determined, I think, in my mind at least. Uh, the one thing I did
mention at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting was that there's also the
roundabout, urn, traffic circle, as you can see,between Algonquin and, uh, Forest
View Drive, which I think would help that, uh, to some degree. That's primarily
in my eyes kind of the urban residential area, um, along Algonquin. Once you get
a little bit further to the east on, um, what (mumbled) proposed Forest View
Drive, it seems to be a little bit more commercial. The buildings are a little...are
set back a little bit further, and I think what will be there in terms,unless I'm
incorrect, what will be there in terms of residential housing is mixed-use, I think,
with some commercial on the first floor, uh,potentially residential on the upper
floors.
Throgmorton: (both talking) John's asking a reasonable question here about whether the road
should be designed as if cars or trucks are gonna park on both sides of the
street....
Ralston: Right!
Throgmorton: ...when we have no evidence to believe that will be the case.
Ralston: Right, I would agree. I would say the same for any new street in town, I mean
(both talking)
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Thomas: ...if they do it's actually going to be kinda, you know, 28-feet, say cars do park on
both sides, that's roughly seven feet on either side. So you're talking about 14-feet
left, which is really not adequate for....I mean (both talking)
Ralston: It would be what we'd....what we call a give-way situation.
Thomas: (both talking) ...you know, at full build out you're anticipating 15,000 vehicles,
right?
Ralston: Uh, per day. (both talking) Not during like a peak hour. Per day(both talking)
Thomas: Per day,but I mean that's a fairly significant amount of traffic. So I...I'm just
trying to (both talking)
Ralston: Right, so it's a little bit of a juxtaposition, where there is a lot of traffic
anticipated. We don't know how much parking there'll be, but if we narrow the
street, we've still got the same anticipated traffic volume. So it's a little bit of a...
of a juxtaposition there. Um, I don't know if I know what the right answer is, urn,
but I...with what I had told the Planning and Zoning Commission was that my, in
my feeling,the area from the traffic circle to the east is really....not as much of a
residential feel. It's more of an urban-type of environment.
Thomas: I guess...I mean, in looking at the plan, with the exception of the area around the
Forest View neighborhood, on the west side,there's really just the one road. So
it's a, in terms of the experience of this development, that road in my view is
extremely important in terms of conveying what the experience is.
Ralston: Sure.
Thomas: So that has to be a really compelling, beautiful streetscape effect.
Ralston: Sure.
Thomas: Uh, I'm....I'm interested in the idea of the center median in that regard, if that...
that may be one way, uh, if we're not anticipating a lot of street traffic, you know,
having a landscaped center median...uh, I think would strongly improve the...the
feel of that street.
Ralston: Sure. I mean it would certainly help calm traffic as well.
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Thomas: And calm traffic.
Ralston: Right. I think the one thing to note too that Anne had mentioned is the, uh, 10-
foot wide sidewalk on the north side of Forest View, which I think will also work
well to accommodate, urn,bicycles as well as pedestrians.
Thomas: Right, right.
Ralston: (mumbled) ....will be a nice streetscaping element.
Thomas: Uh huh.
Throgmorton: Don't go too far away, Kent.
Becker: So just with respect to the....the question raised, um.....with widening the roads,
that has other impacts with respect to setbacks of buildings, and uh, preservation
of trees, and I think Kevin here can go into and expand on that point.
Throgmorton: Well just to be clear, nobody's advocating widening the roads (both talking) that's
not what's being suggested.
Monson: No, uh, and that's not our ideal situation at all. Um, yes there will be(both
talking)
Throgmorton: Kevin...Kevin, please state(both talking)
Monson: Kevin Monson, uh, with Neumann Monson Architects, excuse me. Um, we don't
have, uh, intentionally,uh, visitor parking or delivery parking or any other
parking in most locations on this development, which does force, uh, visitors and
delivery trucks and others to use the street as their parking means. So we do
expect there will be quite a bit of parking on Forest View Drive and the extension
of Algonquin,just as the current Algonquin has quite a bit of parking on it. Uh,
because most of our, uh...homes, uh, especially in the single-family home areas,
uh, have alley access and alley parking, that really doesn't provide for guests, and
so they will be using the streets, uh, for....for that kind of parking, which we are
really encouraging it because, uh, we want the calming effect of parking on our
streets. So....uh, and uh, the trail by the way is on the south side of Forest View,
uh, the wider sidewalk,because that's where all of our residential is, on the south
side of Forest View, not the north. So we intentionally put our wider trail, uh,
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biking trail and walking trail, on the south side, to encourage, uh, a safer
pedestrian and bike atmosphere.
Throgmorton: Kevin,uh,before you sit down, maybe I can ask a follow-up question, which
really doesn't have anything to do with Forest View Drive. It has to do with
Algonquin.
Monson: Uh huh.
Throgmorton: So I'm aware that many residents of Algonquin have expressed concerns about the
increased traffic on Algonquin, and therefore safety concerns for their children
and so on.
Monson: Sure.
Throgmorton: And I....I know it's outside the project boundaries, so the City staff is involved in
this question as well.
Monson: Sure.
Throgmorton: But I...I'm wondering whether the development team and the staff have thought
about steps that can be taken to ensure that the increased traffic that takes place on
Algonquin will not pose a safety hazard, especially during winter conditions
(mumbled) this photograph or a couple photographs of what it's like(laughs) you
know, what it was like last, uh, last January or February. It was pretty...pretty
nasty apparently. So I'm wondering if....if you or...this is where Kent could get
involved again,um, whether you've considered steps that could be taken there.
Monson: Well we've talked a lot about,um, where our traffic generators are and how to,
um, ensure that the bulk of our traffic goes to North Dubuque Street, and really
has led us to this plan. Um, as you can see, our single-family area is primarily on
the far west. All of our heavier users are much closer to, uh, Forest View, and we
anticipate the huge majority of our traffic is going directly to, uh,North Dubuque
Street, and it would be the shortest and fastest. We wanna...we don't want it to be
too fast (laughs)that's why we've got parking and roundabouts and the like,but
uh, that's very intentional. The way we've placed our housing counts and our
units is to really foster,uh,traffic going to the east and not going to the south, and
our traffic studies have proven that out, and we've got those very well
documented.
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Becker: As a quick illustration I'll show you too that.....(mumbled) Sorry about that!
This is why wives don't give husbands the control (laughter) Okay, sorry about
that. So here....here's an illustration, uh, of what was previously proposed in the
existing North Dubuque Street plan, and uh, what is now being proposed. And it
illustrates just the anticipation of trip generation, as Kevin had mentioned...a....
along North Dubuque Street. So 86% of the trips being generated are going to be
coming from the commercial users, 11% of the trips from the multi-family
residential, and 3%of...of the trips will be generated from the Forest View area.
Throgmorton: Okay. Did you have more you wanted to say, Jimmy? (both talking) Okay, are
there any other questions for Jimmy? Thanks. We might ask you to come back
up. Thank you. Would anybody else like to address this topic? Hi there!
Heiken: Hello! My name is Debbie Heiken and I live at 4 Knollwood Lane, and I, my
house is the northernmost house that borders outlot A. So basically when I
walked it off and measured it and all this good stuff, um, my bedroom window
will be approximately 100-feet from the gas station, which I think we all would
agree is not optimal. Actually it's horrible. Anyway, I would like you to take that
into consideration. Um, I have no problem with any of the residential part. It's
just the commercialization part that I feel is just going to have a huge negative
impact on our neighborhood (coughs) excuse me, not only for our Knollwood
Lane neighborhood, but even for the people in the modular neighborhood. I mean
we're bringing commercial....entities into our neighborhood. We're going to be
bringing people off the interstate, random people, to the gas station, to the drive-
throughs. So we're introducing who knows who into our neighborhood. So it's
these type of concerns that I'm....I'm really concerned with. I'm also concerned
about my property value because I checked, thinking maybe I'm just paranoid, but
no. Unfortunately property values drop if you are close to a gas station. I hope to
live there for the rest of my life. I'm now retired and I was really looking forward
to enjoying my home, my property,being outside. Now I don't know what's
gonna happen. Um....so that,those are some of my concerns, and I even wonder,
worry about the kids, you know, in the modular homes. All the studies that show
living close proximity to fast food and convenience stores and what it does to
children's health. So even that's a concern. I mean I think there's a whole lot of
things we haven't thought through totally. So....you know,please consider some
of those things as well. And, I guess that's it for me!
Throgmorton: Great(both talking)
Heiken: Thank you!
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Throgmorton: (mumbled) Good evening.
Murphy: Hi. My name is Quinby Murphy and urn, I'm a resident of White Oak Place,right
between the Peninsula and,urn, Mackinaw Village, and I apologize in advance for
my comments. I kinda was scribbling them as I came because I wasn't prepared
to speak,but I decided I needed to. And I wanted to make one comment about the
buffer zone and some of the displacement of the deer, and that is just to remind
everybody that there is no such thing as deer-proof,uh,trees and shrubs in our
neighborhood. So as much as we talk about that that might be a solution, it...we
already are really struggling with that. I have everything in my yard deer-proof
and it doesn't matter. Urn, I'm also hearing a lot about collaboration and working
together on this project in the last three years,but I think that a component that's
missing might be other stakeholders that have lived in the neighborhood, um,
besides the Forest View residents. Obviously it directly impacts them,but I feel
like if this was truly going to be a revolutionary and inclusive approach to
affordable housing and development then maybe, urn, you would have had more
universal buy-in by including other residents in this neighborhood and in the close
by neighborhoods at an earlier, urn, stage. So I was born and raised in Iowa City.
Urn, I moved away for a short time after college and returned in part because the
character, the aesthetic, and the feel of the town have always been things that
were important to me in the place that I decided to call home. I moved onto
White Oak Place five years ago with my husband and my daughter. We built our
home on the last available lot there. Urn,we love the location of the
neighborhood and love the feel of being tucked away in a quiet removed feeling
setting and especially being surrounded by the natural environment, which is one
of my primary concerns with the proposal as it stands. I'm very concerned about
several aspects of the development in its current proposal. One is the massive
increase in density that will change,urn,the look,the sound, the feel of the entire
area. I'm also very concerned about the increase in traffic, as many people have
mentioned already. Within the next two years my daughter will be at the typical
age to walk and ride her bike independently in between and around the
neighborhoods off of Foster Road; and we already have lots of concerns with
how,urn,the recent development in the Peninsula of all the, urn,multi-unit
housings have really increased the traffic and the parking. Urn,there was a
gentleman earlier from Forest View who talked about how that's already changed
in the Peninsula,urn, and so my concern is that this is going to change it even
more in that area. Um, if you've never experienced that,bring a seven-year-old to
take a walk on those streets and you will see how often you have to stop and creep
carefully out to make sure that you are avoiding an oncoming car because of the
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traffic and the way the parking is structured. Urn, I'm concerned about the added
noise and light pollution that will come with the development, as it's currently
proposed. Those were huge factors to us when we chose to build where we did. I
remember standing on our lot before we built and just listening to the sounds
coming from the interstate and the neighborhood, um, because that was such an
important factor in why we chose that spot. Uh, as a resident of Iowa City who
has always treasured this special place, I think it is truly a shame to think of losing
the beauty of our Dubuque Street entrance. Urn, I'm sorry,but the rendering
doesn't provide me with a lot of comfort right now. I think we've all seen
renderings that look really nice on paper and then....and as you mentioned when
you actually see it in practice, it doesn't play out that way. Urn....uh, so many
towns have busy characterless commercialized areas as their gateway. We've
always been blessed to have a lovely green space and I'm just concerned that this
is something that we will lose. Urn, there's a reason we chose to live in Iowa City
near this entrance and not in Coralville and North Liberty. Urn, some had
mentioned earlier the tree canopy that's an asset to our....to our city, at the
beginning of the meeting tonight, and....and the 40-foot buffer,um,just doesn't
seem to me that it's going to cover that. Urn....I'm concerned that this has been
painted as an issue about whether we as a community are either for or against
improving the current housing situation of the residents in Forest View,um, and
that seems grossly unfair to me. I am concerned that the development company
who supposedly has our community's interest in mind, um, isn't even local and
therefore has no long-term stake in the plan. I am not against all development in
general in our area and I'm certainly in favor of looking at solutions to improve
the immediate and long-term living solution for the residents of Forest View.
Urn....a woman earlier said I want to preserve, from Forest View spoke, and said I
want to preserve the neighborhood with bel...better quality houses, and I think
everyone in this room would be in favor of doing that. Um,but the way that the
current proposal stands, with the density,the traffic, the commercial development,
it's not one that my family supports and we ask you not to let it pass. I wanna also
just to touch on, urn, Miss Taylor, I think it might have been you that said I
wouldn't mind having the Forest View residents in my backyard, and I want to
make it very clear that I would not mind having the residents in my backyard
either. Um....l do mind having commercial development in this part of town,the
lack of natural environment, and more noise and traffic in my front yard, when I
specifically chose my neighborhood with those factors in mind. Thank you very
much!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Quinby. Anyone else? (several talking in background) Hi there!
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Ortiz: Good evening. Uh....my name's Alfredo Ortiz. I have been a Forest View
resident for my whole life and my parents have been living at Forest View for
almost 20 years. Forest View is a pretty peaceful and tranquil place. We are all
one big family. We have all known each other for a significant amount of time.
But our homes are in very bad shape. It's been three years, three long years, of
patiently waiting since the start of this project. We believe it's time for action.
My dad works two jobs to make money for our house, and I barely get to see him.
I think it's a great opportunity to....live in a dignified home that we deserve, and I
think it's pretty sad that my sister sleeps in the living room,just to have space to
sleep. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you. Good evening.
Narciso: My name is Claudio Narciso and I've been a resident at Forest View for almost 10
years and I am ready for a positive change. I have many friends and family here
and Forest View is a very secure place with many kids around. We hang with our
friends and treat each other with kindness. The only thing we ask is for change in
new homes so I can have a proper room to sleep in and not the couch. Once you
get to know the people living in Forest View, you start to think that that's a place
where families can grow and with peace. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Great, thank you.
Davis: My name's Donna Davis. My husband and I have lived at Forest View trailer
court since 1985. So, urn, when...we learned that the court was going to change
ownership, we were really concerned. We didn't know what was going to happen
to us and our neighborhood, and uh, over the years it's changed so much,but for
the last, oh, well since the Coles owned it, it has become so family-oriented that
we really stopped looking for some place else to live and now we thought we
would probably live there until we were ready for assisted living, which is
probably coming up sooner rather than later,but in the meantime we like living in
a family. We like the diversity of our neighborhood. We....like the fact that
people care about each other. We like the proximity to everything in Iowa City, to
arts, to entertainment, to jobs, to a good hospital, all these things are reasons that
we are staying, that we want to stay in this neighborhood, and I know that
our....our neighbors also feel the same way. So...for three years now we've been
waiting and trying to work on this and as someone previously said, we've, yes
admittedly we've let our homes kind of slide because that money could be better
spent and we thought it was kind of foolish to be putting a hundred, a thousand
dollars or whatever into our already falling-down trailers if we weren't going to be
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living in them for very much longer. So we'd really like to see this plan pass, and
get on with the next step of our lives. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Sondra. Hi, Eddie.
Cole: Hello, City Council, my name's Ed Cole, the owner and developer of the project.
In recent events in North Liberty a(mumbled) was bought and they doubled the
lot rents. So we truly need affordable housing and all that did, the new guy was
tryin'to think about buyin' another mobile home park (mumbled) drove the price
up to like 60,000 a pad. The owners in Iowa City of the other parks, like myself;
they have pride in their(mumbled) They have family-oriented parks. We wanna
keep that tradition goin' and....it's the reason with families like this we have here
that we do it. It's the growth...we getta watch the kids grow up and it's just an
awesome feeling to have these residents as part of our family and(mumbled) ask
for your support. Thanks.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Ed. Good evening.
Perez: Good evening, my name is Alberto Perez. (mumbled) living in Forest View about
five years. I just really enjoy living there. I come in from L.A., in L.A., you
know, it's like Chicago. You can't cross anybody. This is a beautiful place for
living. You can leave the keys in your car. Nobody's (laughs) gonna touch it.
When I just came, I came (laughs)because in L.A. you can put your car inside the
garage and put (mumbled) and everything you want and they gonna open it
anyway(laughs) and this place, you can trust your neighborhoods. Really kind
people, everybody's nice. You enjoy livin' there. Really, it's a good opportunity to
be here, talking with you, living there, and (unable to understand) writing the
story with this project because it's a big project. Thank you!
Throgmorton: Thank you,Alberto. Hi there!
Flores: (speaking through interpreter) Good evening, my name is Zulay Flores. I've been
a resident of Forest View for five years and my husband has been there for eight
years. Um, I really believe that since the, um, this tremendous movement began,
urn, and I know that Jim has been par...uh,has been watching this and part of this
since the beginning, urn, so you can attest to this. Um, so I, um, I consider that
the City has really taken time to hear everyone's opinions, to hear our...to consider
our opinions, to consider the developer's opinions, to consider neighbor's
opinions, everything has pros and cons, but I think this is a really good
opportunity, um, to improve the city, to improve affordable housing, and the
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quality of life. Okay, it's true that there's going to be some commercial
development and also housing, which is really, um, critically important all over
the country. Um, it means, urn, the right to, um (both talking) the right to live, urn
(both talking) and the right to, urn, housing, and the right to (both talking) Urn,
it's a question of giving everyone an opportunity, urn, and I think that this
development project creates a really important precedent that can,urn,benefit,
urn, in many....in many areas.
Throgmorton: Good evening. Thank you (both talking) Hello again!
Ortiz: Hello,my name is Norma. (speaking through interpreter) I have more than...I've
been living at Forest View for more than 20 years. I have three children, that...
who were born there. For me, the Cole family is a blessing. They've helped my
children grow up healthy. Um, so they, urn,both spiritually and mentally because
they hold some gatherings, urn, where, uh, where children....um, so gatherings so
that children can learn. Urn, so for those reasons I really like to live here and I
don't want to have to leave from this area. My children wanna continue to
maintain these friendships for their whole life. And I feel the same way about my
neighbors. And we're even working on plans that...that people could have jobs,
could have access to jobs, urn, through this project, whether it's through the hotels
or, urn, in other commercial....areas. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you,Norma. Good evening.
Nixon: Good evening. My name's, uh,Wilfrid Nixon. I'll do my label thingy and....i
live on, uh,Tranquil Bluff Trail, uh, which is just off Mackinaw Road, and uh,
I've been struck this evening by a number of ironies. I think the first irony was,
uh, one of the early items in the agenda was a proclamation for Arbor Day. And
now the first rezoning talks about destroying 50-plus percent of the trees in this
area. So do we say it or do we do it. There's a certain irony there. Uh, there's a
second concern we've heard a lot, and appropriately about the need for decent
housing for these people who currently live in Forest View, and as others have
said, I think that is absolutely critical. We need to have that. But nobody's asked
why the housing has....got to such a dilapidated state as it has, and I use that word
dilapidated carefully,because it was used by many of the residents, and we could
ask where was the Center for Justice four years ago when people were living in
what must have been nearly equally dilapidated housing. Did it not matter then?
Was it not a concern then? Was it just affordable housing and that's okay because
we don't care how good it is? Yes, it's important they be rehoused. It is clearly
critical that their community be maintained, although I noticed they'll be losing
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some members of that community. Going down from I believe 74 families to
only 57 in the new development. That's a shame. The,uh, concerns about traffic
are substantial. That little bit of Forest View Drive coming off Dubuque is not
terribly long. Somewhere between one and 200 feet. It will be dealing with a
thousand vehicles an hour. That's what the traffic study said. That's an awful lot
of traffic! By the way, a lot of that coming off Dubuque Street, which will be
fine. No worries with Dubuque Street. Coming off Dubuque Street, it's going to
be turning into the gas station, turning left into the gas station, causing backups
into Dubuque Street. That's a problem! There's a concern about parking on both
sides of the street. And I share that concern, but mine perhaps comes from a
slightly different point of view. I'm also worried about that roundabout. Why?
It's only the third of April, and as the Mayor said, wasn't that long ago we were
plowing the streets. Plow drivers, with whom I work, don't like,uh, roundabouts.
I grew up in England, so I love roundabouts. They're great for traffic,but they are
terrible to plow. I would say for that reason, don't put a center median in. It's
only going to make it worse. There must be another way of doing it. So the
traffic is a huge issue. A thousand vehicles an hour! That's 14 a minute. That's
an awful lot of traffic in a very restricted area. Uh....there is a concern with the
manufactured housing, and this is general, not specific to this, that it doesn't have
the longevity of more typical homes. It gets run-down, and indeed again the word
dilapidated was used. Those of us who live around the area have I think a very
reasonable concern that this may become dilapidated. What will be done to
ensure that it doesn't? What help will be given? That's a real concern. And then
there's a, what for me is a final and a concern I didn't plan on bringing tonight,but
it arose. We've been talking about inclusivity, and the importance of maintaining
the community, and those are very critical things. And indeed I've heard that both
the Mayor and Councilor Taylor have been involved in the, uh, inclusion efforts in
the Forest View association. But you stopped your inclusion. You stayed within
one area. You didn't go beyond that. To talk to some of the other people who are
here tonight and who come to express our concerns and heard you say, Councilor
Taylor, well, it's just not in my backyard. I'm afraid that's a pejorative term, and
when you use that about those of us who like everybody else here are trying to
build up our community, it doesn't do much for us, does it? We are not included,
we are excluded. Now that's okay with me. Iowa City is a UNESCO City of
Literature and one of my favorite bits of literature is Don Quixote and of course
he loved to tilt at windmills,but I'd encourage you as Councilors not to become
the windmills. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you,Wilfrid. Hi, Margarita.
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Baltazar: Hi (speaking through interpreter) Good evening to everyone. It's the second time
I'm up here with you. (both talking)
Throgmorton: Pardon me, Margarita, please state your name again please.
Baltazar: (speaking through interpreter) Margarita Baltazar. (both talking, laughing) So as
I said I have my daughter here with me tonight, um, I could have her home
sleeping,but it's a dream that we're willing to make sacrifices for. Um, and we've
worked on this for three years, but we're not gonna stop,because we wanna
achieve our dream. So I also think this is an historical precedent,um, so that
other residents and communities can come together, um, demand to be heard, and
instead of dividing communities can unite communities. Urn, it's really important
to educate people, urn, to fight to stop,urn, the housing crisis. Um, we need rights
for residents so that there won't continue to be dislocation, the people won't
continue to be dislocated from their housing, urn, and we have, um, we were not
included at the beginning of all this, but we joined together and we fought to be
included and to....and we, um, began to work closely with the developers with
heart and humility,um, to achieve a plan. (both talking) I'm sorry,just so I don't
lose anything. Um, I think that with this project, um, we can keep fighting, we
can continue this momentum and keep fighting for housing for more people. I
don't want, and I don't want my daughter to see people living in the streets, um,
because of the lack of affordable housing. (both talking) We need to educate our
kids to have the heart to fight for housing for low-income people. I really respect
the opinions, um, of people who've spoken against this. Urn, but I, uh....and I
think...but I think that it's really important that we fight for low-income housing
for the sake of children; for the sake of seniors who've lived here for 30 years and
have a dream, urn, that....of having a new house, um, a new house that they can
live in. Urn, we have a lot to work on, um, to continue to...to win this dream of
affordable housing for everyone. We can't stop, urn,just...but with our own
housing,but we wanna keep fighting for everyone so our brothers and sisters can
all achieve this dream. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you. Good evening.
Millan: (speaking through interpreter) Good evening,my name is Victoria Millan. I've
been living in...in the Forest View neighborhood for 19 years. I have, urn, three
girls and one boy, and we have two bedrooms,urn, and so we're really excited and
happy to see the plans corning forward, urn of building the housing that we can
achieve. Um, my daughter has to sleep in the living room and, urn, you know
you worry with younger kids about kids getting out, um, of the door, and so I
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think that would be (both talking) It's....it's really beautiful as others have said
the way that the community works together so that if someone has to leave early
for work, there are other neighbors, trusted neighbors in the community who can
take care of, um, the kids and help them get off to school. Um, the owners are
really nice and nobody wants to leave there. That's why we've lived there for so
many years,people don't want to leave. So please support us, urn,more than
anything. Thank you. Thank you for listening.
Throgmorton: Thank you. Good evening.
Drenoso: (speaking through interpreter) Hello! Good evening, my name is Christina
Drenoso. I've lived in Forest View for almost 15 years. I'm a mother of two, um,
special needs children. They have autism. It's been three years since we've been
supporting and pushing forward with this project. We've received a lot of mutual
support from the community. Um, since my kids have autism, it's particularly
hard to move to other areas because my kids, it's important that they maintain a
routine and so they can't just adjust and adapt to new areas easily. Urn, they....
they began to speak later in life than other kids. Um, my oldest is 12-years-old
and she began to speak in 2014. So for me it's really important that this
community stay together, um,because my children feel safe in this community.
As a mother of course I worry, urn, that the kids'll go out, uh, go out into the road
with cars, but the community watches out for each other. That's a big support for
me as a mother knowing that people will identify my kids and....and help them
out,um, so it's a huge support for me. In my 15 years of living in Forest View,
I've never...I can really say that I've never had any problem with my neighbors.
There's always been good communication(both talking) and we've received the
support we need from them. Uh huh, in....in fact the storm that, urn, that...(both
talking)uh, a branch fell down onto my trailer during the big storm. Oh, um,
thanks to the trailer next door, my trailer didn't just come apart completely.
Luckily, um, my brother-in-law could help me repair it. Uh huh,but at this point
we really can't, um, spend the little bit of savings that we have to repair the
trailers. So we live with our heart in this project, um,hoping that you'll approve
it. Urn,but there's a part of us that still has to prepare in case it didn't get
approved. So we can't spend the few resources that we have on trailers that, I
mean, you know that, uh....uh, we continue to live there, but that don't merit a lot
of investment. Oh my heart,my children's and my spouse would,um, are really
excited to have this approved and hoped that it would be approved already. Um,
they've been saying, 'Mom, you have to come to the next meeting cause maybe
they'll give us the keys for our new house.' It's hard to tell them, 'No, no, we're
still waiting.' I know it's difficult for the people with the houses,uh, who are
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describing some of the problems. I know that those are some big problems. I also
know that Iowa City's growing, like a lot of other communities across Iowa.
Throgmorton: Pardon me, I think I need to interrupt. You....you've been speaking for quite a
long time. I....I wonder if you could just kind of draw it to a conclusion please.
Drenoso: (speaking through interpreter) So the only conclusion is please support and
approve the, um, this plan that would give us better houses than the trailers that
we have.
Throgmorton: Great. Thank you.
Drenoso: (speaking through interpreter) Thank you (mumbled)
Throgmorton: Good evening.
Nixon: Good evening. My name is Kathrine Nixon. I live at, uh, 802 Tranquil Bluff
Trail. Uh, we are very new to this neighborhood, so we're very new to the project
and I think what I'm about to say, uh, maybe should have been said three years
ago and might have been if, uh, other members of the community had been
involved in this development from the start. I was very surprised at the public
hearing in March that the cost of each modular home is going to be$200,000 and
I understood, or I understand, that after 15 years, um, they can apply for a
mortgage and buy the house for$66,000. That's wonderful, except for it's going
to be a mortgage on a 15-year old modular house which is not going to give them
very much return for their money. So I was curious and I wondered, uh, why it is
that for$200,000 an actual house cannot be built and provided for these people,
so that when they come to buy the house and apply for a mortgage, they have a
much better chance of getting the mortgage, and they will get a better return for
their investment,just like everybody else in America does when they are trying to
buy a house. So that's, uh, one, my main question, and again, I realize I'm very
late in this development,but that is a question—if we want to do affordable
housing, let's make it true affordable housing and real housing, and not a
manufactured home that is going to deter...deteriorate. So,my other question is,
or other question is, um, the guarantees that the,urn, manufactured homes are
going to be maintained,uh,properly and adequately, because if they start to
deterar...deteriorate, then it is going to affect the property values of the houses that
are immediately adjacent to it,regardless of what has been said tonight. Uh, and
you can see when you come off the interstate, you can see how dilapidated these
modular homes have become. I would also like to say that we have nothing at all
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against the rehousing of the community and I am kind of upset that everybody
who has spoken for the project is putting us as enemies, and we are not. Every
single person who has spoken, we have all said we want them to be rehoused. It
is the manner and the form of housing that we are concerned, not them as people
or not the fact that they need a new house. My other concern is that we were told
at the hearing in March that these trailers have been there since the 40s and 50s,
and I am a bit concerned because asbestos w as used as a very common building
material and if these trailers are going to be demolished and there is asbestos in
the building materials of the old trailers, what precautions are going to be taken so
that the, uh, removal of the trailers will be done safely,because we are very near
the water treatment plant, uh, all the water will drain into the river, um, so that is
another concern. So...that's all. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Kathrine. Anyone else? Good evening.
Hawks: I'm Laura Hawks and I'm a landscape architect. I work with Project GREEN, and
I've worked with them for the last 20 years or so. Um, Project GREEN, as you
know, is a non-profit,uh, citizens organization and they've contributed over $2
million,uh, towards parkways and green spaces in Iowa City for a long time, and
um, I have worked on the North Dubuque Street, uh, greenway for several years
and have observed it, and have studied Gretchen Harshbarger's original plans and
landscape improvements for that corridor, and urn, I do really applaud the design
team for, uh....uh, at, following through on some of the, uh, requests that Project
GREEN made last year, I believe it was last April. Um, the 40-foot buffer will be
an improvement, however I agree with John that, uh, evergreen trees and
additional plantings should be incorporated, um, into that buffer zone. Um, there
are trees actually that deer won't eat, like the Norway Spruce, that can be
incorporated into that strip. Um, and then also protection of the night sky, uh
....uh,through use of, um, lighting that will not disturb the....the plant material
and the wildlife in that area. They....they do, however, um, have concerns about
just....just the commercial development along North Dub...Dubuque Street and
the propensity for future commercial development on the east side, um, with that
intersection located there, uh, there are members of Project GREEN that are
worried about the....the whole future development along that strip, and I'm
wondering if City planners can address that question, um, I'm wondering if the
residential area and the greenway will be protected, um, in the long-term, you
know, for the next 50 years. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Laura.
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Barron: Really quick! Um, so I have this long list of angry rejoinders, um, that I wanted
to share, and urn, instead what I'm going to do is commend the residents of Forest
View for every single person who carne up here, said nothing negative about the
people who are standing against this project; acknowledged their concerns; and
just instead spoke of their vision for a stronger future, and I think that's incredible,
and I wish I had their poise. That's all! Just wanted to make...offer that
correction to the record.
•
Throgmorton: Thank you, Sara.
Barron: Uh huh!
Throgmorton: Anyone else? (unable to hear person speaking from audience) No! No! No
thanks. I can tell you though we are continuing the public hearing. So on the 23`'
there'll be a public hearing(laughs) so a person could speak then also. Anyone
else who has not spoken tonight? All right. Thanks to everyone for sharing your
views. They are all part of the sense of community we have, uh, even though
there are disagreements among individuals. So....I.....I wanna say a few things
be....and then ask the....the other Council Members to just kind of process this a
little bit, collectively. Uh,but first, this is obviously a tremendously complicated
rezoning involving a number of major issues. So I think it's a mistake to just
reduce it to one thing. There are a whole bunch of elements associated with this.
And it's also possible that a super-majority of Council Members will be required,
a super-majority being six out of seven, or seven out of seven. So, among the
major issues that I see are first of all the one that's been talked about the most
tonight—housing assistance relocation for the current residents of the trailer
court. The next is storm water run-off, uh, especially as it might affect Idyllwild
or other places, sort of down creek from Forest View. A third is secondary access
to the Peninsula development, and other neighborhoods west of Forest View.
That's a crucial part of the whole reason we got involved in this in the first place.
A fourth is the effects of increased traffic volumes on North Dubuque Street, on
the interchange of I-80 and Dubuque, and within the neighborhood itself. The
next is affect of the proposed project on existing woodland and wildlife. I'm
losing count here so don't....don't expect me to know whether this is number six
or five or what. Uh, the next is concerns expressed by single-family neighbors
who live to the west of the project. They are part of the neighborhood and we
need to acknowledge their concerns, somehow take them into account. A further
one has to do with property owners who live on Knollwood Lane, on the
southeast edge of the project, closest to the gas station that's bein' contemplated.
Uh, are, the question becomes—are there things we can do to respond to their
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concerns. Then also, I noticed that no one mentioned what several Planning and
Zoning Commissioners talked about,which was signage and concerns about
signage facing Dubuque Street and also signage facing to the north, and I know
there's all sorts of code elements involved in this, but it's hard to translate the code
elements into the....the visual human world. So, anyhow, those concerns and
other concerns that might be raised and I can tell ya, I'm going to say something
about climate action and adaptation, once we get processing this a little bit more.
So, other Council Members, do you wanna...feel free to address any of those
particular topics, without really sayin'how you're gonna vote cause we're
continuing the public hearing, and there are other people we might hear from,
but....but just in terms of....ex....expressing, I don't....saying whatever you
wanna say, yeah.
Salih: Yeah, I'm gonna start. Okay. Let me get my glasses. Really I know that we
gonna continue this but to me this is really unfortunate that we gonna continue,
and also unfortunate that we receive a lot of opposing from different people,but
that's a right. They have to come here and do whatever. Uh, I think the resident
of Forest View mobile home park have been working with (unable to understand)
development team for almost three years now, as we heard from all of them. And
redevelop plan for this area that makes their vision and preserving their
neighborhood and improving their housing. The comp plan amendment and this
rezoning obligation before us tonight present the Council's and the City of Iowa
City opportunity to honor and bring reality for the vision that Forest View
residents and their neighbor. I just think...I heard a lot of, you know, comment
here, and I'm gonna address some of them. Like the....the effect of the value of
housing that was site of the Forest View residents, like the manufacturing home.
As I heard from Sara Barron, Executive Director of, uh, Johnson County
Affordable Housing, there is no data showing that if, you know, the residence
...the value would be decreased because there is a long, sorry, uh, low-income
people housing beside that house. I don't think this is something real...real, and
there is no data supporting that, and I guess this is just a common belief by the
resident. Why don't think about it the opposite way. Encourage diversity on the
area, like just think about those people positively. They are human, and they can
live there and they can bring more diversity to the area, and your house value is
not gonna decrease. (mumbled) she talked about losing value and also talk about
the animal concern! The animal are not gonna find home for them. I'm glad you
concern about animals,but also think about people, human, who need housing,
and also think about animal. That's good! And also some, um....some of the
concern (mumbled) said we just like inviting people over from our side, our city
or our town to come and do this. I think like....a developer who come from
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outside and working hard with the residents to give them housing, I think that's
kind of developer I want to see in our community and will come in. Because they
are bringing, they are really setting the bar high, the standard very high, for other
developer,whether they are from this community or they coming from other
community to preserve and build affordable housing in our local community here.
I think I will come of course, you know, those kind of resident and glad that the
current developer working like really side-by-side with the resident to implement
affordable housing that we need. The resident not only getting better like
housing, a new house. They are getting better housing, and I think that's
something that we missing in this community and we need to have more
affordable housing. Yes, many thing will change for the residents. Uh, doesn't
going to be look like before,but I thinks let us look at the big pictures. We're
housing a lot of people and we give them opportunity to have better housing.
Some people talk about,'Nice and light!' I don't think, you know,um, nothing
against the student,but those are not a student who going to party all day. Those
are just family like you, and they have....they have kids, they work....most of
them work two job, who will come tired. They will turn off their light at 8:00 or
9:00 like any typical family in this, you know, community. Uh, I think (mumbled)
really a concern and....why should they have noise? They are a family who have
kids and they also would like to be living...and also those people are very
peaceful. I, you know I didn't see any data showing that there is like police
patrolling there or there is call for any negative thing there. Uh, I just believe
there is many, many good things on this project. Yeah! It could be a concern of
water and everything. Traffic, a lot people talk about traffic. And also our Mayor
mentioned that. I....I don't know anything about traffic, but I trust our traffic
engineering. They will take care of that, and if they think there is problem, they
should have let us know there is a problem, and I don't think since(unable to
understand) approve that. I'm not going to take this as a concern. And....yeah,
there is like...I....I wanna make sure (mumbled)water,you know, for the
Idyllwood and everything. I wanna make sure we have fairly good plan for that,
no doubt,but, uh, I just think this is a very good project and I just hope this is will
move forward. Thank you.
Mims: I'm gonna reserve my comments, given that we have to continue the public
hearing and that it's after 10:00. Um, I mean it's obviously up to everybody else
on the Council what they want to do tonight, but I'm just....since we have to
continue the public hearing I'm going to reserve my comments to our next
meeting.
Thomas: I think that's a good idea(laughter)
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Mims: We still have a few items on the agenda tonight! (laughs)
Teague: I just appreciate all the voices that came.
Mims: Yes!
Teague: And spoke tonight. I really do appreciate it.
Mims: Great!
Thomas: Yeah, that's the only frustration in not speaking is some of you may not come
back at our next hearing, but um....uh.....
Mims: And it is televised, so if you(both talking)
Thomas: It is televised,that's correct.
Cole: I'm gonna reserve my comments as well,but I do want us to embrace this process.
I know it is not easy to come in and share your opinions sometimes if they're the
unpopular opinions. I wanna encourage you to continue to do that and to reach
out to us,because I wanna make sure that we're a venue where all voices are
heard and that we're really trying to, you know, collectively, um,work together to
make the community a better place, and so,urn, I'm gonna reserve the bulk of my
comments for the next meeting,but I hope people will come out and reach out to
us and continue to express their concerns. Any planning process is an imperfect
process that we try to make better. Urn, so I'm looking forward to additional
comments in a couple weeks.
Mims: Three weeks.
Cole: Three weeks!
Mims: Just as a correction,cause....and I will just make that comment. We normally
meet on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. This month we are meeting on
the 23`d1. We're meeting on the third Tuesday. So just....it's an odd...it's an odd
schedule, so just make people aware of that.
Cole: Thank you.
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Throgmorton: Okay, well I need to say a few things, and...uh, I....what I'm gonna say is sort of
like opening a possibility. It's not shutting anything down. Uh, there's so much
about the project I support and admire,but I do have a couple suggestions and
then, uh, a deeper concern. So, the first suggestion, I think the City staff should
be working with neighbors who live along Algonquin, to see if they can resolve
the concerns of those residents. I....I don't know if that's possible,but I think the
effort should be made. It....maybe it's already been made and I don't know about
it. The second has to do with the people who live just south of the gas station, the
proposed gas station. Likewise, it seems to me that if...there's a desire on their
part to have a sound barrier between the gas....between Forest View, well
between the gas station and those residences, I think that should be taken
seriously as a possibility, and I can easily imagine how such a sound barrier could
be constructed, uh, in a very attractive way. My deeper concern has to do with...
uh, the climate action and adaptation stuff that I mentioned earlier. So, as I....as I
spent the last several days reading all this material, not much of which is new to
me in terms of the detail with regard to Forest View. Not the big picture, but the
detail. Uh, I feel as though I have dropped the ball in terms of relating this project
to our carbon emission reduction plan. We have spent a lot of effort, a lot of time
creating a climate action and adaptation plan. We adopted it last September. And
given everything I've personally said,publicly, about the importance of climate
action, I think it would be profoundly hypocritical of me to fully support this
proposal, as it currently stands. From a climate action and adaptation point of
view, the project is, from only....from that point of view, it's a big step in the
wrong direction. Let me explain,because I wanna open up a possibility here. It's'
profoundly dependent on and reinforces the use of fossil fuel-powered cars and
trucks. Traffic—a major topic of conversation. Traffic. 15,000 vehicles a day.
Traffic. Okay. Secondly, it removes most of the existing woodland and the
shading, cooling, and CO2 absorption and oxygen-producing benefits the
woodlands provide. I don't know what the percentage is. I'd like to have a real
clear....restatement, uh, for me personally, about what percentage of the existing
woodland will be removed. That affects both....all....all those kinds of benefits,
but also wildlife, and third, it includes a large amount of paving and roof cover.
Okay, with that in mind, I wanna explore....I'm kind of asking the developing....
development team to consider the...willingness to take, uh, to instill a few changes
in the plan, and if you agree, this...these would become another, I don't know,part
of the conditional zoning agreement. So anyhow, what I have in mind, and this
would need some exploration, is to, uh, with regard to auto dependence, to take,
uh, to, uh, make sure the project contains actions that will reduce the number of,
the expected number of trips made to and from the project, without harming the
project at all. So what could be done? Maybe a shuttle bus, timed to meet the
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City bus, with the shuttle bus going through, uh, the development, as a whole.
Down Algonquin and down to Forest....Foster Road and up Laura Drive and so
on. Or maybe, uh, having the City bus go up into the project and go through the
project and down Algonquin and out to the Peninsula development and so on. So
that's one thing. A second is, including electric vehicle recharging stations in the
development as a planned part of the development. There's a lot of parking up
there, surface parking. I'd really like to see EV stations, uh, incorporated into
many, or all, of those surface parking lots, and certainly be a part of a gas station.
If we're gonna move away from gasoline, fossil fuels, etc., we...(laughs)we've
gotta set...we've...we've gotta set a marker out there, and this is such a big and
important project, we have to do it better, I think, in that sense. Another thing
havin' to do with, uh...the point I'm making, is....uh, I think we need to ensure
that the project contains energy-efficient lighting for streets and parking areas. I
think they have to be required, and that all lighting should be downward facing.
You know, it makes a huge difference if you illuminate the whole area versus
having downward facing lighting, and the downward facing lighting is vastly
better for all sorts of reasons. Lastly, and this has nothing directly to do with this
project,with regard to any future large-scale development projects, I believe we
need to amend the City code to require the staff and applicant to consider the
effects of the proposed project on future carbon emissions and, uh, the, uh....um,
and to take actions that will help us achieve our carbon emission goals. This is
(laughs) such a big project. It....it's, and I've said so much about climate action
over the past three years, that I think we really need to push the envelope, and I
think this is a great opportunity for you, Eddie, for Kevin, for Blackbird as a
whole, and I think each of the things I mentioned could be incorporated, uh, but
there might be other things that could be done as well. That's all I need to say.
So, does anybody else want to say anything else?
Cole: Shouldn't we defer it to next time(both talking)
Throgmorton: Yeah. Okay, so....it'd be good to have a motion to continue the public hearing
and first consideration to April the 23r1.
Cole: So moved.
Salih: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Cole, seconded by Teague.
Cole: Salih!
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Throgmorton: This is, is this an all in favor type, voice vote?
Dilkes? Uh, yes!
Throgmorton: All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. (several talking in background)
Okay, in the interest of time I think I'll try to move us right along to Item 11 c.
Fruehling: Jim, can we get a motion for correspondence?
Throgmorton: Oh! Can I have a move to accept correspondence pertaining to what, the 11 a and
b?
Fruehling: 1 lb.
Throgmorton: 1lb.
Mims: So moved.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims. Seconded by....
Taylor: Bruce.
Throgmorton: Seconded by Teague. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries.
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11.d. Rollins Pass—Preliminary Plat—Resolution approving the preliminary
plat and sensitive areas development plan of Rollins Pass, Iowa City, Iowa
(SUB18-00013)
Mims: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Cole. Good evening, Danielle!
Sitzman: Good evening, Mayor and Council, Danielle Sitzman,NDS. I'll go through this
rather quickly. Less complex than the ones we've been dealing with this evening.
It should go fairly quickly. This is a proposed preliminary plat for land to be
known as Rollins Pass. It's approximately eight acres at the southwest corner of
Lower West Branch Road, uh, southeast...Taft Avenue southeast. It was recently
rezoned in August of this year to a combination of medium density, single-family
residential, RS-8, and low density, multi-family, RM-12, with five conditions.
Those five conditions are triggered at various points in the oncoming
development, land development process. Some of them, uh, are things that need
to be addressed at the prelim plat and have been, and some of them are things that
come along, uh, later in the process with final plats. Staff is satisfied that the
applicant is making the progress that they need to make on those conditions as
they go along. This is the preliminary plat and sensitive areas development plan
that has been submitted. As you know, preliminary plats contain some of the
details,uh, regarding how lots lay out, future public streets, where utilities are,
and the, uh, presence and treatment of sensitive areas. Also grading is considered.
On this site to the west there is a creek, and that is considered the only real
sensitive areas, um, that needed to be studied. There's a new public street system
to be built, connect....across that corner, fronted with singer...single-family lots
on the south side and then a larger lot reserved on the northeast side for future, uh,
multi-family development. Um, this is a concept plan that was expressed as part
of the rezoning and as you can see it closely, uh, mirrors (mumbled) required to
be shown very similarly as they go through the platting process. This exhibit
shows the footprints of the future townhomes on the larger lot to the northeast
corner of the development. Um, staff has reviewed the traffic access and street
design as part of this, uh, preliminary plat proposal. There are sidewalks shown
on both sides of all new public streets. There's also a private trail connection
that's contemplated as part of the development. The developer's committed to
installation of a bridge over Ralston Creek to allow for a(mumbled) connection
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of...from the internal street system of their development to the public park system
and trail system across the creek. There are also requirements for open space,
both private open space and public open space. Those are being addressed
appropriately at this time. There is an outlot where some private open space will
be provided along Ralston Creek. There's also another outlot being set aside for
future development. The applicant has committed to paying a fee in lieu, uh, in
place of the public open space requirement, urn, and the appropriate stream
buffers are being observed along Ralston Creek. Um, there was a wetland
delineation report, um....uh, study presented and evaluated and there are no, uh,
additional sensitive areas on this lot that need to be addressed. Regarding storm
water and sanitary sewers,um, storm water management is going to be provided,
um, through an underground piping system. Urn, there will be a final storm water
plan that's required with final plat and reviewed by City staff. Sanitary sewers
will cross, uh, will cross Ralston Creek, um, and that provides an opportunity for
that trail connection as well. Uh, as far as next steps in the development process,
as I mentioned this has already gone through the rezoning so we're at the
highlighted step in orange there, which is the preliminary plat and sensitive areas
step. If this were to pass, um, they would be coming back to you by resolution for
eventual consideration of a final, uh, plat and then sensitive areas would be
evaluated and, uh, site plans as needed for multi-family would be reviewed by
staff. Then the Planning Commission at its March 21'meeting, uh, did vote to
recommend approval of this application to you by a vote of 6-0. Um, staff has
reviewed it and concurs with that recommendation based on our analysis of the
proposed project. That concludes staff report!
Throgmorton: Any questions for Danielle?
Mims: Yes. Um, I must have missed this when this came before us on rezoning. Why
are we having another, if I'm reading this, interpreting this map right, why are we
having another access point onto Taft? I mean we've got....is it Lower West
Branch Road, and then we've got one coming out of the development. I thought
one of our real efforts here was going to be to minimize access points, because
eventually that'd get paved and be truck traffic. So I'm just kind of surprised that
we've got another access point so close to Lower West Branch Road.
Sitzman: I believe the intention was that, uh, for the number of units that would be served
by this development that two ways in and two ways out was important. The
spacing from the intersection has been reviewed, um, and we're aware of the
improvements that would be made to Taft, and Engineering thought it was
acceptable, uh, spacing on Taft to allow for another connection. Um, there would
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be 21 units of townhomes on that lot. Uh, they're not kind of shown in this
footprint here. So there would be quite a bit of devel....of development so it
seemed appropriate to have multiple connections. There's also a stub to the south
eventually too. Um, as you can see on this map, that would not be developed at
this time cause there's a lot in the county right there that's not, um, intending to be
redeveloped anytime soon.
Mims: I just hope we continue to be very cautious about....additional curb cuts onto Taft.
Throgmorton: Any other questions for Danielle? Thank you. Council discussion? Hearing
none, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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13. 628 S. Dubuque sewer easement—Resolution authorizing the execution of a
Quit Claim Deed to Del Ray Ridge, LP to release a sewer easement on 628 S.
Dubuque Street.
1. Public hearing
Throgmorton: I will open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Hi, Ron!
Knoche: Good evening, Ron Knoche, Public Works Director. Uh, this....currently on this
site there is a sanitary sewer that runs through the middle of....of the developable
site. This would be where the Del Ray project will be. Urn, part of their
development will relocate that sewer, urn, running to the west and down Clinton
Street. Um, this basically releases our rights of that sewer location. Pretty
straightforward.
Throgmorton: Great. Thank you. Anyone else want to address this topic? Seeing no one I'm
going to close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion to
approve please?
2. Consider a Resolution
Mims: So moved.
Taylor: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Taylor. Discussion?
Taylor: I think this is a really great project and whatever we can do to get it going is good!
Salih: I second that!
Throgmorton: Any other discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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14. UniverCity Sale—522 N. Dodge Street—Resolution authorizing conveyance
of a single-family home located at 522 North Dodge Street.
1. Public hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Seeing no one I'm gonna close the
public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion to approve please?
2. Consider a Resolution
Salih: Move.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Salih, seconded by Cole. Discussion? I wanna say I live two blocks
away from this house. It is directly across the street from Horace Mann
Elementary and a block away from North Market Square Park. Uh, it's been a
real treat seeing the renovation of 522 N. Dodge and I easily, I can easily imagine
how it would be a great place for a family with a small child or a couple small
children or whatever to move in and watch their children safely cross Dodge
Street, go to Horace Mann, and uh, and move on to Southeast Junior High
(laughs) City High or whatever...whatever happens, uh, to....to them. So I'm
really pleased to be able to support this.
Salih: I just wanna ask a question. When....when the UniverCity sale come by us like
this, this means we just approve it for sale and you going to advertise it or this is
means the sale has been done?
Hightshoe: No, we have an accepted purchase offer. So this is allowing us to actually close
on the property.
Salih: Okay.
Hightshoe: So (both talking) so someone has made a purchase offer and we're willing to
accept it.
Salih: Sure. Okay. Good to know. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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15. Highway 1 Trail—Sunset Street to Mormon Trek Boulevard—Resolution
awarding contract and authorizing the City Engineer to sign and the City
Clerk to attest a contract for construction of the Highway 1 Trail—Sunset
Street to Mormon Trek Boulevard Project [TAP-U-3715(665)-81-521
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Mims: So moved.
Salih: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Salih. Discussion? Ron, did you want to talk
about this?
Knoche: As you can see, uh, from the comment that we had nine bidders on this project.
So it was, uh, very popular amongst the contracting community, urn, which then
also resulted in a very good bid on this project. Urn, one thing I do want to point
out, which is unique(mumbled) well, is unique with this project,but won't
(mumbled) federal projects as we move forward, urn, the requirements now for
the DOT are electronic signing of contracts. Uh, with this we're going to have the
City Engineer sign off on all of our federal projects. They're....they're used to the
system. Uh, our elected officials won't have to go through the process of getting
electronic signature, um, so in the future you'll see with our federal projects that
the City Engineer will be authorized to sign off on the contracts.
Throgmorton: Okay, good deal.
Cole: How many miles of trail is this gonna be, or what's the length of it gonna be?
Knoche: I'm not certain the length on it. It's probably about a mile.
Cole: Okay!
Knoche: Uh, between Sunset and Mormon roughly would be that mile road, so....
Throgmorton: So you gonna be out there on the trail, Ron? (laughter) Okay, anybody else want
to comment on this? No. All right. Council Members, discussion?
Cole: Always pleased to see that trail system fill out, so little by little we're gettin'it
done!
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Throgmorton: Yeah! Okay, hearing no further discussion, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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16. Gilbert Street Intersection Improvements—Resolution awarding contract
and authorizing the Mayor to sign and the City Clerk to attest a contract for
construction of the Gilbert Street Intersection Improvements Project.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Salih: Move.
Teague: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Salih, seconded by Teague. Discussion? Ron, did you want to
comment on this? I notice it's, uh (both talking)
Knoche: Unfortunately with every good bid there....there comes some bids that we're not
so good on. So we had three bidders on this project. We had an engineer's
estimate of$960,000 and uh, the low bid was roughly 1.3 million. Urn, this
project,urn, it is really integral with the Chauncey redevelopment going on and
the....the development work in the area here to....to get this work done in this
construction season. Urn, we've, urn, looked at the bids. The bids don't, I mean,
with....the low bid was 1.3 million,the high bid is 1.5. I mean the....this....this is
what the project's gonna cost to bid this. Um, I also believe that we'll see a
reduction, uh, in a bid price if we would rebid this project. Um, a few things that
we did add on to the project and maybe we didn't update the budgeting side of it,
we added lighting all the way along Washington Street, from Van Buren all the
way tying up to Linn. So we'll....we'll update the lighting, uh, in the corridor, um,
and then along with that we are also updating both of the signals at the
intersections of....of College and out here at Washington, on Gilbert Street. Urn,
so with that, and....and having a short fall, we did go back through, um, some of
our annual projects and....and were able to use some of those, urn, dollar amounts
there, urn, using$300,000 from our traffic signal, uh, annual project. Urn,
roughly$100,000,uh, or 130,000, from our pavement rehabilitation program.
There'll be some patching that'll go along, uh, Gilbert Street. And then there'll
also be some curb ramps that we'll be replacing obviously with the intersection
improvements. So, urn, we included $70,000 from that program. Urn, so that
would...that covers the shortfall as far as the budgeting goes, so it'll be road use
tax funds that we use to....to fill the gap.
Salih: I just wanna ask you, yeah, I...as you said the estimate, the engineering estimate
and the(mumbled) is really like way different, uh, like did you find out what the
different come from, uh,why your estimation like way low than the....
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Knoche: When....when we looked at it, it appeared the biggest, well one of the biggest
differences was in the....the water main cost. So, urn, for....for whatever reason,
um, the trenching number that we have in this corridor is a little bit more
expensive, almost double what we would normally see. Um, and part of that I
think is just the tight constraints we're in within the corridor. Urn, and then we
had a....we missed a little bit on some of the lighting stuff. So I think those are
the two biggest things we saw as differences.
Salih: Oh, you mean like after you (both talking)
Knoche: Right(both talking) seeing what the engineer,um, had estimated those items as,
versus what the actual bid was, on the...you know, what the contractor actually
bid. Those are the two items that are the big one, that were kind of the outliers for
us.
Salih: Okay.
Knoche: Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thanks, Ron. Anyone else want to address this? Seeing no one....(laughter and
several talking in background) Okay, roll call please! Motion carries 7-0.
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17. Willow Creek Park Improvements—Resolution awarding contract and
authorizing the Mayor to sign and the City Clerk to attest a contract for
construction of the Willow Creek Park Improvements Project.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion please?
Teague: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Hi, Juli!
Seydell-Johnson: Hi, Juli Seydell-Johnson, Parks and Recreation Director. I can't wait until I get
to come to you with a bid that's actually really bid for one of these projects
(laughs) As you can see, this was over the engineer's estimate. Um, the cost,
we're filling that gap with the savings from the trail project you approved two
items ago. Um, they're both Parks and Rec projects,urn, and that will fill a large
portion of that.
Throgmorton: Okee doke.
Salih: But same question, Juli. Why is like really different?
Seydell-Johnson:Yeah, that's a great question on this one. We based the estimates on the
Creekside and Riverfront Crossings, which we just bid very recently. Um, there's,
we....we don't have a reason why this came in so high, but as you know, as we've
rebid projects over the last couple years, they tend to come in even higher after we
rebid so, um, that's why we're recommending that we continue on and....and get
this one done.
Salih: Sure.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Juli. Council discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion
carries 7-0.
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22. Community Comment
Throgrnorton: Gustave, do you or, uh,Austin want to say anything?
Stewart: I'll keep this short. Urn, so my name's Gustave Stewart, Student Liaison, if you
didn't know. Urn, but just wanted to let you know about one event that's coming
up that UISG is hosting, and that is....excuse me, the First Generation Summit,
urn, and the idea, urn, this summit is the second, um....last year was the first, and
essentially it holds information sessions, resource (mumbled) network for our
keynote speakers, and the idea behind this is, urn, generally to kind of celebrate
the first generation identity, uh, for students at the University of Iowa, that about
20 to 25% of students at the University of Iowa are first generation, um, and
community members are welcome to come. Um, University students, faculty,
staff, urn, yeah! Thank you.
Salih: And you said when is that?
Stewart: Urn, oh, I forgot the time! April 13th, Saturday,um, 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., and
if you're interested, I can send you more info, uh, to register for it and whatnot.
Salih: Okay.
Stewart: Yep!
Salih: Okay, thank you.
Throgmorton: Great. Thanks, Gustave.
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23. City Council Information
Throgmorton: Maz, we'll start with you and move to the right.
Salih: Information, not like reporting committee. Okay, um....I just, I just come out
from Tunisia. It is a really beautiful place and I....I, we met with,uh, I went there
with another nine elected official across the country. They went with me. They, I
met people from California, elected official like city council and board of
supervisor from Michigan and from Washington, D.C., from New York, a city
council, and interestingly I (mumbled) even city council different in United State.
I wasn't know that. I sort of like, uh, all the city council look like our city council,
but it is really interesting to know that some city council, like really we are
fortunate to have a city manager. So even...I know the city council, they don't
have a city manager, and the mayor is like the one who control everything, and
(unable to understand) how the mayor like,just....(unable to understand) so that
will drive the, you know, the community. But, uh, I'm glad that we have city
manager and we have a council like this, and when I told 'em about like our
councils and the thing...like how things work, it....they really were exciting to
hear that. And also the Tunisian, they learn a lot from us because they are
forming all the, this is for the first time they elect, uh, city council members and,
you know, government. Used to be like been appointed by the presidents and the
people who work for him,but right now it become an election. People like run it
and it is really....they still building on like housing support because, uh, over
there that's new elected, you know, city council. Before it used to be like the...
the....the staff like running everything and those people who appointed, they don't
have any voice but now they have like....trying to take over the power to the city
council so the staff will be working under them. It is really interesting that they
ask us a lot of question about things work in the United States and we been telling
them and they will be here on, uh, September, in Washington, D.C. for 10 days
(unable to understand) hoping if they can come to Iowa City and(both talking)
I'm going to invite them and see if they able to come and just attend a city council
meeting and see how things work here. But that was a really, uh, very big deal for
me (unable to understand) I don't have anything else to report on!
Throgmorton: I'm really thrilled about it, Maz. It was a great opportunity for ya. Yeah.
Salih: Nice weather, and nice food (laughter)
Throgmorton: All right. (mumbled) Mediterranean climate, I remember that! Rockne?
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Cole: Three super quick announcements. Um, there are applications now available for
the affordable housing, uh, apartments at Augusta Place. So I encourage people
that are interested in that, who meet the income guidelines, to, urn, look up
iowacityorg/forms/augustaplace,uh, and so they can make that application.
Second thing is is it is springtime and it's gardening season, uh, so if they're
interested in, uh, getting a community garden plot, they can apply through the
Robert A. Lee Recreation Center, or is.gov.org/activityregistration, urn, so that's
somethin'people should look into. And finally,there's a ton of really good STEM
events that have been happening lately, urn, for math and engineering and art, urn,
and this is actually a STEAM event that will take place at the Robert A. Lee
Education Center, urn, September,April 7a', 2019, from 2:00 to 5:00 R.M. There'll
be a lot of great activities and it is free. So it's a really fun event and I encourage
people to attend! Pauline and I just had a good conversation as well with Nancy
Bird. It's always good to get in contact with the Downtown District. Doin' a lot
of great things and lookin' forward to seein' what they have in store this summer!
Thomas: Well Jim and I also met with Nancy and, uh, I forget the, her assistant, but
anyway, urn, Malcolm. Anyway, he was....he was sort of making sure everything
that we exchanged was....was documented. So that was interesting. Uh, beyond
that you had mentioned, Jim, at the beginning of the meeting the,uh, success of
the women's basketball team. It was really kind of fun watching that ride, being,
uh,being on that ride, attendance at several of the games, and urn, you know, it
was really....the team is such a team-oriented....team (laughs) you know, the way
they play with, uh, you know, the assist ratios all the, you know, that kind of data.
They're just a pleasure to watch cause they play as a team and, uh, they had great
success this year.
Mims: Nothing.
Taylor: The Shelter House Book Sale was this weekend and it was very successful.
Large, great, uh, turnout of folks and I saw a figure, I think 27,000 they raised
over the weekend, which is very good. Uh, coming up, uh, tomorrow, uh,
afternoon, the Iowa City, uh, Police Department ceremony. Uh, I usually love
going to that,but I'll be tied up taking field trip, uh, Rockne, with the, some
Longfellow Longhorn sixth graders to the Putnam Museum, so I won't be able to
make it to that,but I will make it back hopefully for the MPO meeting, which we
have tomorrow afternoon. Uh,April 4th, I believe....isn't that this week,the Civil
Rights? You folks hadn't mentioned that; maybe you were gonna mention it, Jim.
I'll let you talk abut that then, that's...that's tomorrow afternoon then. Looking
forward to that. Urn, and I was disappointed that, uh, folks weren't here to, uh,
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accept the proclamation for the Delta Sigma Theta Day. Uh, I'll be(mumbled)
present, uh, the proclamation to them this Saturday. They're having a parade, uh,
from 10:00, on Iowa Avenue. It's, uh, the largest, uh,African American sorority
in the country and they're actually celebrating being chartered 100 years ago. So
it's a pretty major milestone for them. So that will be exciting, and also Saturday
I'm excited to go to, uh,ballet at Rancher, presented by the American Ballet
Theater, uh, Whipped Cream! It sounds like it'll be really great, so that'll be a...
that'll be a fun event. That's all! Oh, I do wanna caution people. As Rockne
mentioned that it's spring, but uh, be cautious out there, watch for bicycles and
motorcycles and pedestrians and little children out there playing. So,just be
careful out there.
Throgmorton: I was afraid you were going to say there's still some slippery sidewalks (laughter
and several talking) Bruce?
Teague: Yes, so...um, tomorrow night,Wednesday, the South District, urn, they're real
excited and wanted to really inform the community that they're gonna be havin' a
meetin' at the Broadway Center, and that's gonna be 6:00 P.M. to 7:30, um, and
that's happening tomorrow, Wednesday, uh,April 3`d. This Saturday, I know that,
um, there was a proclamation for same-sex marriage, which is gonna be takin'
place on the 12th in Des Moines, and One Iowa's puttin' on that celebration. One
Iowa is a LGBTQ, um....uh, a group that does lots of amazin' things for, uh,the
community. Um, and this Saturday at 7:00 P.M. there's a fashion show that I'm
actually a part of(laughs) I'm gonna be walkin'the....walkin' the, uh, the....the, I
don't know what ya call it, the....gangway? (laughs) So it should be interestin'
but that is happenin', and again, that's gonna be happenin' in Cedar Rapids at
Shore Center at 7:00 P.M. and it's a fundraiser for One Iowa and all the great work
that they do. There, um....is also, urn.....we have a very unique, um, group in our
community that some people know about and I think a lot of people are continuin'
to spread the word, and that's the Bird House. That's the Hospice House of
Johnson County. And on the 11th of April they will be havin'their fourth annual
bird bash, and this is really a grassroot, urn, hospice, um, house, where up to five
patients can go and receive end-of-life care, and this is the only thing within our
community where there's actually a hospice house that's in the community.
There's the Mercy, which does phenomenal things, but bein' in a homelike
community, um, you know, endin' your life there, with family supporting and uh,
staff around is,uh, a very unique situation within our community, and that will be
at the Celebration Farm at 5:00 P.M. on April 11th.
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Throgmorton: Okay. So on March the 13th I welcomed people to the United Nations Association
Night of A Thousand Dinners.' It was fun to do. Over the past three weeks I've
held one-on-one interviews with the three candidates for the University of Iowa's
Associate Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion position. It was
pretty instructive; they were all three good candidates. Uh, on the 26th of March,
Geoff and I met with Representative Mike Sexton,Ames Mayor John
Hale...Haila, our three lobbying people, and lots of realtors in Des Moines, in the
State Capitol building,uh, to talk about the rental cap legislation that they have
underway. I....I found the Representative Sexton to be very attentive and I
thought very fair in conducting the discussion, but I'm not at all remotely
optimistic about what legislation might come out of the conversation. If you
wanna elaborate, Geoff, please feel free to. (laughs) It was fascinating watching,
I don't mean this derogatorily, but watching political sausage being made. It's a...
it's a different process than what we engage in and so on and so....so it was
instructive to parti...participate in that. On the 28th I met with members of the
Inter-Faith Alliance's 'Safe Community Task Force,' to discuss possible responses
to recent incidents havin' to do with, um, racist, you know, anti....racist
sentiments and, um....hateful expressions of....of viewpoints. I found it to be a
very instructive and valuable conversation and I think we're likely to see some
conversations taking place between two law students and you, Eleanor, and
there'll be some process about that.
Dilkes: I'm meeting with them on Monday.
Throgmorton: Very good! On the 29th I helped deliver meals with Doreen Knot, as part of the
Meals on Wheels program. That was really fun. Doreen! If you're watching, it
was great fun. Thank you so much for guiding me around. And, let's see, on the
30`h I made a few welcoming comments at a Unity Meeting of the Sudanese
community. That was a real treat and I'm sorry I had to leave quickly. I know
Maz was there,Rockne was there. It was really inspiring to be present and, uh,
witness diverse parts of the Sudanese community coming together. On the fourth,
you mentioned this, Pauline,meaning tomorrow I guess, is it, or no (several
talking)Thursday night, uh, there's going to be the screening of Jack Brook's
video about last June's Civil Rights Tour. It's gonna be at Marcu...uh, Sycamore
Cinema. It starts at 6:00 P.M. There was a great story about it in the Press-
Citizen this morning. Jack did a superb job of following us around and, Rockne,
you remember this. Everywhere you turn there's Jack filming, somebody being...
he was interviewing and showin' shots of the interior of the places that we were
goin'into and all that kind of stuff. So I'm really lookin' forward to that(both
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talking) Yeah. Yeah, and let's see, on the 16th I exp....April 16th I expect to attend
Civil Diplomacy dinner at the Hotel Vetro. Looking forward to that! Okay!
Salih: Can I add something (mumbled) Yeah, I...on Friday at 6:00 P.M. at North Liberty
Recreation Center, if you are interesting, there is a meeting, uh, about, uh, the...
the Golf View Mobile Home Park that being bought by new owner and raising the
rent because this is coming soon to Iowa City,uh, for Sunrise, uh (mumbled)
Sunrise,yeah, and the....I guess if you are interesting you can just come up
because this is....you gonna need to think about that when it come, and what we
gonna do if this happen at Sunrise, and which it definitely gonna happen. Yeah.
Taylor: On a lighter note, I would be negligent, since I ran into Katy Roche on the way
over to the meeting, uh, to not remind folks about the Mission Creek Festival.
Tonight was the first night for that and she was so excited to tell me,uh, I was
hoping we'd be done,uh, someone named Noura Mint Seymali, she's apparently a
very famous African American singer, um, that was going to be at The Mill
tonight, which is a surprise. She normally apparently sings at stadiums and big
events in Africa. So, uh, Katy was very excited, and the Mission Creek Festival,
uh, runs all this week, the 4th through the...or the 2"d through the 7th,
so....everybody go!
Throgmorton: Anyone else? Okay!
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