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1. Call to Order
Throgmorton: So just for the benefit of the audience, Council member Salih will not be here
again tonight. We understand, Bruce was telling us, that she expects to return on
the 20th of this month. So we certainly hope she arrives, returns safely and look
forward to seeing her. Beyond that I would like to make a brief opening
statement. This past weekend Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials
were expected to conduct major raids targeting undocumented migrant parents
and their children. Indications were that more such raids would take place
throughout this week. As far as I know, no major raids have actually occurred so
far, though I did read a, uh, a significant one in San Diego and there may have
been some others that I don't know about. But I want to reiterate what this
Council has said before. As we stated in a resolution adopted on December the
6th, 2016, "We strongly condemn any political rhetoric regardless of viewpoint
that involves threatening or intimidating language and any actions that involve the
threat or fact of physical harm to others, and we celebrate our community's
diversity and welcome all residents who live here. Regardless of their national
origin, color, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity" To translate, this is
me talking now, not the Council on the .... in 2016. To translate, we reject efforts
to frighten and endanger individuals and families by raiding their homes at night.
We reject efforts to separate children from their parents, and then place those
children in inhumane conditions. We reject racist efforts to divide Americans in
terms of race, ethnicity, religion, or country of origin. Moreover, as we stated in a
resolution adopted on January the 11th, 2017, "Except as necessary for public
safety, as determined by the Police Chief or designee, or as otherwise required by
state or federal law, the Iowa City Police Department shall not undertake any law
enforcement action for the purpose of detecting the presence of undocumented
persons, or devote any public resources to the enforcement of federal immigration
law." And there are lots of details associated with that resolution that matter in
terms of what the Police Department would actually do. So, me speaking again to
translate, we will continue focusing our local law enforcement efforts on ensuring
public safety. We urge the President and our elected representatives in the U.S.
Congress to devise immigration and border enforcement policies that are fair,
humane, and reflect American values. Okay, thanks, so now we move on to Item
2, which is proclamations.
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2. Proclamations
2.a. Americans with Disabilities Act Anniversary Day
Throgmorton: And I notice that the person I expected to be accepting the proclamation is not
here. Do you know if Harry's gonna be here or not? (unable to hear response)
Okay. But I'll read it anyhow. It has to do with Americans with Disabilities Act
Anniversary Day. (reads proclamation) So I assume there's no one here to accept
the proclamation? Apparently there's no, so we'll move on to Items 3 through 8,
which are the Consent Calendar.
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9. Community Comment (items not on the agenda)
Throgmorton: So this is for any i ... if you wanna discuss any item that's not on our formal
meeting agenda, please feel free to come up to the podium and do so. Please don't
take any longer than .... three to five minutes, and .... state your name when you
come up, sign in when you come up. So, would anybody like to address us? Like
Brandon, for example? Hi, Brandon!
Ross: City Council, Mayor....on a couple things. Uh, one's pretty easy, uh, pretty
straightforward is, uh, you .... folks, we have pianos that are out in Iowa City. It's
kind of a cool idea. And there are dozens of people who play the piano, uh,
regularly. I'm one. Uh, but uh, even better than that, which is also pretty cool, is
that, uh, kids .... kids play, kids who have, uh, had some lessons. They get out
there and they .... uh, they play. Um.....two of the three pianos have been in
disrepair for five weeks, uh, which is pretty large, uh, proportion of, uh, of the
summer. Uh, one has got, you know, 30 stuck keys. The other has no pedals, and
that's two out of the three pianos. So I just thought someone wanna pick that up,
uh, apparently no one else seems to know who's the right person there, uh, West
Music keeps passing it. Uh, Downtown Association says it's the Council. So,
who knows. Anyway, something that could be improved. Um, two I'd just like
to, uh, I'd just like to bring up a general issue, which is that, um, as we look across
the street from here, uh, we see the Chauncey, urn .... and, um, it's now been, uh,
four .... four summers that, uh, it's been under construction, and um.....there used
to be a common area, there used to be a park there, uh, used to be a bicycle
library, which was free for everybody. And I would just like to emphasize that,
you know, this space is, uh, this space belongs to the public, right? I mean I know
that there are wealthy landlord, planners, tenants going in there. But we've lost,
you know for instance 1,400 days so far of the park, uh, for the people, but
what .... what are we getting back? You know, like what do we .... do we get, uh,
for that destruction? And I think that's a good point to bring up. Uh, as we look
across we already see that in the park space there's the advertisement which says,
uh, 'spare me.' I can't help but look at that and think of it in a certain way, you
know, uh, there's advertisement now in the park area. That's 1,400 days so far.
And you know, kids and teenagers need .... need space, not to mention adults,
seniors, and families, but you know, you're puttin' a bowling alley in there. I don't
know how many of you folks are, uh, are bowlers. I don't know your, uh, your
handicaps, per se, but uh.... I think that bowling alley should be free for anybody
18 and under. Why not give it back to us a little bit, just a little bit. Free bowling!
I know people, you know, you can get hit in the head with one of those balls. If
you've seen The Big Lebowski, it's not all play. But, you know, why not? Who's
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that land belong to? That's common space! You know, uh, I think we can do
better than that. I know there's a film going in there, but this is paid for.
This.....this isn't common space any more, and I would like you to hustle up those
people regarding the park, which hurts everybody. Thousands of people are
affected. So that would be my point. Thank you!
Throgmorton: Thanks, Brandon. Anyone else? Good evening, Adil. How are you?
Adams: Adil Adams, uh, Iowa City. Uh, two weeks ago I went to Mercer Park. There
was an event about, uh, Juneteenth and this is the first time I go to see this events
about Juneteenth, and there was food and music and .... different cultures, and this
just, uh, remind me twenty years ago when I came here in Iowa City or before
that. There is diversity. There is used to do it the Fieldhouse. Suddenly this
event stop. I don't know why and, uh, I know this event, everybody.... every
community in Iowa, they bring their food and they .... bring their clothes, music,
and (unable to understand) very nice day, a good day. It starts from 9:00 in the
morning till 9:00 P.M. It not cost the City or University any money, because as I
said, every community brings their food and they show how they dance and, uh,
they do henna. Some Indian, some African, some Indonesian, some .... so all the
cultures, more than 20 cultures. And this was real diversity. I wanna ask the City
Council .... to see if they can start again doing this diversity, and uh.... really
everybody will be happy that they.... because you can see your culture, like
Sudanese they bring their bride and groom and they do their dance and .... their
foods and do henna. So .... I hope the City Council can adopt this again or, uh, or
ask the University or other community to help to this events again. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Adil.
Norbeck: Good evening.
Throgmorton: Good evening, Martha.
Norbeck: Martha Norbeck. Um, thank you for continuing the climate conversation this
evening. Uh, and I jotted down some notes, um, to follow up on a couple things
that were said that I think might be helpful for you to know. Um, so one a
question was what kind of heat changes are we really looking at? Do we actually
know? Um, so there are actually multiple tools out there that actually study this
exact thing and so one that I just looked up while you were talking is you can type
in hundreds of cities around the country and look and see in 60 years what will
our climate be like. And Iowa City is actually in that list, and in 60 years, in
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2080, our climate will be like Ponca City, Oklahoma, which is 13.5 degrees
Fahrenheit warmer on average in the winter. Um, now that may seem like a long
time for you .... and you may not be here, but our kids are gonna be here and that's
gonna be affecting their lives, and how many things are gonna change, just wrap
your head around that. What if I were like Ponca City, Oklahoma? Very
different! Um, which leads to air quality, because that means our growing seasons
are longer. And when you ask about what are the health impacts of climate
change. So you do a quick little search (mumbled) health impacts of climate
change! Uh, the CDC has information. The EPA has information. The World
Health Organization has information. Uh, on July 13th NPR actually had a story
that said %as your doctor talked to you about climate change.' Because our
growing seasons are getting longer, the amount of pollen in the air for the duration
of that time is exacerbating people with respiratory issues. Their issues are
getting worse, and then when heat and humidity combine, it creates ozone, which
leads to smog, which traps particulates in the air. So if you have emphysema or
bronchitis, you're increasing the chance of having an attack. Um, if you can
imagine, um, right now we have LIHEAP - you cannot have your, um, utility cut
off in the winter. Well if we're having five, eight days a year a summer that
over .... are over a hundred degrees, and people are getting their summer utilities
cut off, what's the impact.... health impact of that, because you can imagine if you
have your utilities cut off because you can't pay for air conditioning, or you don't
even have air conditioning ..... you don't have a refrigerator. So suddenly not only
can you not .... and not only are you uncomfortable and your kids are like a
nightmare of uncomfortability, you don't have safe food! So you've gotta throw
out all that food and until you can afford to pay that utility bill .... you're eating
out! And we'll count equality food as that, what are the economic impacts of that,
and so when you start to unravel this and look at these in threads and how they
affect our lives, it's pretty broad. And so I think it's really important, um, for all of
us to gain some familiarity with what... what the implications are of these
changes. And, Mayor Throgmorton, you suggested creating a fund. Love that
idea. Um, I have no idea how it happens either, but I love the idea, but to put it
into perspective, we have 32,000 households in Iowa City, and if you spent a
thousand dollars on every household, that would be $32 million. Now, okay you
say ob well, the City's not gonna come up with $32 million. But .... that's not an
expense. It's an economic opportunity. I mean those are jobs. If you're
improving homes, you're creating more work for ...that is local. If you're trying to
do energy efficiency or solar or .... or, um, adding air conditioning, that's all work
that's local. You're not exporting that work. So that work is not just a cost to the
City. It's an opportunity. I mean I hate to talk about (laughing and talking) like
climate change is a crisis and we're all gonna die! Oh, and by the way, there's
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economic opportunity! But with every crisis there are economic opportunities
and we .... if we couch it that way and consider all the ways that we can massage
that, we can move forward more effectively. And, um, there was a mention of
how are we going to achieve zero? I don't know! But, um, you know we didn't
know how we were going to get to the moon either, and this is, I think today was
the anniversary of the first moon walk, or yesterday, one of those days. So we
made it and they were doing calculations by hand, for heaven's sake! So we can
figure this out. We just have no idea right now how we're going to get there. So I
have optimism that we have the capacity to meet this challenge. We just have to
have the will. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Martha! Anyone else? Wow! What an unusual night! (laughter)
Okay, so I see no one else. We'll move to Item 10, Planning and Zoning Matters.
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10. Planning and Zoning Matters
10.a. Rezoning at 225 N. Gilbert Street - Local Historic Landmark -
Ordinance rezoning approximately 0.10 acres of property from Central
Business Service (CB -2) to CB -2 with a Historic District Overlay (CB -
2/011D) for the property located at 225 North Gilbert Street (REZ19-06).
1. Public hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Good evening, Danielle!
Sitzman: Good evening, Mayor and Council, Danielle Sitzman, Neighborhood and
Development Services. 8:32 A.M. the launch of Apollo 11 on its way to the
Moon, arriving several days from now. Um, if you want to watch the recreation
of it, I would recommend an app called JFK Moonshot. You can actually virtually
impose wherever you're at with the current orbit of the lunar lander. Very cool.
Little closer to home tonight, couple (laughs) historic landmark designations. Uh,
these are both City -owned properties. This case and the next case, uh, 225 N.
Gilbert and 229 N. Gilbert, the City purchased these properties, um, in September
of 2018 from Mercy Hospital with the intention of preserving the two structures,
and uh, they were both originally considered for the UniverCity program. Due to
the location of the homes and the surrounding commercial uses, the City wanted
to determine the demand for retail, office, and community arts and culture uses for
the properties, and issued an RFP to, uh, evaluate that. Uh, Public Space One
responded to that RFP and is in the purchase of signing a purchase agreement,
which is also on your agenda tonight to set the public hearing for to acquire both
homes as community art space for exhibitions, education, and other events, as
well as a community print studio and individual artist's studios. Prior to the
completion of that sale, the City wishes to apply historic landmark designation
zoning in order to preserve them from demolition, and help stabilize the historic
character of the neighborhood. Um, so a little bit of context. This is one of the
two properties, the one ... next one on the agenda is just north of that. This shows
the current zoning and the placement of the properties within kind of a
commercial area, rather than a residential area. Um, as far as, um, as part of
historic, um, designation, we did complete an intensive survey using a consultant.
They researched both of these properties and found very interesting histories that
do qualify them for designation as local historic landmarks. Um, both houses
have connections to one family in particular. Um (clears throat) this house was
built in 1904 by a, um, Charles Mentzer for the Christian and Clara Dostal-
Hohenschuh and I'm gonna not say this last name correc... correctly, but
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Hohenschuh, I think. Uh, both prominent in Iowa City society with ties to the
local immigrant, uh, community at the time. Um (clears throat) so, um ....the
landmark rezoning does also require, it's a .... a rezoning. So again it's evaluated
for compliance with the comprehensive plan. Planning Commission did review it
against the comprehensive plan and the local district plan, and found that it was,
uh (mumbled) uphold the goals and ideals contained in those documents. Um, the
Planning.... I'm sorry, the Historic Preservation Commission also first evaluated it,
the proposal, and found that there were, uh, elements of the history, both of the
architecture and the stories of the people that lived there that qualified them for
historic preservation. So this case is coming to you tonight with a
recommendation from both bodies for designation as local landmarks! That
concludes my report.
Throgmorton: Any questions for Danielle? Hearing none, would anybody else like to address
this topic? Seeing no one I'm going to ask the Council whether you are inclined
to vote in accordance with the commi.... Planning and Zoning Commission's
recommendation. If not we'd have to offer the commission to consult. All right.
So I'm gonna close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion for
first consideration please?
2. Consider an Ordinance
Cole: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Cole, seconded by Thomas. Discussion?
Cole: Can I just say, was it, uh, Jim Zabel or Gary Dolphin's "I love it, I love it, I love
it!" I .... I love everything about this particular project. Um, and this rezoning
that's going to allow this to happen. Um, the back story of course is is this is the
North Market Square sort of commercial district. Um, these two rezonings, to be
able to do the historic preservation not only do we preserve these two historic
structures, but we also open up a new opportunity for Public Space One, um,
which I cannot think of a more fitting use of this. You know, Public Space One is
an organization that has worked really hard for a long time and they literally
started in the basement, and they develop programming and they kept at it. You
know I think a lot of times in our community we want something to happen
instantly. Well it's.... it's great to see this particular organization evolve over time
and finally have a home. Um, but not only that though, I think the impact that this
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rezoning will have on the block as a whole is significant, because if these were
not preserved and protected, the likelihood of a much more significant, high-
density, um, incompatible development, I think, would occur, and many of the
community members also remembered we had a historic structure that we
evaluated landmarking. Ultimately did not do that, um, but I think that this is
gonna make it more likely, in my view, that other structures will also be similar.
So there's just so much that I like about this, and I also wanna commend the staff.
Staff identified this as an opportunity, flagged it for us, knew sort of what the
vision was gonna be, and .... and we're gonna make this happen. So I .... I can't
wait to see what, um, they do with this particular project, Public Space One.
Taylor: I'm also in .... in favor of this rezoning and in relation to the new owners, I hope
that they too will, uh, embrace the historic nature, uh, of both of these properties.
Thomas: Yeah, the....the stars really aligned on this one and, um, when that happens
(laughs) it's really very exciting. You know, the historic..... the historic character
will be preserved. It's in a location which will help stabilize the .... the block
context, and then the programming with Public Space One. So .... it's a home run,
uh, as far as (laughs) as far as this goes, and .... and this is one aspect of it. So it's,
um, very enthusiastic about this.
Throgmorton: Any other comment? Well hearing none I'll just say a couple things. Uh.... I'm
gonna support this, but I .... I would also like to thank Tim Weitzel (clears throat)
who was hired as a consultant to do, to prepare a history of immigrant
communities and culture in the 19th century as part of this particular proposal for
a rezoning, and the other one that we're gonna consider in just a minute. And
I've .... he did a terrific job, and I .... I really admire, I love the kind of information,
uh, insight you can get from reading these kinds of documents. You learn so
much more about Iowa City's history and who the individuals were and what they
were doin'....why they were doin' it, and what they did to preserve certain
structures is just live in the structures and what was goin' on around them. So if
you haven't had a chance to read one of these documents, like the one Tim put
together for tonight's rezonings, I urge you to take a look at it. It's
tre.... tremendously informative. I also wanna make a quick comment. It has
nothing to do with the vote. Danielle, you said something about the launching, I
guess, of uh.... the, uh..... Apollo, which is .... Apollo 12? 11? Yeah, so I was in
Pans that night when that particular rocket was launched, and I was in Brussels,
Belgium, when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon. Then I have very
strong memories of seeing these two events on little black and white screens in
Paris and then Brussels. So .... it's quite memorable for me. Has nothing to do
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with the vote though! Okay, any other comment about the topic at band? Hearing
none, roll call please. Motion carries 6-0, which gets us to Item 10.b.
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10.b. Rezoning at 229 N. Gilbert Street - Local Historic Landmark
Ordinance rezoning approximately 0.09 acres of property from Central
Business Service (CB -2) to CB -2 with a Historic District Overlay (CB -
2/011D) for property located at 229 North Gilbert Street (REZ19-05).
Public hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Danielle, you're up again!
Sitzman: Thank you, Mayor. This is the second of the two properties, the more northern
one. Again, uh, the intensive survey revealed that there were significant
historical, uh, events that occurred and the architecture of the building was
significant enough to rise to the level of local landmark designation. Um (clears
throat) the, um, Historic Preservation Commission therefore recommended
approval of the overlay zone. It was then again reevaluated by the Planning and
Zoning Commission for compliance with the comprehensive plan and found to
support the goals there. Again, this is coming before you tonight with a
recommendation from both bodies for adoption. That concludes my report!
Throgmorton: Any questions for Danielle? Thank you. Would anybody else like to address this
topic? Seeing no one, I need to ask you whether you are inclined to support the
rezoning. Yep! Okay, so I'm gonna close the public hearing. (bangs gavel)
Could I have a motion to give first consideration please?
2. Consider an Ordinance
Mims: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion?
Fruin: Mayor, if I can add one thing. I think it's appropriate to recognize Mercy
Hospital's role in this. Uh, we bought those homes from Mercy. They had every
opportunity to put those on the market, and probably get a pretty good value for
those two homes, given that location. Instead they came to us and asked if we had
an interest in .... in doing something that we really felt would be appropriate for
the community. So without Mercy's willingness to come to us first, we wouldn't
have this opportunity today.
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Cole: And, Geoff, could you basically comment too, what .... the non-profit for this
particular, are we ...... what's the (mumbled)
Frain: Public Space One is proposing to purchase both homes (both talking)
Cole: ...both homes. Okay!
Throgmorton: Could we have a tour of the interior? I'd love to do that. I don't know if anybody
else would like to join me, but .... I was very impressed with 229 in particular, just
by judging.....just by looking at the photographs in the packet. But I'd like to see
both of'em.
Frain: Yeah, we'll, uh, Tracy and her staff can line that up for ya.
Throgmorton: Great! Okay, any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion
carries 6-0.
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10.c. Zoning code text amendment related to separation distance requirement
for fuel dispensing equipment — Ordinance amending Title 14, Zoning Code,
to modify the provisional and special exception approval criteria regarding
the distance separation between fuel dispensing equipment and residential
zones for quick vehicle services uses. (ZCA19-01) (Second Consideration)
Throgmorton: Would someone make a motion to give second consideration for this please?
Mims: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Uh, discussion? So is anybody gonna
brief us on, uh, what was learned about, uh, you know the .... the pollutant, uh,
health implications (both talking)
Sitzman: sure, I don't have a lot of comment for you, but we did provide an additional
memo, kind of outlining the, um, gas station regulations, both by the EPA and the
Clean Air Act, as well as the State of Iowa, and also attempting to kind of explain
staffs reasoning for this particular pro .... uh, way of amending the code, versus
others that were evaluated. Um, the Clear Air Act, uh, does regulate or has
regulated in the past vapors that escape from both fueling, the underground
storage tanks and fueling vehicles at the pumps. Um, the difference that, uh,
Council Member Thomas may have noticed at pumps around the country has to
do with, uh, stage two vapor recovery, that was mandated for certain cities that
suffer from smog. So ground level ozone. Um, they were mandated, if they had
air quality that was out of the EPA's regulated standards to become, uh, they
become non -attainment areas and they were required to have those systems
installed on their pumps. Um, since that time, uh, vehicle technology has
basically taken that, uh, vapor recovery system into the vehicle design itself, and
so actually the EPA, uh, had lifted that requirement from non -attainment cities
and left it up to those cities whether ...or states, whether.... whether they want to
continue to capture, uh, vapor that way. Iowa was never a non -attainment, uh,
state. Never mandated by the EPA to have those recovery systems, and so
therefore you don't see them on our pumps. Again that technology has been
integrated into the vehicles since the mid- to early -2000s I believe is what
the .... the number was. So, little learning curve for us about how gas stations
work and how they're regulated. Um, then I think staffs, um, walk through of
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other ways we thought of how to, um, adjust these standards, but then chose this
one as the best option.
Throgmorton: Great! Any questions for Danielle?
Cole: And again, this is a citywide standard, right?
Sitzman: Right.
Cole: So it's... it's.... it's driven by this particular location on Mormon Trek, but it's a
citywide standard, and can you maybe elaborate a little bit, how many other
potential sites could an ordinance change facilitate additional gas (both talking)
Sitzman: So we only found three gas stations in our kind of survey of existing stations that
had any challenge meeting the existing standard, which is a greater distance. Um,
we don't really feel like the gas station market is looking to locate in
neighborhoods. They tend to like to be on higher, uh, vehicle -traveled streets,
with greater visibility. They prefer to have .... uh, larger setbacks from their
property lines so that they are more visible that way. So we didn't feel that there
was a ... in changing in this ordinance that we would create more demand for gas
stations in neighborhoods, simply accommodating this one.
Throgmorton: Okay. Thanks! I notice in looking at our late handout that Keith Weggen
submitted some additional information from the EPA stating and discussing why
stage two vapor recovery is not required. Is Keith in the room? No? Yeah, Keith,
do ... do you wanna say anything about it, you don't have to! It's a 2012 and
....2012 rule from the EPA, right?
Weggen: Yeah. Keith Weggen with CDA. Um, also with me Siobhan Harman with Kum n'
Go. Generally speaking what we learned and what we know is stage two
recovery is redundant, based on the, um, recovery systems that are now built in to
vehicles as .... as she mentioned just a bit ago. So, um, the other thing that we
wanted to add to the conversation, we talked a little bit last time about, uh, vapors
from filling up the fuel tanks on the site and wanted to just clarify what that
process is, and I think we refer to that as stage one recovery, which is essentially
when the fuel truck comes to the site, uh, pulls up next to where the underground
storage tanks are. There's a vent house that he connects, that the driver connects
to the vent port on the underground tanks. Then he start filling the tank and as
that fuel and the tank level rises, the vapors are forced back into the fuel truck.
The fuel truck then takes those vapors back to the fuel supply location where he
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got the fuel from. That fuel is then condensed and essentially recycled back into
fuel. So pretty much it's a .... a circulating process.
Harman: And the tanks are below the frost line.
Throgmorton: Just for .... (both talking) state your name.
Harman: Siobhan Harman, Kum n' Go. Um, the, our tanks are .... or USTs are put below the
frost line, so it's a very stable environment under there. It remains at about 50
degrees at all times. So again it's just, you know, very stable with the vapors.
Throgmorton: Great! Any questions for Keith or Chavon? Thanks! Would anybody else like to
address this topic? Okay, seeing no one else, Council discussion?
Mims: I'm gonna support the change. I think staff has done, you know, their research, as
usual, in terms of looking at not expecting major impacts across the city, and I
think the change is obviously in the technology. I think we've all seen, you know,
when you put gas in your car and the openings for the gas tanks are different than
they used to be and all that sort of stuff, in terms of, uh, helping to prevent that
escape of vapors. So I feel comfortable with the change and will support it.
Taylor: I also support it. I think it's, after seeing especially the numbers that were shared
with us across the city, there's.... it's just totally inconsistent and so this will help
to provide some consistency, and uh, it was true nationwide too, uh, comparing,
uh, random numbers all across the state and the country. So, uh, it's good at least
for our area to have a consistent number.
Thomas: Yeah, I appreciate the, uh.... additional research that went in, uh, between our first
and second reading, so I will be supportive of this as well.
Teague: I do appreciate the additional information that was, uh, provided. Um .... again,
um, it was the particulars that, uh, mattered to me, as far as stage one, stage two,
you know, the just capturing, um .... the safety for our residents that are
surrounding. Um, we also have, um, the Fire Marshall, Brian Geer .... or Greer,
um, you know, state .... havin' a letter of support. So I do think that, um, with
the .... with the change that we have, I will support this. Um .... you know, it's a gas
station. It does come with risks. Um, no matter how close or how far. So I will
support this. This does seem like a reasonable request from .... to me.
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Cole: As I said during the first meeting, I don't necessarily have a problem with this
particular location. I think for me I just have concerns about, I think it's an
incompatible use and I do view this as potentially even though it'd potentially be
incremental, um, to facilitate additional and compatible uses with our
neighborhoods. So I'm still going to be the dissenting vote on this, um, but I
appreciate the thought that went into this, and uh, it certainly is going to pass in
any event.
Throgmorton: Okay. Roll call please. Motion carries 5-1. Could I have a motion to accept
correspondence please?
Mims: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries.
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10.d. Rezoning at the Northwest Corner of Benton Street and Orchard
Street — Ordinance conditionally rezoning approximately 1.75 acres of land
located at the northwest corner of Benton Street and Orchard Street from
Medium Density Single -Family Residential (RS -8) to Riverfront Crossings -
Orchard (RFC -O). (REZ18-00019) (Pass and Adopt)
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to pass and adopt?
Thomas: Move pass and adoption.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Thomas, seconded by Cole. Discussion? I'm guessing no one wants to
address this topic. I should of asked that initially. Yeah, probably nobody does.
Did you wanna say something?
Taylor: I just wanna say I'll support this, uh, but I do have some concerns as far as the
traffic, again, uh, going on and off Benton and around Orchard, uh, and do hope
again with all our environmental concern discussions this evening that, uh, the
developers are .... are conscious of, uh, LEED guidelines and .... and other means
of reducing any impact on the environment. Uh, I'm not sure what the newer
building toward the north of. ... of this development, uh, what kinds of, uh,
methods they've utilized for those guidelines, and also absolutely ensure the
availability of affordable units. Um, my other concern was .... now on, along
Benton, there is a nice tree coverage and I'm hoping that they'll take that into
consideration too and .... and, uh, keep some green space.
Throgmorton: Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 6-0.
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11. Central Iowa Power Cooperative Utility Easement—Resolution approving
the conveyance of a utility easement to Central Iowa Power Cooperative.
1. Public hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Uh, is anybody gonna briefly state
what this is all about?
Fruin: This is a, uh, easement, urn .... uh, conveyance to Central Illinois Power
Cooperative at our landfill. It's an elec.... electrical transmission line. It does no
bearing on our landfill operations, uh, currently nor in the future. So, uh, the....
the, uh, conveyance is based on, uh, fair market value. Fairly routine item in
staffs eyes.
Throgmorton: Our .... our south waste water treatment plant gets electric power from ... Central
Iowa? No?
Fruin: No, um.....Eastem Iowa, uh (both talking)
Throgmorton: Great, thank you. Okay, anybody else want to address this topic? All right,
seeing no one I'm going to close the public hearing. (bangs gavel)
2. Consider a Resolution
Mims: Move the resolution.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Cole. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call please.
Motion carries 6-0.
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12. Establish urban renewal area — Resolution determining an area of the city to
be a combination economic development and blight area, and that the
rehabilitation, conservation, redevelopment, development, or a combination
thereof, of such area is necessary in the interest of the public health, safety or
welfare of the residents of the city; designating such area as appropriate for
an urban renewal project; and adopting the Forest View Urban Renewal
Plan therefore.
1. Public hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Hi, Wendy. What's up?
Ford: Good evening, Council, I am Wendy Ford, Economic Development, uh,
Coordinator and um, we're here to talk about Forest View urban renewal area.
The purpose for establishing this area would be to enable the City to consider
financial participation in a project, an urban renewal project within the area. The
Forest View urban renewal plan is established on the basis, on a combination I
should say, on the basis of a combination of slum and blight, and economic
development. To be determined a blighted area, the State Code includes five
conditions, including areas of a municipality in which there is a substantial
number of slum, deteriorated or deteriorating structures, or defective or
inadequate street layout. A blighted area need only meet one of the conditions, or
a combination, uh, of those conditions, and this one does. The Forest View
Mobile Home Court currently exhibits these conditions, in that a substantial
number of the existing mobile home are in such a condition that they could not be
moved or relocated to another area due to their dilapidated condition. Or
deteriorating conditions. Many of the homes are decades old, have had little
investment in maintenance over the years, and are notorious for fire hazard.
Meeting the standard of inadequate street layout, there is only one access to, into
and out of the neighborhood. The area is heavily wooded, and if a tree were to
fall across the single access, there would be limited access, uh, by our emergency
fire, ambulance, or police vehicles. And again, to be determined a slum area, you
only need to meet one of four conditions the State sets out, and this does. There's
also the designation of economic development, um, and that part of the
designation simply indicates that the area is appropriate for commercial
enterprises and public improvements related to housing and construction of
housing for low and moderate -income families is appropriate. Regarding the
comprehensive plan, as recently as 20 .... April, 2019, the comp plan was updated
in consideration of development plans contemplated for this area. In June the
Planning and Zoning Commission re .... reviewed the urban renewal plan, uh, for
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its conformity with that comp plan and they voted 5-1 that the Forest View urban
renewal plan conforms to the Iowa City comprehensive plan and the district plans.
In that plan there are five goals adopted, and those include that the developer or
owner going forward should provide relocation assistance to the residents, that
any development of multi -family must incorporate certain design standards for
setbacks, woodland buffers, low-level lighting, etc. That they must preserve the
scenic character of the pri.... of this primary entrance to the city, using strict
design guidelines, and preserve a buffer of existing trees and vege.... and
vegetation between Dubuque Street and any development and the homes there in
the neighborhood. And finally, to allow access to the area from Dubuque Street,
between 1-80 and Foster Road. And this fifth goal, in this case, is what is
triggering the need for the urban renewal plan. North Dubuque LLC, owners of
the property, approached the City about a project and to share in the cost of
building the infrastructure, the roads, trails, water, sewer, and storm water within
the area, and thus we have included this one project in the urban renewal plan.
And remember always, a development agreement with the details and proposed
conditions for tax increment financing would come to the Council later. This is
just the part that sets the stage for your consideration of that at a later date. Um,
but let me show you the ... uh, well first the extent of the, uh, urban renewal plan.
As you can see on this map up here, includes the area you're familiar with and
Forest View and .... and, uh, people have asked about the .... the square element on
the right, and that was simply the easiest way to legally describe the area that
would include the intersection of Dubuque Street and the trail intersection, uh,
required to continue north across the interstate. Um, it doesn't necessarily mean
that whole area will be, uh, encumbered by a .... a, um .... an urban renewal project,
however, that legal description covers it. More, uh, succinctly perhaps is this map
here, which shows the .... and I don't see the .... there it is, the cursor, which shows
the, um, area where, um, the new Forest View Drive would intersect with Du...
North Dubuque Street, um, turn northwest, continue westward over to the new,
uh, Forest View neighborhood and, um, down to connect with the existing
Algonquin Road. The, uh, considerations, um, at this stage, um, in working with
the developer include the City's financial participation only in the parts of the road
that serve to connect Dubuque Street to Algonquin Road. There are many other
pieces of infrastructure in the area, in the development area, but the City's
concern, at least in the part we're working on now, uh, would only involve the,
um, that connection through the neighborhoods. Um, staff believes there are two
significant benefits to this project. The first being the assurance that the
developer will provide good housing options and relocation assistance to the
neighbors in the current Forest View Mobile Home Park. Um, in a, um, an
affordable housing agreement, uh, they will be agreeing to provide relocation,
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either into the new neighborhood, into new multi -family buildings there, or they
will also have the option of, uh, moving into, um, similar type and style of
housing off-site. As you know one of the partners in the development group also
owns other mobile home, uh, areas and those would be made, uh, as options for
relocation, should any of the neighbors there desire that. So not only the
affordable housing component for the residents of Forest View Mobile Home
Court, but the other benefit would be, um, the creation of the new Forest View
Drive, which creates, uh, especially importantly in times of high water a
secondary, uh, access to the Peninsula and Mackinaw neighborhoods, which if
you'll recall back, um, some of which had to be evacuated in high water, even
though their homes were high and dry; there was no access into and out because
of Foster Road. So we see this as a, um, a critical public benefit and .... and, uh, a
really good reason why the City should consider participating in this project. So,
at this point all the statutory steps to establish an urban renewal plan have been
completed. I guess not statutorily but the .... the, uh, the Economic Development
Committee met early in June, June 3rd, and uh, voted to recommend this to City
Council; and then the statutory requirements are, um, to pass a resolution of
necessity, which you did on June 18th; uh, for the Planning and Zoning
Commission to review the plan against the comprehensive plan, which they did
and you saw their memo in your packet; and finally to have a taxing consultation
with the other taxing entities in the county, and that was held on July 1 st, as well.
So with all those, uh, steps completed, um, that completes any report and I would
open it up to any questions, should you have them.
Throgmorton: Wendy, did anybody from the County or the School Board attend that
consultation?
Ford: Nobody from the School Board but Lisa Green -Douglas did. Uh, huh, with the
County.
Throgmorton: She didn't raise any objections or concerns?
Ford: Nope!
Throgmorton: Yeah.
Ford: Nope, she was interested in the project and .... and, uh, from what I could tell was
enthusiastic about, uh, the affordable housing, uh, parts of the project especially.
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Throgmorton: Great! Any other questions for Wendy? All right, thank you! Would anybody
else like to address this topic? All right, seeing no one else I'm gonna close the
public hearing. (bangs gave]) Could I have a motion to approve the resolution
please?
2. Consider a Resolution
Teague: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Thomas. Discussion?
Mims: Well I think this is a pretty easy one. Next step forward. We knew this was
coming (both talking)
Throgmorton: ... comes as no surprise, right?
Mims: (both talking) ... so .... harder work before us, next after this.
Throgmorton: Yep! Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 6-0.
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13. Council Liaison to CPRB — Ordinance amending Title 8, entitled "Police
Regulations," Chapter 8, entitled "Community Police Review Board," to
create a City Council liaison. (First Consideration)
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to give first consideration please? (noise in background)
Teague: So moved.
Throgmorton: (mumbled) what are ya gonna do? (laughter and several talking) Sorry! Bruce,
did you make a motion?
Teague: Yes!
Throgmorton: Is there a second please?
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Thomas. Discussion?
Mims: I am not gonna support this. Um, I've listened to representatives of the CPRB and
what their concerns are and issues are, and it just seems to me that there is ample
opportunity for any of the members of the CPRB to come, you know, approach
any Councilor at any time, I mean, it .... they've got our phone numbers, they've
got our email addresses. Um ... and so to me it....it just starts setting up a process
of. ... one -offs that .... that we don't really need and I .... I think they .... if we need to
do anything, maybe it's just better communicating or maybe us taking the
initiative periodically to reach out to people, but I don't see the need to designate a
formal liaison to any of our commissions, including the CPRB.
Throgmorton: So just in the spirit of dialogue, cause I really haven't decided what I wanna
recommend, or vote, how I wanna vote. Uh, a counter -argument would be that
many new appointees, or actually appointees, don't know individual Council
Members at all. And therefore many of them are pretty leery of actually
contacting a Council Member and coming to meet them and talking with them
about specifics. It can be pretty daunting, you know, if, you know, so.....that
factor should be considered I think.
Mims: But then I still don't see why we are .... why they are different than others. Now I
realize some of the issues they deal with are incredibly sensitive and obviously
incredibly important. Um, I guess I might feel differently if we were seeing lots
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of situations where there were significant differences between the CPRB and the
Chief of Police, but we're not seeing that. Um, it's not .... it's not like there's a lot
of consternation or .... or a real difficult, you know, situation that's going on. I
think with Chief Matherly going to those meetings, I'm not sure if he still he but I
know he certainly was when he first came, and developing that relationship, um, I
think that's there, and .... and in regard to people.... being uncomfortable
approaching Council. I guess my (sighs) my response to that would be .... if
people have, if people have the fortitude to put their name forward to serve on a
commission, or any of our boards, then I would certainly hope that they ...have the
strength of personality to be able to pick up a phone and make a phone call, or sit
at home behind a computer, where we can't see them and they can't see us, and at
least send us an email that, hey, I've got a question or I've got a concern, could we
sit down for a cup of coffee or whatever. I ... I'm sorry, if people don't have that
much strength, then they shouldn't be out serving, I .... I don't think, on our
commissions and boards. I .... we're not .... we're not, I don't think, imposing
people. Yeah, we sit up here a few feet higher, but I think we're all very, very
approachable, and I think that's.... in my opinion that's a pretty weak excuse.
Cole: (mumbled) bring up some good concerns, Susan. I would not support this if it
required us attending their meetings. I think it's very important that we as all
councilors, you know, really keep our focus on the most important thing, which
are our bi-weekly meetings and our policy making. Um, but Mr. Townsend made
clear that .... that he was not expecting that we would have regular attending of the
meetings, and I do think there is something that, you know, to the extent that this
would serve as a template, uh, for possible expansion of other .... of other direct
contact, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I .... I think the more direct
information that we can get and direct channels that we can get is a good thing,
and then the final point I would make is I .... I view sort of policy making as this
co -creating process with the residents, the boards, and of course the Council and
the (mumbled) expertise of our staff, and you know, I know you value Orville and
all the other members on the boards too. They're tremendous people, but I think
in particular when they thought about this and generated.... and we've had some
very good work sessions with them in terms of possible changes that we can
make. I really wanna give significant weight to those. So if it turned into a....
meeting where we were having to do a lot of meetings, I probably would not
support this, but I think opening up that channel is .... is important, and I think as
you had mentioned, this is probably one of the more important boards that we
have, I think in terms of, um, unfortunately as he said it's been very good lately,
but I think really keeping our .... our finger on the pulse of that board is going to
be very, very important. So I .... I am gonna support it.
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Teague: One of the things, um, when I look at this, you ... this is the commissioners comin'
to us, and although it was a 4-1 vote, um, they're askin' us, um, to identify
someone on Council that they can go to. Um, essentially .... for an issue that they
don't feel comfortable... well, that was one example, was a issue that they wouldn't
feel comfortable potentially bringin' up, or they felt it was just gonna, um, cause
some disturbance there. Urn .... dependin' on what that might be, I think that
Council would have information and give a little history to, you know, of what
has been done in the past by Council. Um, I .... I do believe that the Mayor brings
up a important, uh, situation. Many of them don't know us, and I do believe that,
um, Counc... the, the .... you know .... the Council within itself can be intimidating
for some individuals. Um, you know (laughs) it invokes some stress, and I
imagine that this is not the only board and commission that we have that would
like to have someone identified that they can go to, or a Council Member, that
they meet. Um, when I first came on Council I was discouraged to go to meetings
by a few individuals, and um, not to say that they said'you can't,' but I was
discouraged because, um, definitely people may change their vote or their
conversation may be changed in the presence.... and, in the presence of a
councilor and you don't wanna, uh, influence whatever conversations that are
happening. So I do understand that, I do respect that, urn .... but again, I .... I feel
like they're asking for someone, um, they .... on the Council, that will be
appointed, that they can come to. I really do see it, as Rockne said, as an
opportunity for, um, maybe a template for somethin' in the future. Um, but even a
trial basis. I think we can certainly go back and change this in a year from now if
we're findin' it is, um, one, um, pointless because they don't anticipate usin' it very
much. They've already mentioned that. It may not even be used, but then there is
no issues now. It's really for somethin' in the future when we .... we don't have,
um, someone that has been like our current chief, um, that is really, really fighting
for the justice, um, of. ... on both sides, both, uh, residents that are served as well
as ensurin' that the police are doin', uh, things according to, um, what .... what his
expectations are, and.... and us as a council. So .... I.....do hear Susan Mims and I
do agree that this is, um, some (laughs) a territory that we do need to tread lightly
to go into. Um, I am gonna support it. I .... I do support it with some reservations,
quite honestly, um, because I do believe that, urn .... one councilor can influence
but I don't think that, um, this is a situation where we're just appointin' someone to
talk to. They can reach out to any of us, um, but it's just one person they can talk
to. They don't have to talk to that person if they don't want to. They may have a
relationship with someone else. So I don't know that, um, for me this is a easy,
well there's not a easy ...but this is somethin' that I will support, uh, but I do hear
the reservation and I do agree, uh, we need to tread lightly, but given all the other
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factors, I think that, um, we can go through this process and if we don't like it,
um, there.... there's always dialogue happenin' between, uh, the Councilors on, uh,
how things are progressin', um, on any ...on a number of things, and so I do think
that, um, these reports will be comin' back when they do happen and I just say I'm
gonna support it.
Taylor: Although I, uh, appreciate the ... their trust in a councilperson to, uh, listen to their
concerns, um, I think it's been stated that no other City board or commission has a
liaison, and I think, uh, we shouldn't single one out over the others, and I'm still
just really not clear what their process would be for them to come to that
councilperson, cause as a single councilperson we can't really make decisions on
our own. It would be something.... if there were concerns about the functioning
of a board, it would be something that we as an entire council should be
considering, and we would have to do that in a public setting, uh.... unless there
were just two or three of us talking about it. But I .... I think it should be the entire
Council that would be listening to these concerns. Uh... if they want us just to
come to the meetings to sort of facilitate communication amongst the members,
that .... that's one thing, but to actually make decisions about what's going on, I ... I
don't see that as a good thing.
Thomas: Well, I, um .... I'm gonna give the CPRB the, kind of the benefit of having spent
considerable amount of time thinking through what they feel their needs are, uh,
based on their experience as a board, and uh.... give it a try, you know. I....I.....I
can't say that I have a, I'm convinced that it's a good idea, but at the same time
I'm .... I can't say I'm convinced it's not a good idea (laughs) I think .... I feel that,
uh, it's something that could be tested, um, and I'll .... I'll give ..... give the board
the benefit of the doubt in terms of, you know, they..... they're in these shoes that,
urn .... uh, you know, and have experienced .... their .... their shoes as a board and...
an idea of what may benefit their process and, uh.... um, honor their perspective
on that and .... and, you know, give it a try.
Throgmorton: Well I think this commission is unique .... I should say board, is unique, because
the challenges they face and the topics they have to address are ..... as you said,
Susan, sensitive, but they are extremely sensitive, especially for the people who
are affected by.....uh, events that occur and (mumbled) specific allegations to be
made with regard to how the community interacted with the police or vice versa.
Tremendously sensitive topic. Uh, I, uh, have not been persuaded that there is
strong reason to create a liaison position as such. I don't really see how that will
add to the commission's already existing ability to connect with Council
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Members. So by having one liaison, that would imply that police, uh, CPRB
members would be expected to contact just that one member.
Mims: Right.
Throgmorton: And that makes no sense to me. Uh, I would prefer that the CPRB members feel
free and invited to contact any one of the Members of the City Council. So with
enormous respect for the board members, and especially for Orville Townsend
who is the .... the key person in making this recommendation, I'm not gonna
support it. I do think however it would be good for.... probably me to send a letter
to the individual council members, and the staff could draft such a letter forme,
that'd be great, saying we acknowledge your concerns and, uh.... uh.... eventually
decided that we don't believe it would be appropriate to appoint a liaison as such,
but that we really eagerly invite you to feel free to contact individual Council
Members, here are their phone numbers, here are their email addresses, here are
their private email addresses (laughs) if individual Council Members are willing
to do that. I certainly am. Uh, and .... and make, and you know, couch the....
write the letter in such a way as it.....makes it very clear that we want them to be
able to contact us individually about any matter that they think is really crucial to
the operation of the board. Uh, so I'm gonna vote no. But I ... I would really like
to see that kind of letter.
Cole: One super quick thing. Um, we are (mumbled) I think the first potential 3-3 we
have. It's my understanding if it's not successful it's done (both talking)
Throgmorton: Correct.
Cole: (mumbled) So of the three that are no, we have Councilman Salih that's gonna
come back, relatively shortly, and I think an issue as important as this, we ... we
should have all the votes here, and if you guys decide at a lighter.... point. So if
one of the three to vote yes to get it on to second consideration, and if
Councilman Salih.... agrees with your position, then it won't be done, but I think
that makes sense, given the fact that we do not have a full Council.
Throgmorton: Would an alternative possibili.... excuse me, possibility be to get a motion to defer
first consideration to.....a specified date?
Cole: I guess (both talking)
Throgmorton:.... August 6th or (both talking)
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Cole: I would make that motion. So moved.
Throgmorton: Is there a second to that motion?
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Okay, moved by Cole, seconded by Thomas to defer to August the 6th.
Cole: Yeah, and we can decide as a full body.
Mims: I'm not willing to do that. I .... I think we have business before the Council. Um,
Council Member Salih got elected to this council to serve the members of this
community and she has chosen to take two months off every year to go back to
Sudan and see her family. Now family is incredibly important to me, but to me
also when you get elected to a public body, you should be here to serve the public.
Um, and so I don't think delaying votes, um.....for that purpose, I don't think it's
appropriate. I think we've got business in front of us and I think we should vote.
Taylor: With all due respect, uh, to Councilwoman Salih and .... and Rockne, and...and
your choice to .... to save this for her. I recall that before she came on to the
Council she sat on the CPRB. So I would be just a little bit concerned that she
might be a little bit biased, uh, towards making a decision on that respect. That's
just my opinion.
Throgmorton: (mumbled) point I hadn't thought about. Yeah. (laughs) Uh, do you have a
thought there, Bruce?
Teague: I guess, um, just a comment on that. I think that many of us sit on, um, we make
decisions on things that we have .... urn, conflict of interest, potentially, all the
time. Um (talking in background) I don't mean the conflict of interest but (both
talking)
Cole: ....past service (both talking)
Teague: Yes!
Cole: ...where you may feel conflicted emotionally (both talking)
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Teague: Exactly! I mean we .... we (several talking and laughing) ....attend a lot of, um,
events in our community, uh, for our non -profits, and those .... we come in and we
vote on things they present to us all the time. So I do understand, you know, that
she was on a board, but I .... I believe that when you're in this position, um, I mean
I've been a recipient of. ... you know, some things through the City, but when I sit
here, I am sittin' here as a Councilor, and I'm thinkin' for the greater good of this
community. And so I don't think that that, for me, is a valid point, um, no
disrespect to you. Um, so I do think that, uh, if we .... if we're, you know, 3-3 now,
I think it's appropriate to defer, um, until we.....have a.....have a, the full body.
Throgmorton: John, did you (both talking)
Thomas: No, I think it's .... it's appropriate to defer on this.
Throgmorton: Yeah, I would prefer to defer as well. Uh.....without going into details, one of the
reasons Maz is not here is because there's, uh, enormous trauma in Sudan, and it's
been extremely hard for her to make it back. I don't wanna go into detail about it,
cause (both talking)
Mims: That's not accurate, Jim! I .... I have to disagree publicly because she left
intending to be gone for two months. That was her intent when she left. It was
the same thing last summer, she left and she was gone for two months. Yes, there
is horrendous situation in Sudan this summer, and because of that she was gonna
try and come back early, but her original intent was to be gone for two months,
and I do not think this Council should defer the work of this body because a
Council Member chooses to be gone.
Throgmorton: Okay, there's a motion on the floor. Uh, roll call please.
Dilkes: It's a voice vote.
Throgmorton: Voice vote! So all in favor of deferring to August the 6th, first consideration to
August the 6th say aye. Opposed. Motion carries, well 4-2. Yeah.
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14. Purchase of 1232-1234 Sandusky Dr — Resolution approving a purchase
agreement for a duplex property located at 1232-1234 Sandusky Drive for
the South District Home Investment Partnership Program.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve the resolution please?
Thomas: So moved.
Teague: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Thomas, seconded by Teague. Erica! So, please, go ahead.
Kubly: Erica Kubly with Neighborhood Services. Um, at the May 21 st work session staff
discussed with Council that we were having a hard time identifying properties for
the South District Home Ownership Program, and we've been exploring different
options over the past two months. Um, however since then we were able to find a
duplex that meets Council's, uh, program parameters, have entered into a purchase
agreement contingent on Council approval. Um, the property's located at 1232
and 1234 Sandusky, which is on the northwest comer of Davis Street and
Sandusky Drive. The property sustained a fire in April and the tenants relocated
and terminated their leases after that, so it's been vacant for a few months. The
purchase price for the entire duplex is 124,000. We will have 35,000 in local
funds, plus 25,000 in federal Home funds for renovations and downpayment
assistance per unit. Um, we didn't request a formal recommendation from HCDC
regarding the property, but did discuss it briefly as part of our conversation about
the South District program at their meeting last week, and the commissioners
were supportive of the purchase, and I can answer any questions you might have!
Throgmorton: How are you gonna identify potential buyers?
Kubly: Um, I think we'll work with the neighborhood association, as well as the Housing
Authority to reach out and maybe do a .... a reach, like letter outreach to residents.
Throgmorton: Is there a .... a.....a spatial process, you know, like Taylor Boulevard and people
who live on Taylor Boulevard and, uh (mumbled) intersecting street, the name of
which I've forgotten.
Kubly: Davis.
Throgmorton: Davis, yeah. Thank you. (both talking) And then beyond that.....
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Kubly: Um, I don't know if our outreach will go in that order, but our preferences will for
who will be eligible for purchase. So we may reach out to the entire
neighborhood at once.
Mims: Save time.... basically, in one process.
Throgmorton: Any other questions for Erica? Thank you. So there's a motion on the floor.
Coun.... does anybody else wanna address this? Sony, Martha, I almost blew that.
Norbeck: (laughing) I wasn't gonna let ya forget! (laughs)
Throgmorton: (mumbled) (laughs)
Norbeck: I was gonna jump up and down! (laughs) Um, so to.—to put my comments in
context, uh, I am a, uh, an architect. I am a green building consultant, and I have
also been serving on the, uh, Climate Action Steering Committee, um, and so that
is the context on which I make my comments. Um, I am .... I think this program is
awesome. I think it's a great idea. I love the UniverCity program and I .... I like
the idea of extending this. Uh, one of the things that I enjoy in these meetings
....I'm one of those geeks who watches these meetings (laughs) at home and I've
enjoyed seeing the increased focus on equity, and it just comes up again and again
and again, and I really appreciated that development over the years, and I've
admired how it's been integrated into so many aspects, and I guess my challenge
.....with these comments is to say climate action needs to be in that same vein. It
needs to be coming up all the time, and I've already talked about the energy cost
burden of. ... the energy of ...uh, that climate change earlier, um, one of the things
that happens with energy costs is that when you have less money, the percentage
of your income that goes towards energy costs is greater. So it's called the energy
cost burden. So for people in the low income category, uh, 16.3% of their income
typically is going towards energy costs, whereas for people at the average and
upper incomes, it's more like 3 '/2% or less. So, um, I looked at the .... the one
pager and said, okay, where are we talkin' about energy costs? Nope, not in there!
Um, and I looked also for comments about health, because as I mentioned earlier,
there's public health implications with the changing climate. And I looked in here
for comments about how, you know, increased filtration will be, uh, incorporated
into these built things, because people are .... we have no way of knowing about
the health conditions of the people in that space, and people who don't have health
conditions today actually may develop them as air quality worsens. And so I
looked for that! Not in there! I looked for words 'energy efficiency.' Not in
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there! I looked for.... performance data. Are we gonna meet Energy Star? Are
we gonna have a HERS rating? Is there going to be home school requirement?
There are some federal requirements tied to the Home funds, but those are pretty
limited, and it just seems like a missed opportunity, and one of the things that I
find challenging here is I know this was .... because I'm a geek and I watch these
things, I know that this was being discussed at the same time we were talking
about the Climate Action Steering Committee, the climate action plan. Those
were congruent, and I was assured that the City was going to integrate the
consideration of climate across all departments, and so I'm looking at this and I'm
saying, what happened? What happened to that integration? I don't know. I don't
know what happens behind the scenes, so I'm not pointing fingers, but I'm using
this as an opportunity to point out a missed opportunity. (mumbled) Urn ... and I
guess what I would say is, you know, we've got an architect on staff. We've got
engineers on staff. We've got a building department. We've got a sustainability
coordinator. All these people could have answered these questions. Why aren't
they being asked, and the other item is the sustainability coordinator, she can't do
this on her own! You know the way I work as a green building consultant is I
educate the team enough so that they understand the principles that we're
considering. So I can't be there at every meeting. They're not gonna pay me for
that! But they know what I'm looking for. So when something comes up, they
give me a ring. Um, and I check in with 'em periodically — are things happening
that you haven't told me about that you forgot to ask me about and I'm checking in
with them. You know that's a role a coordinator can do, but they cannot do the
heavy lifting in every department. Climate action needs to be spread across all
departments and all staff. It needs to be coming up in all considerations, and if
you start looking at agenda after agenda after agenda, there's so many agenda
items. I could of stood up four times tonight, but I really didn't wanna bother you
that much. Um, but it keeps coming up — Forest View, huge climate implications
to that development. Um, climate implications to why we even need a second
entry. There's all sorts of things. It needs to be integrated, and we can't just keep
doing the things way.... things the way we have been. If you wanna accelerate
this we're talking about actions. You're gonna have an action plan in a hundred
days, but we've been working on the climate action plan for two, three years now,
and we didn't even get it in this. So I'm wondering what's.... what's gonna
change? How is this gonna shift? How are we gonna lift this? Because you can
write all the plans you want, but if it doesn't get integrated across all .... all aspects
of the City operations, and start infiltrating the community and changing hearts
and minds, and agitating like you would for a bond issue. How are we gonna do
this? So I think we need to really look hard, and I'm not .... I know there's a
gazillion reasons why it hasn't happened, and I'm sure there's lots of explanations.
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I'm sure staff that are sitting at home going, "Oh Martha (mumbled) but it's this
and it's that and it's that, and I was like, 'Yeah, I know!"' I know it's hard. I'm not
saying it's easy, but this is our burden to integrate this across the board. So I ask
you to think deeply about how we actually make it happen. It's not enough to just
write a plan. We actually have to integrate into our daily operations. So thank
you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Martha. Anyone else? Seeing no one, Council discussion?
Taylor: I personally was very pleased to, uh, see this item on the agenda, cause I was
excited, uh, before when, uh, Tracy had presented it to us some time ago about the
possibility of this, and then was disappointed when they couldn't find any, uh....
duplexes out there. So this was just kind of a great opportunity. It kind of fell
into our hands here and, uh, it certainly is a less expensive than building new. Uh,
it's a start in the right direction for increasing affordable housing stock. Um...
there's just great potential here and I think in .... in regards to Martha's comments, I
appreciate all those comments. I .... I think it could be a perfect opportunity
to .... to make these more energy efficient. Obviously I don't know what the extent
of the fire was in there, what the cause of the fire was, but there's great
opportunity in the remodeling of it to .... to do, and I know Tracy's on top of that
with her energy efficiency in .... in some of the rental homes that she does. So, uh,
I .... I just think it's .... it's a great idea and I'm all for, uh, the purchase of these.
Teague: I think this is a great opportunity definitely for, um, the individual.... for the area
that we had, um, identified, it actually.... there was a fire, which is a very
unfortunate thing, um, but then for this property to be right in the location, our
target location, um.....I think that's phenomenal and we, you know, are sittin' in
here with the opportunity to definitely purchase this property. Now I don't know
the damages of. ... of the building, if 124 is good or not, um, but two homes for
124 to me seems like a phenomenal deal. Um .... I know there'll be updates and
that type of stuff, but um .... this .... for me is somethin' that the community kind of
brought, um, in conjunction with, um, the NDS, um.....department just comin' to
us and saying this is something that we wanna try and navigate in an area where,
um, we're tryin' to make, um, social justice, um, a reality within our community,
and so here we have at our, you know, fingertip right now, um, an opportunity to
help someone become a homeowner and I think that that is phenomenal. There's
a lot that goes into home ownin' and ensuring that they're gonna be successful,
um, I know that the .... the staff is going to navigate that, uh, successfully, as they
have done, uh, for various other programs, um, and so I'm excited about this. I
think that this will be a great opportunity and it's, um, for me I see it as a trial
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basis as to what might come in the future, and so, um, I'm lovin' this opportunity
and, um, just givin' it my full support.
Mims: I think this is a great opportunity, as people have said, um, in that area, and I think
particularly with the pretty strict limitations that Council had put on this with
absolutely no displacement of individuals. I was, you know, concerned if you
were gonna find anything. I think that's an issue that we still may have to come
back to, um, in terms of looking at that, not that we want to do that, but I think in
certain circumstances we can make that work okay for people, um, so I think we
have to maybe be open, a little bit more open-minded about that, depending. So
I'm glad at least we have one opportunity here, and .... and, Martha, I appreciate
your comments, because I think ... and I'm sure if Tracy were to get up here there's
things that are in here that are probably very energy efficient and staff is looking
at that, but I think what it also addresses is to help educate people and make
people more aware of what we are do .... we need to start making more of an effort
to have it in the documents that we're doing. Um, and obviously there's still, as
we go forward, maybe even more ways that we can be even more cognizant and
doing more things, but I think that brings a point that yeah, we've got the one
sheet. If looking at the one sheet, it's not obvious that anything's being done,
although I'm sure it is. So, and Tracy's nodding her head yeah ... that yeah we are.
I knew we would be, but it just .... it's combining all those things, making sure
we're doing what we can, what we can afford to do, what makes sense to do, but
that we're also promoting it and making it clear to people that we're doing those
things. So, we'll get better. We'll get better.
Thomas: Yeah this is kind of a .... it is unfortunate how the opportunity arose, but it was the
silver lining on this cloud that it happened there. And it may be, um, you know,
and Martha, I do appreciate your comments. I'm looking at the, you know,
$35,000 budgeted for renovation. It may very well be possible to, um, to direct
those funds toward energy efficiency, rather than say .... what I've seen in some of
the UniverCity homes where they remodeled the kitchen, you know, maybe
something you could negotiate with the potential buyer as to how the funds are
allocated but .... um, in some respects I think it would be .... (mumbled) personally
would prefer the funds go toward building improvements related to energy
efficiency than a kitchen remodel. Um, so anyway, this is .... this is really just
about the purchase and then it will be interesting if we can see where it goes from
there.
Cole: You know tonight I feel like we've had a lot of like small is beautiful victories,
you know, sometimes as Council we have these big projects, you know, Forest
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View and rezonings on .... on buildings and these sorts of things, but tonight I
think what we've done on Gilbert Street — that's a small, beautiful victory, you
know, a nice preservation, and here I hear what you're sayin', Martha. This was so
hard to find. We .... we were trying to essentially get home ownership
opportunities for low income residents in an area that traditionally had not had
those opportunities, and I think one of the things that Councilwoman Salih had
really done a good job is .... is big a fans as we all are of the UniverCity program
in terms of home ownership, in terms of neighborhood stabilization, there really
were people that, although it was not an affordable housing project as such, why
not expand those opportunities, and so I think the opportunity that we have here is
in this .... we so often talk about renters versus home owners, or long-term rentals.
What ... what this really does is allows us some permeability where someone that
maybe has been a low income renter for a long time has that opportunity for home
ownership. Well, you know (mumbled) be able to have that opportunity and I
think that's really exciting. One sort of small ball fought here. One difficulty
with the home ownership are these unanticipated expenses. Um, I know we have
expertise with staff, I know they've thought about it. In fact they highlighted that
for us. I'm hoping that as they do this home ownership process that we can work
with those residents for like an escrow account or something, because if you're
not used to those.... heating and those sorts of things, I think that's where maybe
there was some reluctance on the part of the residents to take over that home
ownership responsibility, maybe because of those sorts of fears, but I think we can
figure that out and make that happen. So step one, um, it's not the perfect step but
I don't think we can let the perfect, you know, getting stuff done. So, mega kudos
all around with this project, and I'm really looking forward to those residents that
are able to sink some roots into that neighborhood.
Throgmorton: Good deal. Well I don't have anything to add. It's already been expressed and I
look forward to voting for this. Roll call please. Motion carries 6-0.
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15. Council Appointments Applicants MUST reside in Iowa City and be 18 years
of age unless specific qualifications are stated
15.a. Housing and Community Development Commission Housing &
Community Development Commission - One vacancy to fill an unexpired
term. Effective upon appointment - June 30, 2021. (Mitchell Brouse resigned)
Throgmorton: And.....we have.....eight applicants for that one position. What's your pleasure,
folks?
Mims: Well one of the things that was in the staff thing was.....was it the bylaws or
whatever, supposed to be somebody on there who, um, either has, is or has, um,
had aid for housing, and it didn't look to me in reading those that necessarily....
There's people who had some difficulties, um, in terms of their finances, but I ... ]
wasn't coming across, unless I misread, um.....anybody who fit that particular
category. So I guess if I'm .... if I am correct in that, then I guess the question is,
do we want to go ahead and appoint anybody out of here or do we want to wait.
Taylor: I had a question about that too, Susan, I mean without it being on the application,
how ...how do we know, unless they volunteer that information. The one, uh,
young man volunteered that he has had difficulty, uh, getting help with rent in the
past but he currently seems to be on his own two feet, um, so I .... I was thinking
that too, I mean if we're following their guidelines, they specifically, uh, sent us
that memo that said.... the.... commission is supposed to consist of those types of
persons and .... and none of them fit that.
Dilkes: Yeah, there's not a question on the application, and staff has had the same
conversation today about it. Um, I think there's.... the, it meant the application, as
Susan noted, mentioned that those are desirable, um, applicants, um, it would be
up to the applicant to volunteer, you know, but ... um, with .... with the two others
construction and finance, it's gonna be easier to tell that qualification from their
occupation. Less so with rental assistance. I don't think we could probably ask a
mandatory question about rental assistance, but we could certainly highlight the
desire of volunteering it. Maybe on future applications.
Throgmorton: So if we chose not to make an appointment tonight, what would we do?
Readvertise? But then we wouldn't get any more information about (both talking)
Dilkes: No, I (both talking)
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Throgmorton:..... question at hand. So....
Dilkes: My recommendation is you go ahead and make the appointment and we .... we
recognize the issue and we change it for .... the future.
Throgmorton: Yeah, okay. So are there suggestions about who to appoint?
Teague: I .... I just wanted to say that I spoke with Peggy Aguilar, um, and I think some of
you may have met her before, um, she's a very, uh, flowerful spirit (laughs) um, I
thir&s the way that I would describe her (laughter) Um, and I do think, um, she
has worked, um, within the affordable housing, urn, for affordable housing
agency. She has, um..... significant experience with working with, um,
individuals that have needed assistance, and so I do think that she has a great
understandin'. Um, she is one that has, uh, liked to collaborate, um, for solutions
and so, um, she just has a great spirit that I think would be good for the, um,
HCDC, um, personally.
Thomas: Well I don't know any of the applicants, so uh, although Peggy was one that I
highlighted, so .... um, I don't know if any of you, if anyone else knows any of the
applicants personally (both talking)
Throgmorton: I don't think I do.
Teague: She was the only one that reached out, and I ... I mean I read through the other ones
and there are some great opportunities that we can get from others, but um, this is
one individual that I've seen and.... and, um .... in action a little bit.
Thomas: Well I'd be happy and willing to support Peggy, that being said.
Throgmorton: Rockne? Susan? Pauline? Do you have ideas?
Taylor: Peggy does have experience. Uh, the other one, uh, the young man I was talking
about, the Zach is the one who said, uh, he had .... lived in low income housing
and been homeless (mumbled) homelessness so he has that experience. So, but I
would be happy either way.
Cole: I would support Peggy.
Thomas: I think Zach is already on the Historic Preservation (several talking)
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Teague: And Peggy has not been, to my knowledge, per her answer. (mumbled)
Throgmorton: I would support Peggy Aguilar as well, which adds up to at least four people as
best I can count. Could I have a motion to appoint Peggy Aguilar to the Housing
and Community Development Commission?
Teague: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Cole. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries.
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17. Community Comment
Throgmorton: Austin, did you want to say anything (mumbled) community comment?
Wu: Uh, so hello there, Austin Wu (both talking)
Throgmorton: Hi, it's good to see you again!
Wu: UISG liaison. It's good to be back in town. Um, the only thing I heard is that
orientation has wrapped up, uh, last week. So in a month or so, get ready for new,
uh, class of Hawkeyes!
Throgmorton: Quite a few more is the way I understand it.
Wu: Yes! There will be quite a few more than last year.
Throgmorton: Yeah.
Wu: That's the only news from the University I've heard so far.
Throgmorton: Okay. Good deal!
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18. City Council Information
Throgmorton: Maybe we can.....oh, I got my notes confused here, uh, John, let's start with you
and move to the right.
Thomas: Number 18, are we on (several talking) Uh wanted to mention that, uh, the open
gardens tour this year, which was sponsored by Project GREEN, I happen to be
one of the open gardens along with, uh, my four neighbors on the 500 block of
Brown Street and uh, it was .... I don't know how anybody else did, but we had
over 200 parties come through, uh, you know, cause Project GREEN is very well
organized with this process. They have, you k now, these books that you can fill
in, people come, which we encouraged. We missed some but we had roughly 200
parties, maybe 400 people over two days, some coming from Des Moines, you
know, outside of town. So I .... I think it, uh, more than fulfilled its, uh, its goals
and uh, it was great fun having so many people coming (laughs) into, uh, the
Northside and onto Brown Street, and there was .... we were featuring the front
yards, so....that meant the whole event was sort of like a party out on the street
(laughs) you know, cause as much as people I think with the community garden
concept... or the garden tour concept want to go into the backyards and some
would, uh, you know, I kept emphasizing, no, it's really about the front yards, uh,
and many of them appreciated that. They really understood that idea.
Emphasizing the idea this is our .... our outdoor living room basically, and um, the
continuity of it is why it works so it was .... it was hot, but uh, the continuous tree
canopy helped.
Mims: I have nothing.
Throgmorton: Pauline?
Taylor: Let's see here.....already talked about ... you talked about the meeting we had at the
School District. Um .... coming up, uh, this Thursday, uh, the ICAD had a .... a
invitation to childcare workshop that the Chamber of Commerce and Kirkwood,
uh, College are sponsoring. Uh, it's going to be out at the Kirkwood Center off
Oakdale Boulevard at 9:00 A.M. Uh, several of our, uh, emails and messages
and, uh, topics today talked about childcare being a concern and how it affects,
uh, affordable housing and .... and job, uh, people working jobs out there, uh, for
lack of childcare. So I do plan to go to that. Uh.... Rockne mentioned the, uh,
Affordable Housing Coalition Mobile Home Task Force. That's Tuesday, July
30th. I do plan to go to that. And .... I .... not sure if Maz'll be back by then, I hope
she is. She's supposed to join us with that too. Uh, this Saturday, we can't forget,
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uh, the 20th, the Riverfront Crossings grand opening, uh, long awaited for that.
Um .... let's see, took my grandson there and he absolutely loved it, the
playground. Even for an 11 -year-old he really enjoyed that. Let's see, July 25th
through August 3rd, the Rummage in the Ramp is coming up. And, oh! And this,
Wednesday the 24th we have the joint meeting with P&Z. I don't know if we
mentioned that or reminded folks of that. That's all!
Teague: I have, um, two things I wanna mention about Houses into Homes. So on the 9th
of July, they had a, um, opportunity for, uh, recipients, as well as for their board
members and community members to come to UAY, United Action for Youth, in
Eastdale Plaza and, um, they just held a, um, opportunity to really see, um, in my
opinion, um, how diverse our community is, um, and the needs of our community,
and how, um, within our community we can support each other, and so it was a,
um, it was very artistic (laughs) and in some fashion there was .... it's United
Action for Youth, so there was lots of activities, group activities, um ... um, partner
activities that was quite unique, and urn .... United Action for Youth does
tomorrow night, from 5:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M., they'll be receivin' proceeds from
sales from the Reunion Brewery in Coralville and so that'll be takin' place
tomorrow, um, so if you are out and about and wanna, uh, go out and support
them, that'll be great. Um .... the, on the, on the 19th, this Friday, I'm going to be
attendin' the second annual Light of Hope breakfast, um, and so that's um, gonna
benefit the, uh, CASA and abused and neglected foster children, and so, um, that
is going to be this Friday, um, and it starts at 7:30 A.M. and it's going to be at the
Radisson Hotel in Coralville. Um, excited about the 20th as well. Um, Riverfront
Crossing, uh, Park. So that's gonna be very excitin'. Other than that, there will be
lots of events comin' up, uh.....throughout this, uh, summer, which I hope people
are partakin' in and I do hope everybody had a happy fourth of July.
Cole: yeah, I don't have a ton to add, other than Houses into Homes, just quick
elaboration on that. For those of you who don't know, Houses into Homes was a
non-profit started by two women here in the city of Iowa City, I think with a
tremendous idea, which is so often when we place people into homes, people
don't have the resources to get the furniture. So this non-profit, their .... their
mission is to provide no cost, as far as I can tell, furniture for these locations.
That's a very easy idea to state, incredibly complicated to implement, and the fact
that they have pulled this off for 18 months, and it's still going and they still are
doing this is just incredible. So continuing kudos to that organization, in terms of
the work they actually do to serve the community. Um, obviously I'm excited
about the new park as well. I also love our neighborhood parks and the other day
I was on a run with my dogs, Percy and Ray, and I saw the progress we've made
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on Creekside Park, and I've been very pleased. It's very beautiful. How close are
we to being ... is it pretty much finished, I mean it looked like it was almost....
Fruin: I think there's just the punchlist items and then our crews are gonna go in and
install the playground, if they haven't started already. (both talking)
Cole: ...at least walk by, check it out, um, enjoy our beautiful parks, cause we're hittin',
you know, middle of summer. School's just around the corner!
Throgmorton: Okay, I guess it's my tum. So I either participated in or plan to participate in
several of the activities that you already mentioned. S o I'll bring up a few others.
Geoff, several staff members, and I met with a group of realtors and apartment
managers on July the 8th, discussing... um, how to proceed, uh, during this
moratorium period that we're in, uh, subsequent to the rental cap ordinance ban by
the State legislature. So Geoff, when we get to you if you want to, you might say
just a little bit about that meeting. Uh, on July the 9th in this room I participated
in a meeting with civic visitors from a variety of countries in which we discussed
community engagement and the arts, along with ... Simon, you were there, right?
I'm getting confused about who was there (laughs) but along with John Kenyon
from the City of Literature and Adam, what's his name, from Riverside Theater?
Andrew: I can't recall his last name (both talking)
Throgmorton: I'm sorry, my apologies, uh, and uh.....uh, Lisa Barnes from Summer of the Arts.
Uh, yeah, it was a very stimulating discussion. They were really enthusiastic and
lot of great photos were taken afterwards. It was really fun to do that. On the
10th of July I was interviewed by Holly Hart of KICI Radio about our climate
action efforts. That was pretty fun. We talked for, I don't know, 20 minutes, half
hour, something like that, and if you don't know about KICI, it's a ... what's the
right term here? Uh..... a short distance radio station that covers basically Iowa
City, at least that .... that geographical kind of area. So, I was really pleased to be
able to do that. And ..... Friday evening, July the 12th, I attended the Vigil to End
Human Detention Camps, the one that was held at College Green Park. There
were probably 200 people there, roughly. I'm gonna attend the ribbon cutting for
Alexander Elementary, or Alexander Lumber I should say, on July the 18th.
That'll be pretty fun. And other things. With regard to the Riverfront Crossings
Park, uh, grand opening, I'm wondering whether we've had a chance to invite our
two senators, the Governor, Representative Loebsack, and our local legislative
delegation.
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regular formal meeting of July 16, 2019.
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Andrew: Yeah, uh, Parks and Rec staff did reach out to all those, uh, individuals, um, I
don't think that we've gotten a good response rate, uh, as of yet. I don't think
we're planning as formal of a gathering, um, but uh, Park staff will be reaching
out to all of you about the ribbon cutting too.
Throgmorton: Okay. Good deal, and I wanna reemphasize something that Pauline said, that...
on July the 23rd, in this room, we're gonna be holding a special work session with
the Planning and Zoning Commission, but also leaders of Opticos to discuss their
progress on the South District form based code planning efforts, and related
matters.
Cole: 24th, Jim, right.
Throgmorton: 24th? I'm sorry, thank you. The 24th. Uh, and .... it starts at 5:00 P.M. here in
City Hall. People can come and observe if they are interested. So .... that's it for
me!
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19. Report on Items from City Staff
a. City Manager
Throgmorton: Geoff?
Fruin: Uh, real quick, uh, to elaborate a little bit on our July 7th meeting with the realtors
and landlords. Uh, we reached out to the Greater Iowa City Landlord Association
and the, uh, Iowa City Area Realtors. Each of those organizations sent a few
members to this meeting, so there was a .... a group of maybe a dozen or .... or 15
of us, between staff and members of those organizations. Uh, we reviewed the
goals that the Council adopted, um, at the third reading of the moratorium and just
reminded them what we're looking at, um, from a staff standpoint. We spent a
little bit of time talking about market conditions, and I think we wanna dive into
that a little bit more to get their understanding of what changes are taking place,
uh, in these neighborhoods, from their perspective, and again either the
management, uh, landlord perspective or the, uh, realtor perspective. But I'd say
the bulk of the time we spent talking about enforcement issues and uh, I think
there was a .... a very clear consensus that, um, neither of those two organizations,
uh.... uh, really, um, take issue with, uh, regulations that the City had put forward,
setting the rental caps aside, uh, and they .... they feel like if. ... if we need
regulations to preserve the neighborhood, that's fine, as long as those are clearly
articulated to them and fairly enforced, uh, consistently throughout those
neighborhoods. Um, a lot of the concerns that we heard, uh, centered around
communication, uh, with our enforcement. Uh, so we're gonna get together again
here in the .... in the coming month and .... and go through out communication
protocol and examine ways that we can, uh, communicate, uh, a little bit more
clearly with, uh, particularly the landlord association and some of the
management companies. I think it was a .... it was a productive meeting, um, you
know they didn't come to the meeting with any specific ideas on how to move
forward. It was mostly just a discussion of kind of what their experiences have
been the last couple of years and, uh, what they foresee going into the future.
So .... we'll schedule a follow up. WE had, uh, we had agreed to pull together
some information for them that they think would be helpful, and they agreed to
try to pull together some, uh, market condition data that we might find helpful, uh,
in our deliberations as well.
Monroe: We are entering the last week of our chip -in, uh, budget and Council priority,
strategic plan priorities survey, and it's available on our web site, front page, so
people can scroll down on icgov.org and although the label says it's got five
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regular formal meeting of July 16, 2019.
Page 45
minutes, it's taking on average about two minutes, so .... if you haven't taken it
already, I'd encourage people to participate.
Throgmorton: Thanks.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
regular formal meeting of July 16, 2019.