HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-12-03 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present: Cole, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Andrew, Dilkes, Fruehling, Weinard, Ford, Sitzman,
Russett, Knoche, Sovers, Rackis, Hightshoe, Bockenstedt
Others Present: Wu, Lenkaitis (UISG)
Review the Johnson County Mobile Home Task Force Report f IP31:
Throgmorton/ Okay, we're gonna begin our Iowa City City Council work session for Tuesday,
December the 3rd, 2019. The first topic on our agenda tonight is to review the Johnson
County Mobile Home Task Force Report. Three of our Members were on that task force.
I'd invite them to say whatever it is they feel like they wanna say about (mumbled)
Taylor/ I would say if....if folks got anything out of it at all the, uh.... the important part were the
12 recommendations that, uh, outline opportunities and limitations of local munis...
municipalities to protect and stabilize the manufactured housing as a continued source of
affordable housing in Johnson County, and it goes on to (mumbled) the cities of
Coralville, Iowa City, and North Liberty to collaborate, uh, and en .... enact
recommendations to .... to, uh, help protect these very vulnerable, uh, persons. We have
kind of started on that already. I think in joint entities we've talked about it; I think we
need to continue talking about it. Uh, I .... I was happy to see that in our legislative
priorities it's included in there. That's another start. Um, but we can go through whatever
folks would like ... go through each of the 12 steps and .... and, uh, talk about 'em.
Anybody? Maz or Rockne have....
Salih/ ...agree. Yeah.
Cole/ I don't know if you just wanted to comment and give it a little background. (both talking)
So I.....maybe we could give a little bit of background about why we convened the task
force in the first place. Um, for those of you who may not know, there's been really two
unfolding crisis that we've really, uh, observed over the past, in particular several months,
but it's been I think building up for several years. Um, the first crisis I think is present in
a lot of the mobile home parks relates to infrastructure upgrades that are necessary. Um,
one of the things that I did not go, and I think Maz has commented on this sometimes
during the actual meetings, is the issues with the need to upgrade the sewer systems and
the water systems for the mobile home parks. So this is for a lot of these, uh, entities and
these ownerships, which typically are not large organizations that own these mobile home
parks, has created a tremendous cost, uh, that is imposed on a lot of these mobile home
parks. So that's one of the things that I think is leading them to both look for
opportunities to get out, um, but then the second sort of parallel thing that we've observed
through this process is that apparently there is a, um, private equity firm out of Ut... Utah,
um, Havenpark Capital. Um, I don't know how they've discovered this region, but they
have. Um, whether it's big data or what is actually causing them to focus, but what we've
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observed are stunning increases in the, uh, purchase price of a lot of these mobile home
parks, and so what we've seen is is nearly double the, uh, sale price over the assessed
valuation. So there's, uh, and when this first started occurring this spring, I think many
members in the community, any time you have something that occurs you wonder is this
sort of a one-off thing; um, should we really get our hackles up; or is this maybe
something that's just gonna happen once and then we can maybe relax a little bit, but
what we've observed is at least four different sales, um, in the course of the last six
months. Um, and I hope people that are watching on TV, as well as our fellow Council
Members, had an opportunity to review the packet, but the numbers that are .... really
jumped out to me, we have essentially the four sales, um, and it's in a chart at the end of
it, which identifies I think Golfview Investors LC, Clear Creek, Breckenridge, and
Parkview, and if you look at the assessed valuation, for example in the Golfview
situation, it was a 6.1 million assessment approximately and a sale price of $12.3 million.
So the question is, is where is those dollars gonna come from? Will they have led to, as
the report notes, a significant increase, um, in some orders of magnitude like 63%
increase, um, that we've observed, and so I think, led by Sara Barron, I think our thought
process was is let's see if we can convene a task force, and I think for a task force, Sara,
we've moved pretty quickly. Um, in part due to your excellent leadership on that, uh, and
we convened a lot of different stakeholders too — the City of North Liberty, um, wanna
give a shout -out to the Mayor of North Liberty. He did a really great job. Johnson
County, we had representation there. City of Coralville. And it was .... we really had a
wide range (mumbled) as well as non -profits. I see Charlie Eastham is out there. Uh, to
sort of see what are the solutions that we can look at to identify whether we have any
municipal tools that we can .... that we can identify. Um .... and so I don't know, Jim, in
terms of what we wanted to look at, whether we wanted to sort of highlight what some of
the individual task force members wanted to identify as things to look at, um, or whether
we just sort of wanted to go through some of the 12....I think probably it'd be hard to go
through all 12 tonight (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I'd say focus on what you wanna focus on (both talking)
Cole/ Yeah (both talking) Okay, so what I would I guess draw, at least in terms of I think each
one of the task force, we have 12 different recommendations, urn .... and they're all
equally important, but one of the things that I really wanted to highlight is that if we're
identifying these sort of outside private equity firm as paying double the money for these
mobile home parks, that's certainly the problem. Well, what's the solution and response
to that? It's .... it's very complicated, but I think to me it's the simplest solution, is there a
way for any of these mobile home parks, uh, to purchase or .... or at least try to purchase
or at least .... or participate in the market to acquire some of these mobile home parks.
That's a super -complicated issue, um, but one of the reasons why at least I think the task
force wanted us to at least look at that was, um, it is complicated, um, we are seeing this
as a phenomena that's coming up over time, um, at least four different of these parks. So
the question is is sort of who's next and, uh, when some of these .... for some of these
parks the other hope is is that maybe once they've actually purchased them, maybe those
returns aren't there, so there may be a, you know, a seller .... a selling opportunity, uh, so
we wanted to look at. So one of the things the task force looked at was, um, are there any
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non -profits that can facilitate, um, leadership with some of the mobile home parks, and
one of them was, uh, I direct your attention to paragraph 10. Rock USA, um, is a private,
non-profit that has not done any, uh, work in the state of Iowa yet, in relating to assisting
mobile home, uh, park residents form a non-profit cooperative, and it also has a financing
arm. Um, I've already had some preliminary contacts with them and one of the surprising
things from that contact, and I think it may be good news at least for the City, um, is that
they indicated that, uh, private, uh, securing capital to purchase these.... these, uh, mobile
home parks is usually not one of the biggest obstacles. It's usually organizing, um, but
one of the things that we wanted to do is sort of highlight, um, what maybe people
haven't even thought about is .... is there a possibility for some of these mobile home
residents to participate in this marking place, and related to that is the task force
recommendation, uh, number two. Um .... which was are there any ways in which, if
there are some financing, uh.... uh, difficulties that some of the residents may have, is
there any way that we could look at assisting non -profits, um, secure the capital to
purchase, uh, these mobile home parks. Now this is obviously a super -complicated topic
that we're not going to be able to decide tonight, but we wanted to highlight those as
something that perhaps the staff could investigate, um, see whether it's feasible at all, uh,
and ... and so that's something at least I wanted to, um, see whether there was any Council
support for sort of further review and study on behalf of staff at least in terms of that ... in
terms of that, and in terms of the rest of the recommendations, I guess I would defer to
my fellow Councilors that also participated on the task force, whether there's anything
that they wanted to highlight. I know normally we don't call upon members of the public,
but Sara Barron was one of the task force leaders, so hopefully Council would agree to
allow her to make some comment tonight just in terms of being a task force leader, um, if
she wants to. (laughs) I hate to put her on the spot, uh, but those are the things that I
wanted to at least focus on was the ... the question of are there any tools that we have in
our toolkit to assist with purchasing, and also hopefully to communicate to the mobile
home park owners that may have not even thought about this as an option, um, that they
should at least look at that in terms of it, and hopefully we'll get organizing on the ground
with some of the residents to organize, uh, some... residents' associations so they can
maybe participate with Rock USA as well, in terms of being able to purchase that, but
that .... that's sort of what I took out of the task force.
SaliW Okay. I ... what I wanna add really, uh, like (unable to understand) very good job for this
recommendation, but I wanna add to what Rockne said about Havenpark, because I
participate with,uh, a group of local people here (unable to understand) and the Labor
Center and the (unable to understand) across, you know, the Iowa .... the whole Iowa state,
not Johnson County only, uh, and I went to Dubuque because all they bought (unable to
understand) it's just like going on and,on and on, but if you look at their mission on their
web site, that's what the wanna do, they wanna make money, and they come like if you
went to the web site, you will see clearly they would like their goal is to buy any mobile
home park and they can pay whatever it is, even though (unable to understand) value,
they can double the value of the property just to make up money by increasing the rent.
And this is really a threat to our community, because we know that like home crisis,
housing, affordable housing crisis and mobile home become very affordable for those
people, and uh, I really like all the (unable to understand) recommendation but like two
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of them .... even though the recommendation does not show how we can do them but I
think they are very good recommendation and (unable to understand) develop a plan to
do all those recommendation, but two of them stand out to me and I wanted to follow on
them. One of, the number one and number 10. It's easy, the first one and the last one.
And I think my recommendation will be to refer this to, to refer the Johnson County
Mobile Home Task Force recommendation to the HCDC to develop a plan to do number
one and two, and since I have here the Housing Authority person, I wanna ask if Section
8 cover, you know, the .... the (unable to understand) would cover rent, if somebody want
to rent a mobile home I think I know that but I'm not sure too, but I would like to know if
they cover the lot rent because Dubuque, my understanding ... the City of Dubuque they
just passed something like that so Section 8 can cover the rent of the lot, for the people
who .... their income is, you know (unable to understand) income. And I wanna see that if
Iowa City is doing something like this, by asking the Housing Authority if they are doing
that currently or not, but my recommendation is really for number one and two is (unable
to understand) recommendation that our City can do, and I'm glad we have the
committee, uh, the, you know, the House Development Committee, we can just refer this
to them, if the Council agree so they can do that.
Taylor/ In going through that list, the one item that kind of stood out for me too, uh, that I think
we really need to keep, uh, keep our ears to the ground on, uh, is number five, in the case
of annexation, because it's already, we've already talked about over .... over the years, the
possibility of annexing, uh, the mobile home park, uh, that's off of Scott Boulevard. Um,
those folks kinda feel left out. I hear from a lot of'em (laughs) oh I wish I could vote in
....in the local elections because they aren't. They live so close to the city limits but they
aren't a part of the city, as well as concerns about the infrastructure and the sewer systems
and .... so they would like to be part of the Iowa City, uh, area, and .... but to do that, that
area would need to be annexed. So, uh, if you read that, it's in case of annexation,
implement zoning and conditional zoning agreement standards that assure the continued
presence of manufacturing housing and that asir.... assure protection of the residents. So
I think that's something, if this annexation question does come up over the next, uh, two
or three years, or even in the next year, uh, we need to keep that in mind and .... and have
those kinds of CCA ... CZAs if possible, uh, in .... in that annexation plan.
Salih/ (unable to understand) answer to my question?
Throgmorton/ Well .... are you asking Geoff a particular question?
Salih/ I .... I know I ask the Housing Authority (both talking)
Frain/ ....ask Steve Rackis to come up and (several talking)
Salih/ Yes.
Taylor/ Oh, okay.
Fruin/ Steve, did you hear the question?
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Rackis/ Yes. So, um....uh, mobile homes and lot rent are what, uh, HUD calls is a special
housing type, and housing authorities have the discretion to assist special housing types,
or not, and there's a .... there's a whole list of them — shared housing is one, mobile homes
is another, home ownership is another one. The Iowa City Housing Authority long ago,
um, basically chose to assist all of the special housing types, but people still have to be on
the waiting list and have to be determined eligible and come to the top of the waiting list
in order to get the assistance. Typically what happens with lot rent, urn.... the.... the
amount of lot rents, I understand there's been 63% increases, but um .... right now I think
we only have maybe out of 1,300 vouchers, only about seven to nine where people
are ... um, we're helping with lot rent, cause typically what happens is the lot rent is so low,
our assistance becomes zero.
Salih/ Uh huh.
Rackis/ And theyre just, you know, it's just a matter of the formula.
Salih/ Yeah, I'm just askin' that because they increase and the increase will make the formula
different.
Rackis/ Yeah. So ... I, so like I said, right now we probably have seven to nine active participants
who are living in a mobile home and we're helping pay towards the lot rent.
Salih/ Sure!
Rackis/ There might be a couple where it's actually being rented as like a three-bedroom unit.
Salih/ Uh huh.
Rackis/ But ... so, yeah, it's something we can do, but it....it all depends on when somebody
applies and comes to the top of the waiting list.
Salih/ Sure. Thank you.
Throgmorton/ Wonder if the rest of you have any comments about the report or what you've
heard your fellow Council Members say.
Thomas/ I .... I don't have, um, too many specific comments, other than, uh, thank you to the task
force, Sara, for ...for leading the effort. Seventeen members to this task force. It was,
that's a impressive .... uh, list of people there. Uh, I really am pleased and impressed with
the ... the document, uh, and the comprehensiveness of it, covering funding, policy,
practices, state advocacy laws, uh, and ... and then concluding, so it's, uh, really
comprehensive in its scope, um, which I think is important. I think these issues are
complex. They .... a lot of parts to them that ... that need to be addressed. And so there's a
lot we can focus on here and target our, you know, our attention toward, um, but yeah, I
don't .... there wasn't any one in particular. They were all very interesting to me. Uh, I
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was pleased to see there is that organization, Rockne, that you mentioned, the ... Rock
USA that can .... can help. You know I am concerned with those that have already been
purchased.
Thomas/ Uh (laughs) you know.... that.... that's a challenging situation as well, but urn ... you
know, I think it was a really excellent effort and gives us some sense of where to go,
move forward.
Mims/ Yeah, I would like to ec... echo what John has said. I wanna thank the task force members.
Um, this .... this was a very comprehensive report and a lot of data that I think most
people in the community, and I would certainly acknowledge myself, was not aware
necessarily of, you know, how many housing units of this type in the county. Um, I think
it's, you know, they're scattered around and not necessarily always really visible,
depending upon where you happen to be driving most of your time. Um, so I was ... I was
surprised at the number of units and what that really means in terms of the amount of
population. Um, and to find ways, um, of protecting them, and I, like John said, I like the
way the recommendations were done in terms of the categories. You know, what can we
potentially look at in terms of funding, what can we potentially look at in terms of policy.
So I think all of these are ones that are certainly worth, uh, more discussion, either here at
this Council table and/or with, um, Council Members, Board of Supervisor Members,
um, in the other jurisdictions, because I think we need to continue to work on this, and...
and try to work on it in a way that .... um.....if you .... if we can, in .... in ways, I'm
interested in the Rock USA too, if there's ways to help people purchase, um, and/or to
help non -profits purchase, so that we aren't .... it's not a continual chasing our tail kind of
thing.....
Cole/ Yep.
Mims/ ....of more and more and more of these just get bought up by people that all they care
about is making as much money off of'em as they can.
Cole/ Yep.
Mims/ So....
Teague/ I've been pretty impressed by the, um .... by the report and all the items that's in it, as
both of, um, you have stated. The one thing that I'm real impressed by is, you know, the
advocacy work that's gonna be presented to the State legislators. Um, it really does have
some, um, I think some actionable, attainable items. Urn .... that is .... that to me seems
realistic and, urn .... um.....common sense, um, for legislation to come in. Unfortunately,
I .... l, you know, wonder why all the time we have to create laws in order to people to do
good.
Cole/ Uh huh.
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Teague/ And this is (laughs) you know (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ....incentive! (laughter)
Teague/ This is the perfect example of why, you know.... legislation happens, it's to really
protect individuals that are vulnerable, um, and so this is, um ..... I'm very impressed with
the task force, so thanks to everybody that's been a part of it. Um, we have some
dynamite people that's on the list of sittin' around the table, uh, comin' up with solutions,
and I was not expecting, uh, this to be so involved, uh, because of the shortness of time
that, you know, they got together and so this was a ..... a pretty impressive, uh, in-depth
report. Um, and I really feel that there are some actionable things that, um, in the months
to come can be followed up on and... and I anticipate that this Council will definitely be,
um, at the table just to make sure that we're doin' our part.
Cole/ And, Jim, can I make one quick (mumbled) comment to ... to piggyback on what Susan had
said, it's my hope that one of the things you do, you guys... cause this is obviously going
to be after the conclusion of my term, but that .... that, at one of the joint entities meetings
that you identify this as the topic, and you know, typically our joint entity meetings are
sort of show and tell, you know, where we sort of identify our projects, and I love that
too. I love seeing the bike trails and those sorts of things, but this does strike me as
something, given the fact that we had representation from the County, from .... that maybe
you want like a substantive joint entity meeting, um, where you can actually sort of
engage, because to the special nature of the housing, to Steve's point, that's one of the
things we really discovered. Like mobile homes are unique, you know, it's like personal
property but there's, you know, property that belongs to someone else and they're renting
it, I mean so it's a very unique, and it doesn't really fit with the law, and I think I also
wanted to highlight that we did have Zach Walz on the, um, on the committee, and he did
a terrific job, and he did highlight that he does think, even within the current political
environment that we have, he thinks that we're going to be able to move on some of these
topics. So I think hopefully we'll get some movement, um, even with the current
situation in Des Moines that we have.
Salih/ He's.....on the 17, the 14, we going to Des Moines to present... from I guess a lot people
from mobile homes park. We have a mobile home park network right now and all of
them are pushing something on Iowa state (mumbled)
Cole/ Yep!
Taylor/ (several talking) I was going to mention Senator Walz also, because we were truly
blessed to have him, uh, on .... on our committee, uh, he's very passionate about this topic
and... and does plan to ... to move ahead on the Des Moines level, the state level, uh, with
some of the things that, uh, really can't be done on the local level. So...
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Salih/ Yes, and I guess another representative call (unable to understand) from Dubuque or
something like that. I forget her last name, but (several talking) she's also pushing for
that.
Throgmorton/ So I'll make a quick comment too. Um, it's obviously a terrific report. I was very
impressed with it, and especially the quick turnaround on that. I was shocked (several
talking) to see that. It's really quite admirable. But the real question we have before us
now, given the way we're responding to the report, is what ... what do we want done with
it? Do we want to refer it to HCDC, which I think you suggested, Maz, at least with
regard to two topics.
Salih/ Yes.
Throgmorton/ Do we wanna create some kind of joint ac ... entity activity that, uh, along the lines
that you suggested, Susan? Or refer it to the staff, I mean, what ... what would you
recommend that we do?
Cole/ My thought would be is I was hoping that, you know, we .... obviously it's a very detailed
report. Um, that we would give staff, I mean there is some urgency here, but it doesn't
need to be done, you know, next week, so I ... I was thinking like if, you know, staff
(mumbled) opportunity to review this, and what we were also hoping at .... as a
committee, is that each, you know, each one of these communities is different, but it's a
regional problem. So we were hoping that each one of these task force members could
go back to the respective jurisdictions and sort of, um, get their feedback from their own
professional staff and then modify what they need to modify. So my hope, at least I
would support, if, you know, we could get something, some sort of response from staff in
terms of 90, 120 -days, something along those lines. Basically just (mumbled) they can
sort of respond to some of these recommendations, um, and to Steve's point about what
we're already doing, it's also our hope that we can daylight some existing programs that
we already have, that maybe people don't know about. Um, for example Home funds. I
didn't know this, that that could be used for repairs and stuff like that with mobile homes.
So,um, that would be at least be my, uh, that we .... that we get some feedback from staff
in a way that .... that fits their .... their schedule and their work load, as far as that goes, but
that's at least what I would like to see, in terms of a response, um, to what.... what the....
to what the committee had generated.
Teague/ I know that we had actually asked, urn .... of course the Councilors to kind of present, but
we had made mention that if Sara wanted to present or join in the ... join in the (several
talking)
Cole/ ...if we could (several talking) because she was a task force member, Jim. Would that be
okay (several talking)
Teague/ Is it okay that we invite her up?
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Throgmorton/ It's certainly agreeable to me (several talking) Sara, would you like to comment,
you don't have to (several talking and laughing)
Barron/ I'm Sara Barron. I'm the Director of the Affordable Housing Coalition. Thanks for the
opportunity to, uh, talk a little bit about the task force report with you. It was a great
honor, um, to be able to convene a group of people who are all committed to improving,
um, mobile homes as a affordable housing, quality affordable housing source in our
community, um, from so many municipalities in Johnson County and so many other
advocates who brought their knowledge to the table. So thanks to all of you for
supporting that work. Um, and for all the nice things you said about the (laughter)
outcomes of that. Um, you know one thing I wanna just add to the conversation, each of
those recommendations stands on their own, um, with a specific function to, um, stabilize
and improve the quality of mobile homes in our community, and also set a path for
moving forward in preserving that. Um, the ... the report is restricted to things we think
that local municipalities at that government level can do. It's not an exhaustive list of all
of the things that we wanna marshal in support of mobile home, um, neighborhoods and
of residents. So, um, there will be ongoing work in the community that's still taking
shape to bring together nonprofits that work, um, with residents; of course residents
themselves, how can we support things at the state level; and how can we make sure that
we have a stronger network of support moving forward. Um, another piece of it is just
the general education, as you mentioned, Susan. A lot of the issues that we're seeing in
the mobile home parks are not visible to the broader community, and we wanted to
increase people's knowledge base so that there's a better understanding of what we need
to do moving forward. As you pointed out, Rockne, mobile homes exist in a space
somewhere between owning and renting. And because of that special housing type,
sometimes mobile homes have fallen through the cracks, um, with our policies and our
program support, um, and we hope that by convening this task force and shining light
specifically on mobile homes we can improve that going forward as well, and that
happens both at the governmental level and in the non-governmental level, so ... um, other
than that I think the report more or less speaks for itself, but ... but if you have any
questions I'd be glad to answer them.
Throgmorton/ Great, thanks! (several talking) So Rockne suggested we refer this to the staff
and ask the staff to provide feedback within, I don't know, 90 days or some particular
period of time. (both talking)
Salih/ You know.....
Throgmorton/ ....whatda y'all think, and Geoff, you should feel free to chime in on this too,
because (laughs) kind of thing staff has to do.
Salih/ I guess when I said number one and number 10 because this is working direct with the
resident of the mobile home that live in our city, uh, that because we want to become an
example for the rest of the municipality, or for rest of the city, and this is something that
you know our, uh.... you know, the .... the.....what it called, the housing, the HCDC will I
guess can lay out exactly what the current assistance in the city are, just because a lot
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people ask me about if Section 8 can pay for the lot rent. We never knew that is ... is
something happening and I just thought bringing something (unable to understand) in our
city and even as a City Council I don't know anything about it. Uh, you know, I just feel
like if we ask 'em to work on this because they been, you know, they been working and
giving recommendation about, you know, how we help residents when it come to
affordable housing and homes and rental assistance and all this. Uh, that's why I really
encourage those two item to be given to the.... committee and see what they gonna come
up with, laying out the currents that we have and what else can our city do regarding this,
the capacity that we can do.
Throgmorton/ Maz, you say give to the committee, which committee are you referring to?
Taylor/ HCDC (both talking)
Salih/ The HCDC (both talking) Yes!
Mims/ Was it number one and two or (both talking)
Salih/ One and 10 (both talking) Yes, one and 10.
Throgmorton/ We all misheard that.
Salih/ (unable to understand) ...and relocation assistance available to residents, harmed by
(unable to understand) number 10 connecting with an organization like Rock USA, which
assist resident informing (unable to understand) their manufacturing housing committee.
Resident (unable to understand) That ... that what I meant, those two.
Teague/ And I hear what you're sayin'. Is it information that essentially you're wanting?
Salih/ No, I want to see how can the City, uh, like .... like information for available, uh,
assistance.... assistance available to residents harmed by unexpected sharp rent increase,
if happen to the people who live in our city, City of Iowa City. What currently is there?
What else can we do as a city? For our resident, if something like this happen. Or for the
current people who are really facing this, and another one if they wanna do it is how we
can refer them to organization (mumbled) just like Susan Mims earlier said, you know,
like an organization can buy the mobile home park or whatever. It is like some kind of
recommendation, some kind of a current assistance that we have. People don't know
about it. So our netw... through our network we can just lay out those information to the
public so they can know that there is something going on in Iowa City, and also we can
just set the bar high, the standard for (unable to understand) municipality, like Coralville
and North Liberty, who was participated in this (unable to understand) Yeah.
Mims/ As Rockne said, I .... I would be interested without, and again, I'd be interested in what
Geoff has to say in ... in terms of like some kind of feedback or response in terms of. ... of
....where staff may think that we could.... start with this and where the biggest time
commitment would be, um, you know, without staff putting in .... tons and tons of hours,
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but just kind of some feedback, like you've indicated, Rockne, um, where you think
maybe we could get our biggest bang for our buck, for the time and effort that staff puts
in, urn .... and whoever puts in, to kind of focus us, cause there's I think 12 very good
recommendations, as you said, Rockne, very complex, um .... some a little easier than
others, but still gonna take a lot of time. So yeah, I'd be interested in hearing what staff
has to say. Um, you know with the funding issues, um, the first one.... obviously that's, I
mean that's going to be our .... our affordable housing money and .... and I think that's
going to take some thought process, whether .... I think coming from staff might be a good
start on that one as well, just because..... while we wanna make .... if we're making an
effort to do a new program, my only concern is that we don't make the mistake of....
focusing it so narrowly on residents of mobile home parks that we then leave out other
people who might have just as great a need but don't happen to live in a mobile home.
Hear what I'm saying? So, um, and so I would be interested in having the ... kind of the
starting place be with staff to do a review, and suggestions.
Teague/ So what I ....what I really hear, at least what I hear you saying, is you want information,
um, about what funding options are out there, and even on number 10, which (both
talking) Yes. I ... I think staff, honestly, may be the best start because I've seen .... you
know, a lot of charts about what is available, and I think .... the commission.... I'm not
exactly sure if they will have all of the expertise on various different things throughout
the .... the City context and even knowin' what else is available within the community
(both talking)
Salih/ But the—each commission have a staff member. I guess, Tracy, you have staff on (both
talking)
Teague/ Yes (both talking)
Salih/ ...that commission,right?
Teague/ Staff is on there (both talking)
Salih/ .....and the people, uh, will, you know, that's where the commission, you know, sometime
bring recommendation is not taken from staff time and everything. After that the staff
(unable to understand) say, and especially there is somebody from the staff there. If it's
out of their capacity, they will say, by the way, we cannot do this, or this is not this.
That's why the staff is there and it's not taken from the staff a lot time.
Fruin/ Are you .... (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Let.....let's give Geoff an opportunity to weigh in on this.
Fruin/ Um .... uh, appreciate that. We haven't had a chance to sit down as a staff and go through
this, but I imagine.... several of us have .... have gone through it and have our own
thoughts. Um, regarding the items one and 10, uh, keep in mind that you already have an
emergency fund within your affordable housing fund set up for, I would say, situations
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just like this. Uh, it's 5% of your set-aside. So with a million dollars annually into the
fund, which has been your .... your trend the last few years, you have $50,000. Um, that
was created, uh, with the Rose Oaks' situation in mind, which I would think would be
very similar to this. You have an abrupt event that causes a lot of distress in a housing
community. So I do feel right now that we would have the ability to, um. .... make some
headway on number one already. Um, we have a program in place. We don't have well
defined parameters for that program, but Council could certainly look at sharp rent
increases like we have heard reported or that are being experienced in Golfview and other
....other sites and say this ... this qualifies for use of the emergency fund, and just like we
did, uh, with Rose Oaks and with the, um .... property up on Prairie du Chien, you all
responded and used those funds to help out. So I don't know that there needs to be a
whole lot of thought into that. Probably just thinking.... thinking through with the size of
our parks if 50,000 would be enough to .... to adequately respond, given some of these
timelines that are suggested by the task force, rental assistance of 180 days, for example.
I'm a little less concerned with one. I don't think that's.... that's a ... an item for us, at least,
that needs a whole lot of, um, study, cause I think you've already anticipated that through,
um, through past planning. Number 10, uh, what I would say with number 10, I think
number 10 fits that joint entities meeting really well, because I don't think you're gonna
want Iowa City exploring non-profit cooperatives and Coralville exploring it and North
Liberty exploring it, and then trying to compare notes at the end. I think that makes
sense. If you could get an intergovernmental or maybe a .... a subcommittee of this task
force to continue on, and to try to make contact with Rock USA or others, and work
together so that you're all working from the same base of information. I think that would
be extremely helpful. So that to me has a little bit more regional appeal. Most of the
other strategies I think are going to have to be deployed on a case-by-case basis.
Obviously annexation's only gonna work in a few cases, but we have Sunrise, we have
Modern Manor that are ripe for annexation. Um, we should be preparing for that and...
and I think as you know, staff is, um, been in some level of talks of annexation with those
two parks off and on for the last couple years at least. So, um .... in terms of. ... in terms of
next steps, I think you .... you look through these. We can .... we can share our thoughts,
and if you prefer we share those thoughts with HCDC and then come back to you, that...
that's fine. We have no problem with that. Um .... and then I think you pick off a couple
of these and .... and, uh, to .... to Councilman Cole's suggestion, maybe you zero in on the
joint entities meeting as a way to .... to further those efforts.
Taylor/ I had talked about joint entities meeting presentation previously also. Um, I would like
to ask Sara, I don't know if she can come up to the mic again, just a quick question as far
as, uh, what is your sense for the other municipalities — North Liberty, Coralville — have
they presented to their councils yet, uh, have you gotten any feedback from them... where
they are with that so we could sort of have a timeline when we could plan for a joint
entities meeting on it?
Barron/ To my knowledge this is the first formal discussion.
Taylor/ Okay.
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Barron/ Um, that has taken place among a full body (both talking)
Taylor/ That doesn't surprise me! (both talking)
Barron/ ...anticipating these discussions in each of the .... the four main, um, municipalities.
Taylor/ Okay, so maybe if you could keep in touch with all of us and then we could plan around
that. As soon as they've had the opportunity we could bring it to a joint entities, uh,
conversation, so....
Barron/ Yeah, absolutely.
Taylor/ Okay, thank you! The other thing I just wanted to note was that, am .... (mumbled)
reinvent the wheel with a lot of these recommendations. Uh, there was a lot of research.
You said it's a very full document and it is, and a lot of people were doing a lot of
research into other communities, other states, uh, because this is happening all across the
country, uh, and as far as what kinds of measures they are.....are putting in place to ... to
help these people and to prevent these, uh, companies coming in and .... and buying these
up and then raising the lot rent. So, uh... uh, we sort of restructured some of it and made it
appropriate for .... for our area, but we really didn't reinvent everything. It's out there and
working in other communities.
Salih/ I just wanna ask Geoff, you said there is 50% on the affordable hous.... 5% actually, which
is $50,000.
Fruin/ Yes!
Salih/ Yeah, that was very good (unable to understand) you know for.... for.... the crisis that
happen. Anyway I just wanna ask you if there is another fund beside that, because
50,000 just (unable to understand) they bought two or three mobile home park at once.
For example, if we have two mobile home park have crisis at the same time, the 50,000 is
not enough for 180 days that the report recommended. That's why when I say refer it to
the committee, so they can find like a way to do this and give the recommendation to us,
because the 50,000 that we have aside is not going to be enough sometime. Say for
example, if we use for, you know, before the budget year went through and we need to do
it twice, and we already use that 50,000. We need like really a solid .... like really ways or
resources for this kind of thing, that we can just do it all the time if something.... just in
case something happen. Hopefully .. no one need it! But that's why I'm saying refer it to
the (mumbled) and ... the staff say.... yeah, also ... or the way that you just said, give the
recommendation, give it to the committee, let the committee review it, and bring it back
to us and we can see, you know, if there is different between the committee
recommendation and the staff recommendation.
Mims/ The ... the only comment I guess I would have there is, I mean what that really comes back
to is how we prioritize our budget. And so to me that's... that's the duty of the Council to
do that budget prioritization, and so, I mean I would agree with you, Maz, if there's some
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major issue, that 50,000 in emergency very well could not be enough, and so I think that
is where we have to have those conversations as a council as to, you know, how do we
prioritize what our budget looks like. My concern when you get ... one commission
looking at one narrow focus, and I totally understand this, they're not..... they're not
looking at the whole budget. They're looking at prioritizing that one particular issue.
And so of course they want as much money as it would take to solve that problem, which
I totally understand. That.—that's what they're looking at and what their priority is. But
our mission has to be to look at the entire budget, for all the City needs, and so I think
that's something that ... that we need to, you know, kind of keep in front of us as we start
doing those budget talks and reviewing the budget, which we'll have here at the end of
the month, and keeping this in mind as we start looking at those allocations in January.
Teague/ I do agree with you as far as like the Council lookin' globally, but I think just like this is
a task force lookin' specifically at ... you know, mobile home .... mobile homes and the
crisis that's bein' experienced. After, um, you know, Maz speaking, you know, wantin' to
have HCDC, and I was tryin' to get at, you know, what was her rationale for havin'
HCDC, and I really believe that, um, it's a collaboration between what the staff is
recommending and what HCDC, these various people, might come to say, yeah, that's
great, um, but have you thought about this, and it's more of a focused, um .... they're really
focused on the mobile homes. Ultimately the hope would be what would be the .... the
worst extreme situation and, you know, what would be a solution there. Now Council, of
course, I can probably tell you, may not be able to figure out what that worst situation is,
financially, but I think it's good to know what that worst situation is. So that we at least
have that knowledge. So I personally, um, am in agreement, um, with staff takin' it,
figurin' out some pathways forward, for HCDC receivin' it, givin' some comments, um,
and lookin' at it with that worst case scenario, as well as with what can we do now. So
that's kinda how I see it. Um, I do believe that we should always being with the end in
mind. This is a way to do that. It's by...involving HCDC from what I understand Maz
wants to do (mumbled) don't think it'll hurt anything .... doin' it this way.
Throgmorton/ It seems to me that's a reasonable pathway to ask staff to review the document, uh,
prepare basically a report, share it with HCDC, have HCDC review that report, provide
us with recommendations, then have it come back to the Council with basically both
staffs initial response and HDC ... HCDC's recommendations, and then in the end of
course, uh, Susan's right about, well, we have to exercise judgment about what to do in
response. So that'll be up to the Council....at.....at that point. I think the key question
then would be what kind of timeframe do we have in mind. I mean if y'all are in
agreement with that pathway (several talking)
Cole/ ....yeah, what does Geoff think is reasonable (both talking)
Thomas/ ....kind of like the idea of, you know, a quick response, in terms of what, I mean just
what Geoff related on some of the items that we have on .... in the report, you know, next
steps in terms of the .... the 12 steps, urn.... timeframes associated with'em, um, so it's sort
of a flex .... you know, an immediate response that has a flexible timeframe in ... in the
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response in terms of each item may be .... resolved very quickly. Others may take some
time.
Throgmorton/ Does this make sense, Geoff?
Fruin/ Yeah, I ... I just, I mean to clarify, we're not .... we're not bringing you, or we're not bringing
HCDC recommendations. The recommendations are out there. We're gonna provide
some commentary on them and maybe some, um, as .... as Rockne said, maybe
daylighting some existing programs that you may not know about or, uh, you may not
recall. Um, so I ... I don't ... I don't think it's a lot of work for us but, um, certainly we'd
appreciate a couple months, um, time if we ... try to get to HCDC and, uh, at their January
or February meeting, if that's okay, and I think you should .... you should feel good
knowing that should a crisis occur in the next couple of weeks, you have funds set aside.
You also have reserve funds. You have emergency funds available, if the crisis gets
elevated beyond $50,000. So you should take some comfort that we can respond to, in an
emergency as you described in which maybe two parks are bought and .... and folks are,
uh, in a .... in a stress situation, so, uh, if...if okay with you I would suggest shootin' for
that January, February HCDC meeting. You know we'll provide some commentary, but at
least my thought on this is ... it's not going to be a whole lot of narrative from staff. It's
just going to be a reaction to those 12 (several talking)
Salih/ ....I just wanna ask you if, uh, we did that .... we still gonna have time to change something
in the budget (unable to understand) allocate some money aside or anything. If it come
by recommendation. That's not gonna be a problem?
Fruin/ No, I think if you're .... if you're looking at, um, emergency funds, uh, in the 50,000, you
can always change your affordable housing percentage allocation. If you wanted to make
that 10% of those affordable housing dollars, you could do that at any time. Urn .... or,
you know, through the budget process if you wanted to go beyond a million dollars and
say I wanna budget 1.5 and .... and beef up the, um, emergency reserve that way, you
could certainly do that. But .... there's not a whole lot of, other than the emergency
funding, the other items in here don't necessarily require immediate dollars. (coughing,
difficult to hear speaker) urban renewal areas or, uh, potentially infrastructure with...
with annexation agreements, um, those are .... those are things that you don't necessarily
need dollars in the budget right away for. Uh, so I .... I feel.....I feel pretty good that....
budgetarily, I think we sit in a fine spot right now. (both talking)
Salih/ Rockne, you mentioned another budget.... another fund I mean.
Cole/ Well .... well I don't know if I mentioned any other fund. I think in terms of the Rock USA
piece of it, one of the things I just wanna elaborate a little bit more on that is that, um,
one hope that I have is that it may be that there'll be no need for any municipal funding at
all, okay? So what I am hopefully going to continue to do, um, is (mumbled) I've had
some preliminary contacts with them. They have some expertise in terns of this
municipal ownership process, and again one of my first conversations that I had, they
actually said that funding is usually not the key difficulty, which was surprising, because
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they have a social equity investment arm, at least for this entity. There aren't a ton of
them out there. So my hope is we continue exploring that and then if it turns out that
there's no need for any municipal funding through a non-profit or assisting or backing
alone, then we're good. If it turns out that they go through this process; come in, they try
to secure lending, there may be some things down along the line where maybe some of
the joint entities may wish to do some assistance. So that's what I would see that
particular one, but even that one potentially could have a big sticker to it, but at least right
now it's zero. Um, we're just only evaluating that. So .... it could be that a purely market-
based solution will be available.
Throgmorton/ Sounds like we have a pathway. Are you all comfortable with January or February,
HCDC process? The timing? (several respond) Okay, great, and with regard to the joint
entities meeting, I think I heard a suggestion that item 10 would be a good topic for the
joint entities meeting to discuss, so we should sort of put that on a, uh.... uh, on our list
of, uh, joint entities topics, uh, to discuss later on. Okay, any .... does anything else need
to be discussed about this topic?
Cole/ The only thing would just .... I'm going to have continuing outreach. Just wanted to give
Council.... with Rock USA to gather more information, but just .... just only information
gathering at this point. So....
Throgmorton/ Okay. Excellent. Thank you! I think that means we can turn to our next topic,
South District form -based code update. Tracy Hightshoe and Anne Russett both are
gonna be up here.
South District Form -Based Code Update:
Hightshoe/ Hi, Tracy Hightshoe with Neighborhood and Development Services. Wanted to give
you a brief background before Anne gets back up here and talks about where we are now
with the form based code for the South District. As you remember back in 2015, the
Council passed the South District plan. So we worked with neighbors, stakeholders on a
plan for the South District, and that plan had a lot of guiding principles, including
compatible infill development, compact development, diversity of housing, affordable
housing. Uh, the diversity of housing was to accommodate people at whatever stage of
life they're in, whether they're students, young families, empty -nesters, retirees, that you
had a mix of housing in every neighborhood so you didn't have pockets of multi -family,
large-scale multi -family. Um, the plan also had a guiding principle of neighborhood
commercial. They wanted focal points and gathering places in their neighborhood.
Interconnected streets was a major issue for the South District, and pedestrian/bike
connections. So in 2017 we hired Opticos to do a phase one study, and this was a project
direction report that ... an informed base analysis for the Northside and South District, and
you can see that many of the things that we looked at at that study fit well into what the
South District guiding principles included. So based on the phase one study, urn .... and
the recommendations that the report had, we entered an agreement with Opticos for phase
two, and phase two, um, was part of developing a form based regulation for our South
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District. So Anne Russett, our Senior Planner, is going to talk about that form based code
and where we sit on that process right now.
Russett/ Uh, good evening, Mayor and Council. Thanks, Tracy. Um, as Tracy mentioned I'm
going to really focus on where we're at with the development of the form based code for
the South District, and first I wanted to talk about some of the project goals that we have
for... for this new form based code. And as Tracy talked about the South District plan and
phase one and we really want to, as part of this process, implement the direction and the
policies in the South District plan. We want neighborhoods that are safe for pedestrians.
We wanna preserve environmental resources. We wanna highly interconnected network
of streets and paths. We wanna allow a variety of building types through this new code.
We also want a predictable land development process, not just for developers but also for
community members and they want the ability to apply these regulations to other green-
field sites in the city. And the map that you see on the right is the project area for .... for
the proposed form based code. This is an area that was developed under a form based
code. Uh, prior to its development it was a greenfield. This is New Town at St. Charles
in Missouri, which is outside of St. Louis, and this is just kind of an example of what, uh,
the South District could look like with a form based code. You can see here from the
aerial that you do have a highly interconnected network of streets and paths, um, centers
and plazas, and .... and green space and civic space. This is some street views from New
Town, St. Charles. And these pictures show some of the features that we hope to
accomplish through, uh, creating a form based code and having development develop
under that form based code. So we see green spaces and civic spaces that are not only
amenities for the community but also serve as storm water management. You see a
variety of housing types. Um, I wanna point out the housing, uh, the blue house on the
right, in the middle. That's actually a, it's called a mansion -style home. It's a house -scale
multi -family. So there's probably seven to nine units in there, but based on the scale, it
fits in with a traditional single-family neighborhood. The initial draft code, uh, is
available right now. It's on our project website. And I'd like to provide just a high level
overview of what is included in that draft right now. We are in the middle, staff and the
community is bos... both reviewing this code and providing feedback and some comments
to Opticos. The .... the form based code is based on a tra... transect which I think at the last
meeting Tony from Opticos discussed the transect with.... with the City Council, and the
transect is a way to categorize different environments, the natural environment, all the
way to the built environment, and there are six different types of transects. On the left
you have, uh, conservation or natural areas, open space areas, all the way up to the right,
which is the, uh, T-6 transect, which is .... be the urban core. Iowa City actually has
examples of all of these, um, depending on where you're at in the city. However, the
South District, um, has three. Uh, we have, in the South District, the T-1 natural transect;
T-3, which is, uh, more suburban development, and then T-4, which is general urban. So
the draft code, uh, at this point identifies six different zoning districts that could be
applied within the South District planning area, including the T-1 natural, two T-3 zones,
and then three T-4, and I'm gonna go through each of these relatively quickly. Um, the
first again is T-1 natural zone. No development would be allowed in this zone. This is
for nature and open space. The next is the T-3 neighborhood edge zoning district. This
zoning district would allow two stories in maximum with an occupied attic. This does
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seem a little bit less intense than some of the other zoning districts. You can see that the
homes are set back further from the street. There's more space, front yard space. Um,
there is a mix of housing types that would be allowed, but fewer than some of the other
districts. So a single-family detached home, a duplex, and a cottage court would be
allowed in this zoning district. The next district is the T-3 neighborhood general zone.
Again they allow ...in this zone it would allow, uh, two stories with an occupied attic. You
can see these homes on the right are a little bit closer to the street and this zone would
allow a few additional housing types, a multiplex small and a townhouse small. Again
these are all, uh, house -scale multifamily that would fit, um, within an existing single-
family neighborhood. And moving on to the T-4 zones, the first is the T-4 neighborhood
small zone. This would also have a two story max with a .... occupied attic. It would
allow ...it would allow a few different housing types, the cottage court, multiplex small,
and the courtyard apartment. Again these .... these are all predominantly house -scale
multi -family. Moving on to the T-4 neighborhood medium zone, this, um, is a little bit
higher intensity. The height is increased to three stories in this zone, with an occupied
attic. And this zone would allow multiplex large and courtyard buildings. The last
zoning district is the T-4 Main Street zone. We see this zone being applied, um, not....
not, uh, throughout the .... the South District planning area, but in key nodes, and um, this,
unlike the other zoning district would allow block -scale buildings as opposed to the
house -scale buildings. The form based, uh, code draft also regulates uses, and the draft
code outlines the uses that are allowed in, um, each of these proposed zoning districts.
The draft also includes thoroughfare standards. This is a little bit different than typical
zon... zoning ordinances, um, which only regulate the private realm. This is looking at,
uh, standards that would apply to streets and right-of-ways, sidewalks, and um, bicycle
facilities. Um, the .... the draft code identifies eight different thoroughfare types and we're
in the process of reviewing these with our Public Works' staff. The draft code also
includes civic space standards and outlines seven different types of civic space. The code
also includes frontage standards, uh, which will outline frontage options on how the
building, the private.... private realm of the building interacts and is connected to the
public realm, the sidewalk and ... and the street. And the .... the code identifies I I different
types of frontage standards. And then lastly the code includes building type standards,
and you can think about these as the different housing types that would be allowed in the
different zoning districts, although it ... they would allow some non-residential uses as
well. And there are 10 different building types that would be allowed throughout, um,
these.... throughout the South District in various zones. The .... part of the project is also
developing a regulating plan and this is currently being developed right now. Um, the
regulating plan could be, um, de .... described as a zoning map, with some additional
detail. So it will identify different zoning districts throughout the planning area. It will
also identify areas for civic and open spaces, neighborhood centers, and it will also
include a network of streets and blocks. And right now staff is exploring, um, developing
a regulating option.... regulating plan option that would not only identify the street
network, but also rezone the land, um, as part of that process too, and this goes back to
one of the goals of having a predictable land development process, and we want to get to
the point where everyone can get behind the standards in the code and as part of this
process, we can rezone the land to help streamline the development process, um, after
the .... the code is adopted. Uh, I wanted to highlight some of the stakeholder outreach
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that we've conducted to date and plans for future outreach. Um, the project kicked off
earlier this year, and in April Opticos made their first trip to Iowa City. And we had, uh,
stakeholder interviews and meetings with a variety of individuals and groups from
architects and developers to HOA representatives, realtors, housing advocates, um, and
really sat down and kind of had more focused -group sessions where we discussed issues
and identified concerns. In July, um, Opticos came back and presented the results of the
residential market analysis. And then most recently, last month, we held meetings with
the development community and land owners in the area, as well as community residents,
to go over the draft code, um, and answer any questions, and we have requested that the
community provide feedback on the draft that's online now, by mid-December. And
staffll forward those comments along to Opticos for review. In January we will be
releasing the draft plan regulating plan options. That will be .... those options will be
made available on our website and we'll also have meetings with stakeholders to discuss
the regulating plan options and get comments on those drafts. Uh, we will be having, um,
Opticos come back for additional trips to do more outreach as well. And then in early
2020, we will be releasing a revised draft of both the code and the regulating plan. In
terms of, um, the timeline and next steps, I mentioned the release of the regulating plan in
January. Um, all of the comments that we have received from the community and also
staff, cause we are actually reviewing this code right now as well, all of those will be, uh,
forwarded to Opticos. A revised draft will be made available to .... to the public for
additional comment, and then an adoption draft will be developed, and we hope to bring
that adoption draft to the Planning and Zoning Commission and then to City Council in
spring of 2020. And that's all I have. I can answer any questions. Thank you.
Salih/ You said the meeting that.....you had a public meeting that you had. During the meeting
they did not give out any feedback, or you said the feedback will come later?
Russett/ Um, there were some questions and comments at the meetings, but um, we encouraged
people to review the code and provide more feedback if they had any questions or
comments.
Salih/ Okay. Sure.
Thomas/ How many acres of land ... are we talking about with this?
Russett/Around 1,700 acres.
Mims/ I'm really pleased to see the progress that staff and Opticos have made on this. I think one
of the things we've talked about for quite a while was trying to get away from just, you
know, acres and acres and acres of single-family homes, and have a variety of housing
types, etc., and so, um, this is just a really different approach than we've ever used in
Iowa City and so really excited to .... to see the progress and see more details as they
come out, so thank you.
Cole/ I'm curious too. I think one thing that came up last summer, I know some of the
development community have concerns about the market for this. Um, have you guys, in
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terms of the other areas that have approached it, I think there's been very robust
development in those areas, like in other communities. Are you guys tracking how well
it's played out in other communities in terms of the market, the demand for this type of
development, cause I think there is a huge demand for it, but because... as to Susan's
point, we're not as familiar, I think there's some reluctance on the part of the development
community that hopefully we can persuade them otherwise.
Russett/ Right! Yeah, there are definitely examples throughout the nation of. ... successful
examples of form based code being implemented and applied to greenfield sites and I
think that's one of the reasons why we wanted to do the residential market analysis and
some of the questions that we wanted answers to is is there a market for missing middle
housing in this area and the answer, the short answer is yes there is. Um, the market
study also identifies some price points for rent and for sale, um, for different types of
missing middle housing types. Um, and then also talks about absorption rates. So, um,
that's something that we felt was very important to help move this forward.
Cole/ And correct me if I'm wrong, typically there's going to be more socioeconomic diversity, I
mean I think to Susan's point, where some of the traditional, um, housing developments
were single-family, single-family, single-family, and they tended to be a standardized
price point, which meant that although the income wasn't exactly the same, it tended to be
tracked by the neighborhood, but these sorts of neighborhoods are gonna have more
socioeconomic diversity than you would otherwise see in a traditional single-family
neighborhood.
Russett/ I don't know if I can answer that. Urn .... that's I think what we hope for (both talking)
Cole/ ...housing types (both talking)
Russett/ ....definitely be more housing choices and options.
Teague/ So one thing .... one thing I'll say about this, um, as someone in the community told me,
predictability is what people want from government, and this form based code gives that.
It's predictability with the T-1, the T-2, the T-3, the T-4, and the T-4 Main Street. It is
somethin' that, um, I think from staff and from the developer, they're gonna know exactly
what to expect or what can take place, and so I love this idea of, you know, this area just
bein' one that will kind of meet some climate action goals (laughs) um, in there as well,
because it'll be a more dense population. Um, I think it's .... I think it's great. I'm
applauding the staff for all of the work that you all have been doing. Looking forward to
this community. I love where I live, but this looks great! (laughs)
Throgmorton/ So, Anne, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that the predictability really
depends greatly on whether the zoning is incorporated in the regulating plan, so that the
area is rezoned as part of the initial action (both talking)
Russett/ Yes.
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Throgmorton/ ...instead of rezoning one by one.
Russett: That's correct.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, cause we've learned from our other large form based code, uh, south of
Burlington Street, that there can be complications associated with individual rezonings.
Cole/ Yep.
Throgmorton/ So I .... I'm very hopeful we can get rid of that as a problem.
Salih/ I really....
Mims/ (both talking) ...just going to follow up with Jim real quick, sorry! I think a big part of
that is this is greenfield. And we didn't wanna rezone some of those because we wanted
something. That makes it much easier here.
Throgmorton/ So, Anne, did you say the total acreage is 27 acres? Twenty.... 2,700 acres?
Russett/ Seventeen (several talking) 1,700.
Throgmorton/ I wanna be clear about that.
Salih/ I just wanna say (both talking) You finished? (both talking)
Throgmorton/ And when did you say Opticos will be coming back?
Russett/ We haven't, uh, decided that yet. We're still .... it's going to be early next year at some
point but we don't have an exact date.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Salih/ I just wanna say, this is really ...I like this plan and for the (unable to understand) South
District specially, uh, even though to Rockne's point, this is, uh, to me and (unable to
understand) answer that question, this is not quite going to be low-income but at least like
variety of range of, uh, income, which is needed at the South Districts, especially we
have a lot of low-income there, and this is will be very good for the school. Hopefully
this will come during the (unable to understand) meeting because this is might need
another school to be like maybe there, and the people who will be mixed income. There's
low-income and middle class and maybe high income people going to the same school,
which will be amazing. I think this is really nice for the South District (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Well I definitely agree that when, uh, when this advanced far enough, it should be
presented to the, at the joint entities meeting, and .... as well as individually with school
district people so that they are fully aware.... School Board especially is fully aware of
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what's emerging for .... in this area. I know they're generally aware of what we're doing,
but this is a big step forward.
Salih/ Yes (mumbled) Good job!
Thomas/ Yeah this.... it's very exciting to see the .... this thing taking, um, shape and uh, it
certainly will be the most complete neighborhood in Iowa City in terms of. ... especially
new development with, uh, commercial center, open spaces, uh, as well as natural areas.
Walkability is kind of the foundation of the plan. Um, certainly incorporates the ... the
other forms of mobility, but it's sort of founded on the idea that it will be comfortable to
walk through the neighborhood. And so you're not buying into a development, you're
buying into a neighborhood and a community, I mean that I think is the .... the key
transformative aspect of this, is that it will be a community. It's not simply a
development, and ... yeah, this.—there's a market for (several talking) I would say, um, as
well as a missing middle.
Taylor/ I was just going to say I really, uh, like this plan also, and I think we've talked, especially
John, over and over for the last three, four years about the missing middle and the need
for the missing middle, uh, and I like the connectivity of it. Uh, I think somebody
mentioned the reluctance of developers and I think we've .... we've seen that, the housing
types that are going up, the communities around the area are $300,000, $400,000 homes.
Those are not affordable to a lot of people. So I really love that mix of housing types and
the affordability and the concept of the two to three stories, uh, mix of that. I like that!
And I think there's a market for it.
Cole/ Maybe I could just quick comment too. Um, I think John is my (laughs) he's my favorite
urban planning nerd. Um, he loves this stuff, um, and I'm an urban planning dilettante, is
that I .... I know just enough to get in trouble. But to ... for the community, those of you
who are watching, this is a huge deal. Um, the form based code, I mean this is cutting
edge, and I think staff is leading us in terms of a cutting edge development, but it's also
sort of back to the future in the sense of it's basically based upon traditional principles.
So if people are sort of wondering what is this all about? Go to our historic
neighborhoods, where we sort of used to know how to build these sorts of neighborhoods
organically, with neighborhood commercial that sort of fit with all these different types of
housing types, with a rooming house, with a multifamily, with a duplex, quadplex.
(mumbled) sort of forgot how to do that, um, and so this sort of movement really has sort
of learned from these traditional principles and brought them forward, and then we're sort
of realizing how awesome these communities were in the first instance. So, I'm really
excited about it, and I think in terms of having this neighborhood commercial, we're
getting a little bit of neighborhood commercials that are recovering in our inner core
neighborhoods now too, and that's gonna be exciting to see what happens in our newer
neighborhoods where you get the coffee shops, the bakery, those sorts of things that are
walkable in a suburban context, so great work! Um, and it's fun to sort of see this come
to fruition. You know a lot of times with Council we sort of want stuff to happen right
now. Uh, this process started in 2017 and maybe even a little bit earlier, and we're now
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really starting to gather the fruits of all the hard work that you put in, as well as Opticos.
So it's, uh, great work!
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Throgmorton/ Okay. Thank you, Anne. Thank you, Tracy. Let's move to our next item, which i;
clarification of agenda items. And I wanna mention that staff has asked us to defer action
on Items 6.k., 6.1., and 6.m. and I intend to call out, not pull out but just call out, other
items that are in the Consent Calendar, probably Items 6.f., 6.j., and 6.p. 6.f. is the, uh,
the .... the piece of national legislation havin' to do with carbon fee and dividend. 6.p. is
the methane study, and I forgot what the other .... oh, the other one's, uh, the housing
vouchers. I just want the public to know about those.
Taylor/ To add to that list, Jim, I would like to pull out yet again 6.c., the uh.... personnel
policies.
Throgmorton/ For separate consideration?
Taylor/ For separate consideration, yes.
Salih/ I agree too, but did you say 6.j. too?
Taylor/ Just k,1, m.
Salib/ No, no, uh.... Jim (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Just to mention it. I'm not .... I don't intend to pull it out. I just .... just during
discussion I will say something about (both talking)
Salih/ Later or not?
Mims/ Later.
Throgmorton/ During the formal.
Salih/ Okay, during .... yeah I wanna say about that too and also, uh, also I would love to pull out
6.c., as Pauline said, and I wanna talk about 7.c. I wanna ask our City Manager, Geoff, to
comment on that about the letter about the storm water retention system.
Throgmorton/ Why don't you just do that right now? That doesn't have to (both talking) Yeah,
okay.
Salih/ I'm asking him now.
Throgmorton/ Okay, good.
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Salib/ Yeah, to comment on 7.c., about the letter about storm water retention system.
Fruin/ So several of the Council Members, uh, over the years have been, uh, brought into this
conversation. This is a wetlands/storm water detention facility that is private, in Olde
Towne Village, which is a neighborhood, uh, south of,uh, Blackstone Restaurant on the
east side of town. Uh, for years it's been caught up in a, kind of a, uh, disagreement
between the homeowner's association and the developer of that site. Uh, it's a fully built -
out neighborhood now, but the .... the developer had some responsibilities to the Army
Corps of Engineers, uh, for .... for wetland requirements, and the homeowners actually
owned the ground and are responsible for maintaining a, basically a private storm water
detention. Won't get into all the details on .... on why there were some disagreements, but
uh, thankfully, um, I think, uh, there has some .... been some resolution. The developer
has satisfied, uh, his requirements with the US Army Corps of Engineers, and now, uh, at
least in my view, it is clear that the, um, homeowner's association now has the full
maintenance responsibilities of that, uh, detention basin, and because it has been
neglected for over a decade, there's some serious maintenance responsibilities that ... that
need to occur there, and uh... um, I forget exactly what, uh, Mr. Hott's letter claims, but I
think having talked with him a number of times over the years, as have many of you, um,
I think that, uh, he feels that the City should have a .... a role in the, um .... um,
maintenance and upkeep of that detention basin, and we just frankly ...we just don't agree
with that.
Salih/ I ... just if you can respond to him and convince him why you are not agreeing or (both
talking)
Fruin/ I can respond but I cannot (several talking)
Salih/ No, he have to respond to ... somebody ask about something. I think this ... we (both talking)
Throgmorton/ There have been extensive discussions.
Salih/ But even now, he sending a letter, telling him no. We cannot do that (both talking)
Throgmorton/ It goes over the same territory every time.
Fruin/ I .... I'm happy to respond to the letter (both talking)
Salih/ That what I'm asking, please respond.
Fruin/ I can tell you our staff has multiple conversations with Mr. Hott every month, sometimes
every week.
Salih/ (mumbled) know that, but respond.
Mims/ And Jim and I have been in multiple meetings over the last, I don't know, year and a half
or whatever, um, it's....
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Salih/ For me this is the first time (unable to understand) that why I so like something huge.
Anyway, also I wanna talk about the letter from Paul, uh, 7.1. It is, uh, late handout
distribution, and I wanna ask the City Manager about the map, uh, if you can explain
what exactly the map show us and if it's really show us what .... what it show, if you can
have explanation for that.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, can you hold on for a second, Maz. Has everybody had a chance to see
what Maz is referring to? It was in our (both talking)
Cole/ Yeah (several talking) Paul Wittau, um, email.
Salih/ Yeah, he emailed us and he have handout. (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ Yeah it...it doesn't look right on the face of it. So we just need to have a sense
of...of, uh.....
Fruin/ The sidewalk snow clearing (several talking) item. Um .... at the, uh, last season, last snow
season if you will, we had a, uh, City employee express some concerns, a transit driver,
so someone that's frequently going through neighborhoods, that there were a number of,
uh, children in, uh, that particular neighborhood that were forced to walk on the streets.
So it was an observation of a transit driver that the sidewalks were not being cleared on a
regular basis in that neighborhood and it was forcing some children into the streets,
perhaps in some unsafe situations. Uh, so, um, we, uh... uh, made note of that and then on
the first snow flaw .... first snow fall this year we went out to check on that. As you know,
uh, the vast majority of our responses during the snow events are on a complaint basis.
Um, however in this case we felt some responsibility to go out and take a look at that. So
we did issue, um, notice of violations to .... to this general area for those that weren't
compliant with clearing the snow. It was 24 hours after the snow fall and we met all of
the standards that we need to meet and keep in mind a notice of violation is .... is not, is
not necessarily a ... a ticket. It's putting them on notice that there's a violation they need to
remedy. Um, so that's what .... that was done in this area. Um .... in your information
packet this week on Thursday, you're gonna get kind of a comprehensive overview of our
snow removal procedures, both on -street and on sidewalks, so you can become more
familiar with how we handle those complaints. Um, I think if you'll recall last year, we
had well over a thousand complaints, ub, come in to the City, uh, on sidewalks that
weren't cleared of snow. We hear it loud from both sides and we get frankly beat up from
both sides, people that say we're not aggressive enough with clearing snow, and then
people say that we're way too aggressive and punitive when it comes to it. It's a difficult
situation. You try to make sure that we follow, uh, procedures for that reason, so that we
can be clear and consistent, um, however, I think the difference in this piece was we were
proactive in this piece, based on the complaint we had from.... from our transit driver, uh,
last year, as opposed to waiting for a complaint in this area. So we were hoping to get out
early and, uh, make notice of that. I think you also know we do put out a lot of
communication on the sidewalk, uh, snow clearing responsibilities. It's hard for us to get
into every household (mumbled) our best through social media, through, uh, Next Door
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and other measures, but uh, sometimes you have to go out and issue those notice of
violations so that people know those responsibilities, without incurring the costs that
come with violations.
Cole/ My only comment on that is first of all I think staff was acting in the best of faith with this.
I think in terms of their safety obligations. The only thing I would go back to is one of
my very first, um, seminars I went to after I was elected four years ago, where they talked
about one of the problems with (mumbled) totally complaint based, it can have
disproportion impact on certain neighborhoods if it's only complaint based, so I think it's
sort of a balance. I think obviously health and safety is absolutely critical. We need to
make sure we do that, but that was sort of one of the first things that ... that I learned, and I
channel Kingsley Botchway, I give him a shout -out on that, are there ways in which we're
acting in the best of faith if it's based upon that complaint it could have a disproportionate
impact on certain neighborhoods. So I think he's highlighting not necessarily the fact that
the notice was given, but that that was in a certain neighborhood and the optics, if not the
substance, are .... are extremely concerning. So my thought process going forward would
be obviously staff has a very tough job, and health and safety is absolutely critical. Keep
doin' the great work, but if we could just make sure that we're continuing to make sure
that that next .... (mumbled) By the way I should confess, I've .... I've gotten those notices
since (laughs) on Council so we're not exempt from that and I live on, I live on Court
Street. So, um .... I mostly try to do a good job, but I .... I didn't (mumbled) you know, but
it's a health and safety issue so ... and I know they (mumbled) neighborhoods, but the
optics did not look (mumbled)
Fruin/ Yeah and just to be clear, there were .... there were notices issued in other parts of the
community. Um, and .... and on the equity issue, I completely understand that, but the
equity issue works both ways, right? We're not enforcing in certain neighborhoods
because residents in those neighborhoods don't have access to clear sidewalks. (both
talking) ....issues there too so (both talking) um, I ... I think (both talking) it's a good
intro to the snow season for us and a reminder of how sensitive this issue is and again,
we'll try to be clear and consistent. We don't wanna be punitive. Our goal is just that we
get compliance, and sometimes that initial notice of violation is a .... is a scary thing to
receive, particularly if you're not familiar with our system, but ... but again, our hope going
forward is that those people and other people that get those notice of violations then just
become a little bit more aware of those responsibilities. I understand the optics are bad
on this and you know we'll continue to do our best as staff on snow removal. I expect
after you get that memo in this week's IP, you're probably gonna wanna talk about this
again, cause for those of you that remain on Council through the .... through the season, if
our winter is anything like last year, you will be hearing about it (several talking)
Salih/ Yes! (laughs)
Thomas/ So there will be more equitably distributed proactive inspection, is that.....
Fruin/ We .... we try, um, now we get to a situation like we had last year, we didn't have a moment
to hardly catch our breath, uh, the inspectors didn't. It was ... it was complaint basis only,
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and we were struggling to keep up with just the complaints. Um, we, you know,
our .... our Housing inspectors are the ones that ... that go out there and do this, and it's
a .... it's a, uh, exhaustive process. We have to wait 24 hours after the snow fall. We have
to document the conditions. We have to come back and .... and document the conditions
after a period of time. So it's not just a complaint that takes 10 minutes to go respond to.
Each complaint takes a considerable amount of time to analysis and to enforce, and
ultimately if you have to hire, you know, we hire a contractor to clear, and so it can be a
pretty time-consuming process.
Throgmorton/ Well I can say I have slipped on thick ice .... thickly iced sidewalks before, fallen
down, and hit my head. I had to go to the emergency ward at Mercy, once, uh, and I don't
know, y'all are thinkin' the consequences are obvious that I hit my head, but nonetheless
(laughter) nonetheless it's a serious problem. We've gotta keep the sidewalks clear in the
winter, and it is a challenge, as Geoff notes right .... quite rightly.
Salih/ I really agree with you, but still we have .... we need equal distribution so we are not gonna
have like this. Thank you for the hard work that our City people does. I know that you
work hard, especially during winter time. This is like really shout -out to all the
employees, who care about us during winter time and.....
Fruin/ In this week's memo, on this topic, there ... there is a map in there that shows, uh, where the
complaints were last year, and I think that, looking at an entire season will give you a
better representation of where our efforts are throughout the year.
Salih/ And...for 6.g., I just wanna really shout -out and thank you, the House.....the Housing
Authority for seeing this, uh, additional rental assistance voucher. Thank you, because
this is really huge to the City. That what I wanna say on this and I don't think I have
another one!
Throgmorton/ Any other agenda items? I .... I'm gonna mention Item 11, which is repeal the
rental permit moratorium. I wanna give you a heads up that I'm gonna invite, uh, a
motion to defer action on this particular topic until the December 17th meeting, and I ... I
can explain why when we get to the meeting, but I just wanna give ya a heads up that I
will be doin' that.
Salih/ Sure!
Information Packet Discussion (November 21, November 27):
Throgmorton/ Any other agenda items? Can we turn to the information packet, October 21. I'm
sorry, November 21. (several talking) Yeah. Okay, let's move to November 28th, my
birthday, yeah! (laughter)
Teague/ Happy Birthday!
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Throgmorton/ Thank you. Yeah. (several talking and laughing) I'll just note IP #5, which is a
letter from Mediacom concerning rate adjustments. Ah! I mean, it's just absurd. It's not
a happy situation.
Mims/ Along with IP3 on the previous one (several talking) ...removing channels on one, raising
the prices on the next one.
Council updates on assigned boards, commission, and committees:
Throgmorton/ Yeah. And they provide an explanation as to why they're doing it. It strikes me as
a believable explanation, but there ya go! Okay. Octo... uh, November 27th, going once,
going twice. Okay, we'll move on. Council updates on assigned boards, commissions,
and committees. For today we'll start with Bruce and move to the left.
Teague/ I actually have no .... well, I mean .... go there really quickly. I have no committee reports
to update.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Pauline?
Taylor/ I do not either!
Throgmorton/ Susan?
Mims/ No, I do not either.
Tbrogcnorton/John?
Thomas/ No.
Throgmorton/ Rockne?
Cole/ None.
Throgmorton/ Mazahir?
Salih/ No.
Throgmorton/ Okay, I'll report on the Convention and Visitors Bureau board meeting of
November the 21st. So I heard three things that I want you to know about. First, Josh
has received a consultant's economic impact analysis for a possible Eastside Sports
Complex. I've talked with Geoff about it. Geoff had received a copy of that as well. It
basically ... um .... concludes that a smaller scale version, uh, would be more appropriate,
but even there I think they have questions about it, uh, and you can fill in some details
because you've read the whole report and I haven't, Geoff.
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Fruin/ I ... I don't think it's necessarily calling for a smaller scale. What ... what the market report
intended to do was ... was look at the attractiveness of, uh, that facility, should it be built
for, um, destination tournaments, and so it was trying to quantify an economic impact.
So it looks at your competitors that are out there and the Cedar Rapids metro, the Quad
City metro, Dubuque, Des Moines, and it tries to position the .... your facility plans, um,
and determine what you could expect as a, kind of a catchment rate for tournaments, and
I think what .... to try to summarize it, it's not going to be the major tournament attractor
that .... that maybe perhaps we had hoped and the Visitors Bureau had hoped. Um, we do
feel that a facility of that size is still needed to meet local demand, um, and not .... when I
say local, not just Iowa City but a .... a smaller radius of eastern Iowa, um, however, it's
just not gonna be a facility given some of the... competitor... or competitive type of
facilities that have been built, that's gonna draw teams from say Illinois and Wisconsin
and Missouri. You're not gonna get a whole lot of that with the planned facility that we
have. But ... but it still makes it clear that, uh, in their view there is demand for that type
of facility.
Throgmorton/ Thanks, Geoff, that's a more, uh, accurate, uh, characterization of the study.
Appreciate you clarifying it. The second thing I heard from Josh has to do with their
Bravo Awards event that's gonna take place on December the 11th. Uh, one of the
speakers is going to be discussing enrollment projections for colleges and universities.
Some of you probably know there has been talk about, uh, projections that indicate
something I think's being called an ... what, an enrollment cliff, where enrollments are
likely to decline precipitously as a result of.....uh, demographic trends. Uh, so that has
potential implications for Kirkwood and for the University of Iowa, as well as colleges
and universities around the country. So, uh, it might be helpful for any of you who can to
attend the Bravo Awards event. It's going to be at the Marriott in Coralville.
Mims/ I'm going.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I intend to too as well. Um, to ... to hear and see that, uh, a presentation on
that topic, because it has considerable implications for, um....development projects that
the Council will be asked to review and so on, and you'll have to have that .... that kind of
information in mind when looking at those development projects, and any others that
come forward. The last thing I wanna mention, without going into any detail, has to do
with, uh, report, um, concerning RAGBRAI's net income for the past several years,
including the most recent year, and there's.... certain aspects of those, um .... financial
reports that are worrisome, not ... not illegal, I'm not trying to suggest anything like that,
but just troublesome for Josh, and he had some things to say about it during the CVB
meeting. I'd be happy to talk with any of you in detail about it separately That's what I
wanted to mention. Now the Partnership for Alcohol Safety is gonna meet on December
the 19th and some of you may know that Alyssa Shivers who has been the co-chair of
that committee in the past, uh, is leaving the University, so she will no longer play that
role. Okay! That's it for me. Anything else anybody needs to report? Okay, good. Well
we can stop the work session there and reconvene at 7:00 for the formal meeting.
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