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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-10-20 Bd Comm minutesCITY OIF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org October 20, 2020 ATTACHMENTS: Description Airport Commission: July 9 Item Number: 4.a. July 9, 2020 Page 1 MINUTES FINAL IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION JULY 9, 2020 — 6:00 P.M. ZOOM MEETING PLATFORM Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8) An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of council members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19. Members Present: Warren Bishop, Scott Clair, Christopher Lawrence, Hellecktra Orozco, Judy Pfohl Staff Present: Eric Goers, Michael Tharp Others Present: Matt Wolford, Carl Byers, Alex Schmidt, John Moes, David Price RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: (to become effective only after separate Council action): None. DETERMINE QUORUM: The meeting was called to order at 6:01 P.M. ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Lawrence nominted Bishop as Chair, seconded by Pfohl Motion carried 5-0: Bishop nominated Clair as Secretary, seconded by Lawrence. Motion carried 5-0 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the June 11, 2020, meeting were reviewed next. Pfohl moved to accept the minutes of the June 11, 2020, meeting as presented. Clair seconded the motion. The motion carried 5-0. PUBLIC DISCUSSION: None. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSIONIACTION: Tharp asked to moved Item 5.c.iii.3 up to accommodate schedule. Members agreed by consensus. 5.c.111.3 Autocross — Tharp stated that David Price was in chat to discuss the upcoming autocross event at the airport. Tharp stated that with the recent conversation regarding the pancake breakfast and the movie events, he thought it would be good to have a discussion of this as well before the next event. Tharp noted that the event was schedule on July 26 and that there is another on July 9, 2020 Page 2 the calendar for September. Tharp noted that Price had submitted a plan to have the event and allow for Covid-19 related mitigation. Price discussed with the members some steps the group was taking regarding the event and how to control personal contact. Tharp stated that based on the event location at the closed runway and the limited interaction with the terminal building area, that he felt this was an event they could still have. He asked members if there were any that felt we shouldn't allow the event. Members agreed to allow the event by consensus. a. Airport Website Update — The FUEL team stated that they took the Members' input and recommendations received since the last meeting, and have made some more updates to the website. They also have done quite a bit of photography since the last meeting. The team asked Members to look at the site and to let them know of any further changes, ideas, etc., as they hope to make the site live soon. Schmidt then shared her screen with Members and walked them through an overview of the changes that have been made. The `Pilot's' page is one with the most changes, according to Schmidt. She reviewed the additions and changes made here, and also responded to Member questions and comments. Under the section regarding the flight simulator, it was noted that the wording should reflect that the simulator is approved for'IFR currency and training purposes.' There was discussion regarding an online reservation page for the simulator. Wolford noted that they have not added this to the website in order to keep confusion down. He added that they could put Jet Air's email address and phone here for contact information. Continuing, Schmidt noted other small changes and tweaks to the site. Members gave feedback to the FUEL team, noting various changes, corrections, etc., that they found in reviewing the website pages. Members agreed that with the discussed tweaks and changes, the website.should be ready to go live. Members briefly discussed what the website address would be, and they questioned Goers if having a .com website would be appropriate, considering they are part of the City of Iowa City. He staffed that he could look into this. The discussion continued, with the FUEL team speaking to the three domain names they have obtained and the Commission speaking to which would be most appropriate. Members agreed that .org or .com appear to be most appropriate. It was decided that Tharp and Moes will work through this issue after a little more research is done regarding Google searches and priorities given. Tharp reminded Members that they still need to have a discussion about the back -end maintenance and such for the website. This was part of the original proposal by FUEL. b. FAA/IDOT Projects i. Obstruction Mitigation — Tharp stated that they are still working with the landscapers on seeding and such. Hopefully the recent rain will show if there are any issues that may need attention. A question was asked about nighttime approaches and Tharp stated that he is still awaiting FAA response on this. ii. Terminal Apron/Taxiway reconstruction -- Tharp noted that the last of the concrete was laid this morning. There is some grading work yet to be done, as well as some asphalt patch work needed to clean up the areas July 9, 2020 Page 3 on the north end where the trucks have been running. He expects this to be reopened in the next few weeks. iii. Runway 25 Threshold Relocation — Tharp stated that they are awaiting the approved version from the FAA, at this point. Byers added that he doesn't have anything new on this either. IV. Fuel Farm Expansion and card reader klosk replacement — Byers stated that he spoke with the contractor today on this, and he is planning to begin work on this project on July 22nd. A brief discussion ensued regarding the fuel pump and improvements that are hoped to be gained with this project. C. Airport Operations I. Management —Tharp, explained the need for this resolution, noting the changes that the State legislature made recently. Goers noted circumstances that could change this policy, such as a function at the Airport where It was requested that firearms not be allowed and therefore security options would need to be in place, Goers further explained the liability to the City/Airport If they were to not approve this. Members made it apparent that they were not in favor of this resolution. 1. Consider a resolution rescinding Resolution A11-08 "Firearms and Weapons Policy" — Bishop moved to accept Resolution #A20.15, rescinding Resolution #A11-08, "Firearms and Weapons Policy." Clair seconded the motion. The motion carried 4-1, Pfohl in the negative. ii. Budget -- Tharp noted that they have entered a new fiscal year and that 'he should have last year's numbers by next month's meeting. He knows that they will see losses in fuel sales and commissions, just in the last three. to four months, due to the pandemic. The FY21 budget was In the meeting packet and Tharp briefly highlighted some of the larger items. Pfohl asked where they are financially with the simulator, In relation to where they expected to be at this point. Tharp noted that again the pandemic has caused some decreases here. He added that in its first month they did around $1,100; last month (May) was around $700; and he hasn't run June's numbers yet. Wolford added that they are getting more users than had been expected. Ili. Events -- 1. Pancake Breakfast — Tharp reminded Members of the special meeting on August 31d with the Optimist Club on whether they would move forward with the pancake breakfast. This should be a brief meeting, according to Tharp. 2. Summer of the Arts Drive -In Movies — Tharp stated that the first movie night was a success. There were 43 cars present. He added that since things are going well, the planners would like to add a second movie night and go for a longer period. He and . Wolford stated that they see no problem with this request. Pfohl asked if attendees were maintaining social distancing, and Tharp noted that they are. Wolford also responded, stating that people are being asked to wear masks if they leave their immediate area. d. FBO / Flight Training Reports July 9, 2020 Page 4 i. Jet Air — Matt Wolford shared the monthly maintenance reports with Members. He stated that its been pretty normal -- mowing, light bulb replacement. On the Jet Air side of things, charter flights are staying busy. Fuel sales are about 8% behind last year's at this time. e. Commission Member Reports L Tharp welcomed new Member Hellecktra Orozco to the Commission. Members welcomed her as well, and she introduced herself to everyone. f. Staff Report — Tharp stated that in the next couple of meetings they will be looking at t -hangar rents, and budget and major project planning. SET NEXT REGULAR MEETING FOR: The next regular meeting of the Airport Commission will be held on Thursday, August 13, 2020, at 6:00 P.M. in the Airport Terminal Building, via electronic method. Special meeting August $14 at 6:00 P.M. Tharp will send Members a Zoom link for this. ADJOURN: Pfohl moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:20 P.M. Orozco seconded the motion. The motion carried 5-0. ,)W(Z; a — - V CHAIRPERSON DATE July 9, 2020 Page 5 Airport Commission ATTENDANCE RECORD 2019-2020 NAME TERM s EXP. o w i'a a Warren Bishop 06/30/22 O/E X O/E X X O/E O/E X X X K X Scott Clair 06/30/23 X X X X X X X X X X X X "Christopher Lawrence 07/01/21 X X X X X X X X X X X X Wellecktra Orozco 06/30/24 NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM X Judy Pfohl 06130/22 X X X X X X X X X X X. X Bob Libby - 06/30/20 X O/E 0/E O/E I O/E O!E I X X X X O/E I NM Key: X = Present X/E = Present for Part of Meeting O = Absent 0/E = Absent/Excused NM = Not a Member at this time CITY OIF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org October 20, 2020 ATTACHMENTS: Description Airport Commission: August 13 Item Number: 4.b. August 13, 2020 Page 1 MINUTES FINAL IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION AUGUST 13, 2020 — 6:00 P.M. ZOOM MEETING PLATFORM Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8) An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of commission members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19. Members Present: Warren Bishop, Scott Clair, Christopher Lawrence, Hellecktra Orozco, Judy Pfohl Staff Present: Sue Dulek, Michael Tharp Others Present: Matt Wolford, John Moes RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: (to become effective only after separate Council action): None. DETERMINE QUORUM: The meeting was called to order at 6:00 P.M. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the July 9, 2020, meeting were reviewed next. It was noted that the attendance for Lawrence is incorrect, that it looks like another member's attendance was mistakenly copied here. Tharp stated that he will fix this. Tharp then stated that he noted another error — the header on the minutes states the meeting was held at the Airport terminal building. It should say via the Zoom meeting platform. He will fix this as well. Lawrence moved to accept the minutes of the July 9, 2020, meeting as amended. Pfohl seconded the motion. The motion carried 5-0. Pfohl then asked if they should acquire some of the mask mandate signs that the County has and put them on the doors to the Airport. Tharp responded that he has signage on the doors, noting the City's mask mandate. PUBLIC DISCUSSION: None. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: a. Airport Website Update — John Moes with FUEL joined the discussion. He spoke to the Airport website, noting that the site is live now and is working well. Moes said the website address was https://www.iowacitvairport.org Due to the recent derecho storm across Iowa, much of the FUEL team is dealing with personal issues. Moes asked Members to check out the site and send any comments or questions to him. He then shared notes from Alex, which briefly August 13, 2020 Page 2 reviewed the tweaks made to the site following comments made at previous meetings. b. FAA/IDOT Projects I. Obstruction Mitigation -Tharp stated that the landscape contractor needs to finish the seeding and a few other miscellaneous items. 1. Consider a resolution accepting FAA Grant — Bishop moved to consider Resolution #A20-16 accepting FAA Grant. Pfohl seconded the motion. The motion carried 5-0. iii. Terminal Apron/Taxiway reconstruction — Tharp stated that the work here is complete. 1. Consider a resolution accepting project as complete — Bishop moved to consider Resolution #A20-17 accepting project as complete. Clair seconded the motion. The motion carried 5- 0. iii. Runway 25 Threshold Relocation — Tharp briefly explained the FAA grant for the runway threshold relocation project. 1. Consider a resolution accepting FAA Grant — Bishop moved to consider Resolution #A20-18 accepting FAA Grant. Orozco seconded the motion. The motion carried 5-0. iv. Fuel Faun Expansion and card reader kiosk replacement — Tharp stated that work has begun on the fuel tank installation. Things are still going as planned, with the tank being delivered in late August, early September. C. Airport Operations I. Management 1. 2020-2021 T hangar Rates — Tharp spoke to the yearly T -hangar rate discussion, noting that he gave Members some information in the meeting packet to help guide this discussion. Dulek, with the City Attorney's office, stated that as there are two individuals on the Commission who currently rent hangar space, they should not speak to this item as it would be a conflict of interest. Continuing, Tharp stated that currently the Airport sees about $220,000 in revenue for the total hangar rentals, with T hangars accounting for $125,000 of that. Tharp is recommending a $5 increase across the board on hangar rentals. He added that this could be a bit of a revenue adjustment due to the COVID downturn. Members briefly discussed Tharp's recommendation, agreeing that the $5 is a good idea at this point. Pfohl moved to accept the Increase of $5 as recommended. Lawrence seconded the motion. The motion carried 3-0, Bishop and Clair recused. 2. Request for Trail along Riverside Drive - Bishop then spoke to the issue of not being able to access the Airport easily on a bike. He asked if other Members would be open to making a request of the City for a trail along the west side of Riverside Drive/Old 218, instead of the east side. Dulek suggested having one of the City transportation planners available at the next meeting to give Members an update on future plans. Members continued to discuss this issue, with the idea of a subcommittee being formed. August 13, 2020 Page 3 Bishop and Clair stated that they would be.open to this. They will provide the Commission with information at an upcoming meeting. Ill. Budget 1. FY21 Iowa DOT Aviation Program —Tharp stated that the draft program Is out now. Funding has been reduced dramatically, according to Tharp. Ili. Events — 1. Pancake Breakfast — Canceled. 2. Summer of the Arts Drive-in Movies — Weekly through August. 3. Autocross — September 20 — Tharp spoke to the July event, noting that things went well for the club and they are still planning to'hold their September event. d. FBO 1 Flight Training Reports 1. Jet Air — Matt.Wolford shared the monthly maintenance reports with Members. Highlights included mowing and clean up of trash, fuel farm maintenance, etc. Pfohl asked if the derecho caused any major damage. Wolford said the biggest thing were three trees that are total losses and a lot of limbs down. Everything else has been very minor. Power was out at the Airport at one point during the storm, making opening doors on the hangars Impossible. Wolford spoke to the possibility of having a generator on the premises so they could power runway lights, hangar doors, etc., during outages such as this. Members agreed that looking Into having a generator should be a higher _priority. Speaking to Jet Air, Wolford said they are continuing to stay busy in all areas of their business. e. Commission Member Reports — Clair asked Tharp about the status of the Army Reserve building. Tharp stated that they still have the lease on the building. He did speak with a leasing agent who said the Army Reserve just hasn't filed the paperwork to dispose of It yet. The lease expires in February, 2021. Members asked to put this on next month's agenda, so they can discuss it further. f. Staff Report — Tharp stated that he is still without power at his house and is still cleaning up tree damage. SET NEXT REGUL . R MEETING FOR: The next regular meeting of the Airport Commission will be held on Thursday, September 10 2020 at 6:00 RM. via the zoom meeting platform. ADJOURN: Pfohl moved to adjourn the meeting at 6:53 P.M. Lawrence seconded the motion. The motion carried 5-0. CHAIRPERSON DATE August 13, 2020 Page 4 Airport Commission ATTENDANCE RECORD 2020 NAME TERM EXP. o w Warren Bishop 06130/22 0/ 0/ E E X X X X X X Scott Clair 06/30/23 X X x x x x X x Christopher Lawrence 01101121 X x x X x x x X Hellecktra Orozco 06130/24 N N N N N N M M M M M M X X Judy Pfohl 06/30122 x x X X X X X X Kw.. X = Present X/E = Present for Part of'Meeting O = Absent O/E = AbsentlExcused NM = Not a Member at this time CITY OIF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org October 20, 2020 ATTACHMENTS: Description Board of Appeals: September 9 Item Number: 4.c. 1 APPROVED MINUTES IOWACITYBOARD OFAPPEALS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 ELECTRONIC MEETING Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 29.8) An electronic meeting was being held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of Commission members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19. MEMBERSPRESENT: Andrea French, Scott McDonough, Andrew Martin (arrived 4:07pm), JimWalker MEMBERS ABSENT: John Gay STAFF PRESENT: Tim Hennes (Sr. Building Inspector), Stan Laverman (Senior Housing Inspector), Sue Dulek (Assistant City Attorney), Brian Greer (Fire Marshal) OTHERS PRESENT: Crissy Caganelli, Dan Broffit, Catherine Gerlach RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: None. puma ma�Z�1:��� Tim Hennes called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM ELECTION OF OFFICERS: MOTION: McDonough moved to elect Andrea French as chairperson of the Board of Appeals. Walker seconded. VOTE: French was elected as chairperson of the BOA bya 3-0 unanimous vote (Martin not present for the vote). MOTION: Walker moved to elect Scott McDonough as vice -chair of the Board of Appeals. French seconded. VOTE: McDonough was elected vice -chair of the BOA by a 3-0 unanimous vote (Martin not present for the vote). CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES: Hennes noted that in the minutes there were two recommendations to Council that were not actually I APPROVED recommendations, so those should be omitted or deleted. MOTION: McDonough moved to approve the minutes from the July 1, 2019 meeting with revisions. Walker seconded. VOTE: The motion was approved by a 3-0 unanimous vote. (Martin not present for the vote) REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE FROM HOUSING CODE SECTIONS 17-5-17 F. 1. f. AND 17-5-17 G.J. (PROPOSED BUILDING ON PARCEL# 1022133012 [EAST OF SHELTER HOUSE AT 429 SOUTHGATE AVE AND WEST OF 505 - 509 SOUTHGATE AVE]): Hennes explained the request, there's two provisions in the Housing Code that the appellant would like to have the Board review and give a variance on. First is the escape and rescue window in every sleeping room requirement and also that every habitable room shall have a window or skylight directly to the outdoors. He also noted that Assistant City Attorney Sue Dulek provided a memo to the Board outlining the four conditions that must be met to grant this variance. Dan Broffit (Neumann Monson Architects) began by noting the building as they are proposing it will fully meet Building Code, they are not seeking any kind of a variance there. He also said 0 this application sounds familiar, it is because they sought a variance to the exact two same Housing Code provisions a couple of years ago when they constructed Cross Park Place. Broffit explained that was the permanent supportive housing that Shelter House constructed and manages over on the southeast side of town and that application was approved. Therefore, this time they have the benefit of having those units in place and can understand how those have functioned in practice. Broffit stated for this development the unit layout which Is attached to the packet shows it's a relatively small unit and is Intended for single occupants only and none of these units will be occupied by more than one person at a time. There Is a separate living room/kitchen area and then a separate bedroom area that is divided by a bathroom that sits in between and they are open to each other. There's no door or anything to close off those spaces since it's just a single occupant however, it was determined back when they did this the first time that sl nee that corridor between the two spaces does not meet the minimum habitable space dimensions, it would be considered a one bedroom unit. Due to the size of the units and the nature of the site, much as it was with Cross Park Place, it makes it difficult to develop the site due to the space constraints and to get the number of units that was desired and is allowed by the special zoning for this particular use type. Broffit stated they are asking that the window into the living room and kitchen area essentially function as both the required rescue window for the unit that Is required by provision 17-5-17 F.1 and as the minimum glazed area for the unit required by provision 17-5-17 G. Broffitt noted there are a few reasons why this particular unit design is desirable with the bedroom not having a window directly to the exterior and separated from that one which the Shelter House folks can speak to more but having a separate bedroom is preferred for privacy concerns and to have the unit design follow trauma informed design principles by trying to remove excess stimuli from the sleeping area and providing them with a place where they can voluntarily withdraw from the public facing spaces. It does offer an advantage for federal grant applications that that they are in process for, and also since this housing development will be funded long term, largely by housing vouchers, it does provide an advantage there. Broffit stated the feedback they received from the units constructed at Cross Park Place is that the units have functioned very well as intended so those are the reasons why they would like to proceed with this variance. Broffit next addressed some of the concerns about making sure that this meets the intent of the Code and is going to provide adequate life safety. This building is being proposed to be developed as 1-1 Condition 1 occupancy, not a R occupancy, a one occupancy per unit and the rescue windows are triggered in the Building Code only when it is R2 or R3 or R4 occupancies. The provision that is in the Housing Code does not make a distinction between R occupancies and I occupancies; it just 1 APPROVED simply says dwelling units which these would be dwelling units. But going to the I occupancy offers a few extra levels of life safety protection, first and foremost being that it would require a full NFPA13 sprinkler system. There are also some additional provisions that are required for fire alarm and detection systems that go along with that I occupancy and the Building Code is more restrictive on heightened area. Additionally, this building will be staffed 2417 and so if there is any kind of an emergency, there will be staff on site that is able to sound the alarm. Broffitt believes that provides a basis for why they don't feel that the rescue window is necessary to be directly into the bedroom however they will be providing a rescue window It will just be in the living room and there's very little barrier being that the unit is open to get from the bedroom area to the rescue window that will be provided. As far as the natural daylight provision, they do have some reasons why they would like to have the bedroom area be in a place where one is able to withdraw. The minimum glazing area is 8% of the floor area typically for habitable spaces in dwelling units, they would propose that the glazed area that they provide for the unit be at minimum 8% of the total floor area of habitable space that would be the living roomikitchen area, the corridor between the two rooms and the bedroom. They would consider all of that space when figuring the minimum glazed area. To illustrate examples Broffit showed some photos of what the units at Cross Park Place look like. Crissy Caaanelii (Shelter House) stated they are happy to answer any questions but noted that Broffitt did a very good job of explaining the logic behind and the desire to have the floor space or the floor plan that they propose. She added they have about a year and a half of track record now of the units being occupied over at Cross Park Place and it is working really well. She also noted it is a very delicate issue as far as not wanting those windows directly in the sleeping area, certainly for the trauma informed aspect of it, but also because it Is a preventive measure for not only the tenants and for the staff, but for the neighborhood. She explained that other providers that they worked with years ago when they were developing this concept noted that was the major concern that they had and what they would change in the properties that they had developed and working with the population. They are housing entirely a population that meets HUDs definition of chronically homeless and that means that individuals health is very deteriorated, there Is a chronic mental illness, chronic substance abuse, and frankly, their brain chemistry is permanently changed. A lot of impulsivity issues result from that and so other providers in the country that they reached out to having a standard floor plan with the bedroom facing the windows caused a lot of problems with neighborhood complaints. This proposed floorplan avoids that. it is a protective measure, it is a preventative measure, and it is not compromising people's enjoyment of their units or their safety. McDonough asked Fire Marshal Greer if he had any issues or concerns, which he did not noting with the I occupancy, they are getting a much stronger and fuller sprinkler system and an alarm system. Stan Laverman stated the building will be compliant with the current Building Codes and he had no concerns with the Board granting a variance. MOTION: Walker moved to grant the variance from Housing Code sections 17-5-17 F.1 and 17-5-17 G based on the unnecessary hardship in carrying out the strict letter of the Code and the particular circumstances presented, specific application of the provisions would be arbitrary in this case. Extending the time would not solve the issue. The variance is in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the code and public health, safety and welfare are maintained. McDonough seconded. VOTE: The variance was approved unanimously 4-0. ADJOURNMENT: APPROVED MOTION: Walker to adjourn the meeting. Martin Seconded. Meeting adjourned at 4:32 PM ,gc.Tt+j (;t Chairperson, Board of Apl3tfals Date Board of Appeals ATTENDANCE RECORD YEAR 2020 September 9, 2020 NAME TERM EXP. 1/20 2/3 3/2 4/6 5/4 6/1 7/6 8/3 9/9 10/12 11/2 12/7 John Gay 12/20 NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM O/E O Scott McDonough 12/21 NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM X X Andrew Martin 12/22 NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM X X Andrea French 12/22 NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM X O/X Jim Walker 12/23 NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM X X KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No meeting -- = Not a Member Item Number: 4.d. CITY OIF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org October 20, 2020 ATTACHMENTS: Description Civil Service Commission: September 24 Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8) An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of Commission members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19. Minutes — Final City of Iowa City Civil Service Thursday, September 24, 2020 — 8:00 a.m. Members Present: Melissa Jensen, Rick Wyss, Ann Rhodes Members Absent: None Staff to the Commission Present: Karen Jennings, Tracy Robinson Other Parties Present: City Manager Geoff Fruin, Assistant City Attorney Eric Goers, Attorney to the Civil Service Commission Mike Kennedy, Appellant Attorney Skylar Limkemann Recommendation To Council (become effective only after separate Council action): None. Call To Order: Jensen called the meeting to order at 8:03 a.m. Certification of Hiring List for the Position of Police Chief: After a brief discussion, Rhodes moved to certify the list as presented, Wyss seconded, and all were in favor. Fix Time and Place to Reopen Terry Tack Appeal Hearing: After discussion and guidance from Kennedy that Zoom meets due process as long as there is a full opportunity to view exhibits, for cross examination and for the Commission to ask questions, Wyss moved that the hearing be held via Zoom, Rhodes seconded and all were in favor. Rhodes moved to hold the hearing on October 15 and October 16, Wyss seconded and all were in favor. Tack Appeal Hearing Procedural Issues: Rhodes moved to secure the services of a court reporter, Wyss seconded and all were in favor. Due to a scheduling conflict, it was agreed that the Commission would meet on September 28, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. to discuss the remaining procedural issues. Adjournment: Wyss moved to adjourn, Rhodes seconded, all were in favor and the meeting was adjourned at 8:59 a.m. Board/Commission: Civil Service Commission Attendance Record Year 2020 (Meeting Date) Name TERM EXPIRES 2/7/20 2/19120 3118120 912120 9/24120 Melissa Jensen 4/5/21 X X X X X Rick Wyss 4/1/24 X X X X X Ann Rhodes 414/22 --- --- --- X X Stephanie Houser 414/22 --- --- --- --- KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No Meeting --- = Not a Member September 24, 2020 TO: The Honorable Mayor and the City Courtoll RE.- Civil Service Certlf led Ust — POLICE CNfV ~ CITY OF IOWA ZITY X110 Ust Washington Street Iowa City, taws $224n•1826 (I 19) 356-5)06 0319) 3564609 FAX wimm. I clov. ots We, the undersigned members of the Civil Se vloo Commlr.6lortfQT Jowa City, Jowa, do hereby certJfy the following named person as eligible for the position of PolieeChief, Dustin Liston IOWA CITY CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION L -1 '1� �-- Ann Rhodes t ATTEST, I' KSIW Frushling, City Clerk, Item Number: 4.e. r � � At + at1Mw��al +•ate_ CITY OF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org October 20, 2020 CITY OIF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org October 20, 2020 ATTACHMENTS: Description Climate Action Commission: August 3 Item Number: 4.f. MINUTES FINAL IOWA CITY CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION AUGUST 3, 2020 — 3:30 PM — FORMAL MEETING ELECTRONIC MEETING Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8) An electronic meeting is being held because a meeting in person is impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of Commission members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19. MEMBERS PRESENT: Madeleine Bradley, Stratis Giannakouros, Grace Holbrook, Kasey Hutchinson, John Fraser, GT Karr, Jesse Leckband, Becky Soglin, Eric Tate MEMBERS ABSENT: Matt Krieger STAFF PRESENT: Sarah Gardner, Ashley Monroe, Brenda Nations OTHERS PRESENT: John Barr, Zach Harrelson, Benjamin Grimm RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL: None Soglin called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF JULY 6, 2020 MINUTES: Fraser moves to approve the minutes from July 6, 2020. Tate seconds the motion, a vote was taken, and the motion passes 8-0 (Giannakouros not present for the vote). PUBLIC COMMENT OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA: John Barr just wanted to thank Juli Seydell-Johnson for her extensive update on the plans by the parks department. Certainly, the question he posed in June was pretty broad, not just specific to Scott Park, and she did a great job of providing a broad overview, but he thinks it is Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 2 of 10 incumbent upon everyone with this specific park issue to then come back and make it more specific in a future date. Beniamin Grimm gave quick update on the school district progress and climate actions, they are trying to find a consultant to look at the whole breadth of their climate action efforts and their entire operation and what they've implemented and what they can still implement. Their goal is to figure out some sort of plan that would work into the facility's master plan 2.0 effort, which he believes is slotted for 2023. He also noted there is some movement again on the environmental stuff with the AmeriCorps staff and they are going back and revisiting their recycling pilot programs at the one junior high, one high school, and one elementary school. Grimm stated given the current COVID situation, they're kind of waiting to see how that all pans out as to when students were back in the building and how they would actually implement that with the projected cafeteria complex complications with social distancing and everything. STAFF/COMMISSION ANNOUNCEMENTS: Action Items from last meeting: Nations noted the first one was for her to add the co -benefits sheet to this packet, which she did. She added that Soglin worked on that and it is in the packet and they're also on the Google Drive. Nations sent the link for the transportation. She also sent the Human Rights Commission statement about the recent developments that was requested. Finally, she got the future zoom meetings set up. Updates from Climate Action and Outreach Office: Nations stated they're going to be doing these updates every other month in rotation with updates of the 100 -day report. Some of the recent activities that they've been doing are they just awarded the climate action grants, they awarded seven and they're listed on page 17 of the packet. They also finished up the fiscal year 2020 grants except for two that wanted an extension because of COVID reasons, which was granted. Nations noted they're finalizing two more grants and have an award to Johnson Clean Energy District on hold for now until they get things going with the new AmeriCorps members. They launched the Climate Action at Work, the green business recognition program. They have ten applications so far that they're hoping to award businesses or organizations for their climate action work. Nations asked if there is a Commissioner that would like to review the nine applications and help staff make decisions. Regarding the metrics, which will be discussed in more detail later, she listed out all five categories which she is hoping they can agree on tonight and then she can have two or more years of data to present next month to see how it's looking from when they completed the Climate Action Plan because they'd like to have an update for the two year anniversary. Nations noted the monarch festival launched on Sunday, it was a virtual festival but very popular as they had in less than 24 hours over 1000 hits, which is pretty good because that's twice as many as they probably had at an actual in person festival. We have some good videos and really cool information. The Farm to Street event has been cancelled for this year. Gardner is working on the climate festival and the publicity is going to launch this week. Gardner stated the climate festival website is live and ready to be viewed. There are some interactive elements that will be added in as they're developed, including the launch video, which was just Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 3 of 10 completed today. She noted they are anticipating the first press release going out this week, and then they'll start marketing that pretty aggressively in the weeks ahead. Gardner added they are continuing their outreach to businesses and organizations to participate and have gotten some wonderful responses back already. Utility insert ads and advertising about the event went out over the weekend. Gardner next discussed the marketing RFP, noting they are just finalizing the dates as to when folks need to get questions to them for the question and answer section and also the date then for the final application. They expect that to be nailed down and then the RFP itself will go out this week. Nations asked if Gardner had any updates on the climate ambassador program? Gardner stated she did, and she's been making some wonderful headway in developing the modules for that. She noted they seem to be on track to launch the application for it during the climate festival and then expect the program itself then to launch sometime in October. Nations noted they did finalize getting the contract for the EV readiness planning program, it was awarded to ICF, which is a consulting firm that has done both regional and city EV readiness plans. They are excited to start kicking that off and so they'll have their first call with them sometime in the next week or two. Nations stated she still have not gotten all the information she needs to to complete the greenhouse gas inventory for 2019, she needs information from MiclAmerican and from Eastern Iowa Light & Power. Monroe next discussed the tree planting project and the Fair Trade information that's in the agenda packet. One of the objectives in the Accelerating Climate Action Report is framed as a private tree planting effort in coordination with Project Green. Monroe said they are still continuing to pursue a potential partnership with Project Green and hopefully this project can start that. It's a pilot program that would be an instant rebate for any customers that would like to purchase a tree. They haven't finalized the cost share yet but would think that will be indicated by the cost of the actual trees in stock. They've reached out tentatively to both Iowa City Landscaping and Earl May, just based upon the fact that they're based in Iowa City and would be the nurseries that would be more likely to have stock available and additionally partly to support the local businesses. They would coordinate a list of eligible type species in coordination with the City's forestry division and then residents can choose whatever planting is appropriate for them and the City would repay the nursery for the balance of the cost. Monroe noted they are thinking carefully about equity and want to make sure that people are able to transport a tree or can be assisted with any type of delivery or tree planting. Homeowners or property owners who are eligible for some other type of discount or income eligible program at the City will be eligible for assistance with transporting and planting, they have yet to define what the requirement would be for that but are trying to make it as low barrier as possible. Additionally, if somebody comes to the City and has no interest in the program because they can't afford whatever that tree cost is, the City might be able to cover either the whole balance of that tree purchase or a greater portion to reduce the cost dramatically. Monroe is curious about what the Commission's feedback might be about this, please communicate with Nations, 3 Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 4 of 10 Gardner, her or anyone. Monroe added this effort will be paired with education about tree care, both through the City and through the nursery that's facilitating that action. Monroe stated this program can get more trees in the ground in a quicker amount of time and give the residents a greater responsibility and pride and in that tree care. Tate noted it looks like from an equity standpoint, the City is focusing on access to this program, monetarily and physical ability, etc., and wondered if they are going to track demographic characteristics of who takes advantage of this program so they can assess the equity on the back end. Monroe replied she hasn't given a lot of thought to the racial or ethnic demographics, they would want to track the location of plantings so that they can establish a mapping of whatever the increase to the tree canopy is as well as tracking the geographic distribution of where the trees are planted. She is not sure how they would collect that racial or ethnic information but if the Commission feels very strongly about doing that, they'll figure out a way to do it. Tate asked if there is any sort of application process or any sort of paperwork that needs to be filled out to participate in this program? Monroe replied that is still in development. It could be very simple paperwork in order for them to get a voucher or whatever it is if they distribute it that way. The could include other demographic information on the application as well. Tate stated there's two principles that would work here, one is distributional equity in this resource that the City is providing and the second is the individual one. One approach is to do it based on places so they can compare neighborhoods and parts of the City and the other approach is on the individual level and it's not always easy to compare those and see if the individuals are benefiting from this program, are they representative of the area of town that they live in, for example, and just looking at area of town can only tell so much. Therefore, if they want to look at the distributional equity of this and any other program, they need to collect the data. Monroe stated if they have a general consensus or a lack of opposition they will work through the finer details of the program and she is hoping to get this out later this month so people can start planting in the fall when it gets a little bit cooler. Perhaps they can work through the working groups maybe to bring it back and just fine tune anything with the equity working group and maybe the outreach groups and make sure they're okay to go ahead. The Commission agreed to a general consensus of the program. Giannakouros added there is a website called native plant finder, and it's run by Dr. Tallamy, at the University of Maryland, and they've developed a way that one can prioritize and rank what kind of trees or shrubs are planted in a yard by zip code and therefore maximizing the interactions of moths, butterflies, etc. He noted on campus they plant a lot of gingko and it might as well be made of concrete as it's useless in terms of biodiversity. So, it depends on what the program they're trying to do is if it's like shade trees and those benefits versus biodiversity that should be prioritized. The City arborist probably knows the same things but he would like to see some kind of an assist to homeowners so that for example planting an oak is probably the most important thing they could plant in the backyard as it has such a an impact on moth species and that in turn leads to caterpillars which leads to birds having food. 4 Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 5 of 10 Giannakouros is happy to discuss this more offline but thinks it would be cool to see that biodiversity component, at least the education piece so if someone decides not to get a tree like that, they at least understand the impact that decision can have on biodiversity in the City. If it isn't done in private backyards, we're not going to have tons of biodiversity. Monroe agreed and thanked Giannakouros for bringing that up, they absolutely want to encourage the biodiversity, that will be part of that education component and part of that pre- selected species. The City wants to share why the there are certain preferred trees. Nations asked about this website where you can look at it by zip code and see the lists all of the different tree species. Giannakouros said there's a website called native plant finder, and it's run through a National Wildlife Federation and Doug Tallamy is the advisor to that effort. It's not really user friendly, or super intuitive. Soglin stated she would have a concern about upkeep of the trees through the first two or three years and whether folks are going to be provided things like fencing if they're in an area with deer, and other help maybe in that first and second year. She noted that the failure rate of trees can be so high and obviously they would want to avoid that. Monroe agreed noting they are experiencing that quite a bit with the publicly transplanted trees, so they are definitely sensitive to that and yes they want to provide resources and make sure that that people have whatever supplies or guidance that they need. She thinks this would be a really great opportunity for some type of volunteer group or connections for Project Green or others to help with that effort. Leckband stated he would be remiss if he didn't add they need to be sure to include some information about One Call if they're digging holes in their yard. They don't want anyone hitting a gas line or a power line or water line or sewer line when they're digging. Frasier stated he happen to notice on a neighborhood website the other day someone had been on vacation or something and came home, this was in Manville Heights, and they noticed that a number of trees had been removed and they were rather shocked about this. Frasier understands that a tree is not a tree is not a tree is not a tree but at the same time, he is wondering since they're enforcing this concern, and really building on planting trees, planting trees, planting trees, if there's a possibility of putting up some sign or billboard or notice, so when people see that trees are being assassinated, they understand why and what the reason is and that the trees are in fact going to be replaced, etc., so you there isn't an undue concern on the part of the citizenry. When they take out trees maybe they ought to make an extra effort to notify the population why that is, in fact happening. Monroe acknowledged that's a good comment and stated that Parks and Recreation does give notice to people but there are instances where that could be missed. If there are other ways the City can go about notifying neighborhoods or areas then she is happy to pass the message along to staff. Monroe wanted to mention that she, Nations, and Wendy Ford from the City met with MidAmerican staff the other day about their rebate and incentive programs that are residential and commercial scale. It's helping the City to develop a better, more informed program as they move forward with the TIF and urban renewal area project that is in the process of approving final approval to move ahead with amending those areas so they can get rebates for energy efficiency projects. MidAmerican gave them a bunch of good ideas that she thinks they can Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 6 of 10 move forward into new development with the Commission for additional electrification projects and those kinds of things. The final thing Monroe wanted to mention is the Fair Trade campaign information that was included in the agenda packet. Just as an FYI the Human Rights Commission has been in discussion about implementing an effort to join the Fair Trade campaign for the City and she just wanted to add it to their awareness that another Commission is in discussion about this. Of course, there's climate implications that go along with the Fair Trade initiatives so there can be further discussion at another date, but she wanted to include it so that they're aware that a resolution has been drafted. It hasn't been brought to Council yet, but they're getting close. Nations shared that Katie Sarsfield decided to resign from the Commission and that's why she's not at this meeting. Because they have applications still that are pretty recent, Council will be probably looking at those to appoint a new member at their next at their next meeting. Giannakouros volunteered to be on the review committee for the climate action at work, the green business recognition program. REVIEW AND DISCUSS FINALIZING ALL METRICS: Nations stated they want to quickly review the metrics and see if there are any comments on the proposed final metrics that were include in the agenda packet. She noted there's still probably a month or so if they gather the data and it doesn't look right or it seems like they forgot something, at the next meeting they can add those. They have spoken with the buildings group and she feels pretty good about getting their renewable energy from MidAmerican and Eastern Line & Power and the Iowa Power Plant and keeping track of that because it has such a big impact on emissions and then looking at residential, commercial and industrial, their greenhouse gas emissions as a group and then they would also include the municipal buildings. She also worked with the transportation working group and discussed looking at vehicle miles traveled, bus ridership, transportation mode split, number of electric vehicles in City vehicle miles traveled divided by the amount of gasoline that they use and those went pretty well and realizing that transportation modes split is estimated data, but it's a good way to see how people are getting around town. Regarding waste she talked to the landfill about looking at the total landfill tonnage, which comes from the whole county, so looking at that divided by the county population, and looking at the recycling and organic tonnage. She'll be working with them on figuring out what numbers are the best. Nations stated the two last ones were actually the hardest to do, she talked to the adaptation and equity group and they're wanting some more data, but it seems like because at every single meeting they talked about trees that they need some numbers about trees for tree canopy and shade. She is going to have some new data on a grant that she's working on but doesn't know if they'll be able to have it annually nor the number of new trees planted. They can track the number of trees planted with the City project, but as Soglin said just because someone plants a tree it doesn't mean in three years, it's still alive. Looking at trees and also the number of trees that the City plants and overall tree numbers seems to be really important to the public and is important for a lot of reasons. They are also thinking about looking at the stormwater management program cost share for residents and maybe also including something for other stormwater public projects too, she will try to find out more and start trying to get the data for that. Finally, she noted Krieger thought it would be 2 Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 7 of 10 good to track something like the number of organizations doing climate action at work, even though it may not be a big impact on the emissions, but just showing the number of organizations that they recognize, or also the number of people that complete the climate ambassador program. Those last two areas were hardest to find numbers on so if anybody has any input or any ideas of other things that they could track she is totally open to suggestions. Fraser asked if as a group should they have any concern or thoughts relative to COVID impact on recycling pop can and bottles? Is that stuff being recycled since people aren't able to get their nickel for it? Some grocery stores are back in the business of taking some of those, but a lot could potentially end up in the landfill. Soglin notes that is a great topic, but they might have to table it because it's not on the agenda and while it's important to the immediate issue of the metrics, it's kind of a separate issue. Nations added they won't have 2020 data until the middle of 2021 but agrees COVID is going to change a lot of stuff, things like transportation and the data is going to be wonky and they're just going to see a weird year and not trends. OUTREACH AND MESSAGING REGARDING THE CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION: Soglin noted this refers to the Commission and the goals. What they had asked last time was for everyone to go back to their working group and ask the two questions that were posted here of what can be done now regarding outreach and messaging, and what can or should be done after the marketing report. Perhaps each working groups can report what they discussed and ideas. Transportation: Leckband noted they didn't have a meeting this past month, so they haven't addressed the questions yet. Personally, he feels they need to try to engage on equity and socio-economic differences and transportation modes and impact. Outreach: Gardner stated in terms of what can be done, obviously the Climate Fest next month is going to forward a lot of those goals. One of the things she's been talking about working on with the Climate Ambassador program and Climate Action at Work is consistency of messaging. She is sure that's something they're going to hear in response to the marketing RFP as well. She pointed out that one of the things that all three of those have in common is that each of them focus very specifically on the five sections of the plan and that's just a baseline approach, to make sure people know there are five sections of the plan and then from there build up. She reiterated that once they get the report back in response to the RFP, they'll show how to refine that and build on that messaging. Equity and Adaptation: Hutchinson noted they didn't discuss these questions specifically but one thing that came to light at the meeting with the Refugees Alliance of Johnson County that Nations invited to our last group meeting, was some major communication divides with some groups that they should probably be engaging with. So, she thinks one thing maybe that the equity group can facilitate with regard to what can be done now is identifying those communication divides with assistance from various groups and figuring out how to approach that. Waste Working Group: Bradley noted they haven't had a chance to meet given that Sarsfield resigned, but in terms of what can be done now is to review actionable items within the working groups. 7 Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 8 of 10 Buildings Group: Soglin shared the building working group discussion on this, they also had some discussion about digital divide, which perhaps intersects with some of the things that adaptation group was concerned about. They thought that for what can be done now is just on active topics to maybe go back to the to the goals and look at them and see what's truly active and where there's opportunity. For example, Karr and Krieger had been reaching out to the realtors and that's happening now, so they want to recognize which of the actions are already in progress. Related to that is if there's a way to give a heads up to groups and individuals that the marketing firm may want to engage with them, so they're first interaction isn't just someone trying to schedule a meeting with them, but give them a head's up that the firm will want their input and this may be happening in a couple months. This will allow them the ability to start thinking a little bit about the topics. There was someone who mentioned that the City of Evanston had done a survey and that might be a good resource. Also, it is important to note the commercial versus residential side of things to really understand that one approach may not meet everybody's needs. And then for going forward, there were thoughts about once the marketing firm is engaged, that the branding be easy for everybody to understand, not too complicated and to always keep in mind the co -benefits as they had noted that was a prominent part of the Ann Arbor Climate Action Plan. EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS FOR ALL CLIMATE ACTIONS: Soglin noted she came across the article that Nations included in the agenda packet. A quick summary is as Fraser noted, there's COVID related impacts on things like recycling, and there will be immediate as well as long term effects. This article is about planning and climate related projects, such as, getting folks to be able to eat meals in the streets since they shouldn't be inside a restaurant or closing down streets for bike lanes. There are neighborhoods that have been overlooked, sometimes lower income or neighborhoods of people of color. Given some of the comments that were made at the meeting last time, she just thought it was just a really relevant topic for them to be thinking about going forward. Tate noted one of his takeaways from an article was also whose priorities or projects are being fast tracked? Whose priorities do they reflect? Soglin agreed, noting there is a sentence in the article stating they are fast to make changes that wealthy white residents value. Tate added some of what the author suggested as sort of solutions were along the lines of modes of engagement. He thinks they are a bit challenged, they have to make sure that it's in a place it's accessible and maybe the time that's accessible. Stephanie Bowers talked about some other things like the way that it's advertised or maybe there's free parking or childcare or food or something like that, which is all sort of being up ended by COVID because they're not having any of these in person meetings, which he thinks is probably accentuating the disparities with sort of engagement and opportunities to rectify that. Therefore, he feels they need to be even more thoughtful than pre COVID. Soglin noted that Gardner has connections to other cities on communications and maybe they can learn from other people's successes and unintended mistakes and what works and doesn't work. Fraser noted when he reads articles like this, the term that's coming up in his mind to remind him to think deeper is this term institutional? Institutional, a big deal, it's just institutional is 8 Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 9 of 10 embedded everywhere to the degree that they don't even recognize that it's embedded. He must really ask himself is there truly equity or is it institutionalized to such a degree that they need to change a lot in order for there to be equity. UPDATE ON WORKING GROUPS: Equity and Adaptation: Hutchinson noted the majority of her notes were recapping the meeting with Refugees Alliance of Johnson County. Waste: Bradley noted they have not met since the last meeting. Buildings: Soglin noted their major discussion was about the metrics and communications and outreach. Karr added through the Johnson Clean Energy District they have distributed about a quarter of their LED light bulbs in Iowa City, and they're working through the process of trying to get the word out and get those distributed in the COVID world. They're hopefully getting flyers to the neighborhood centers in multiple languages this week, that took a little bit of time to get some translations done, but they're working on that. Transportation: Giannakouros said they did not meet. RECAP OF ACTIONABLE ITEMS FOR COMMISSION, WORKING GROUPS, AND STAFF: Soglin gave a recap of the actionable items. First if any Commissioner had additional thoughts about the tree program make sure to follow up and connect with Monroe on that. Soglin noted Nations had sent out the statement from the Human Rights Commission but it was not officially on the agenda to be able to discuss it, so could that be on a future agenda. Nations will add it to a future agenda. Soglin next addressed the scheduling of the next meeting, the next meeting was supposed to be September 7th as it always is the first Monday of the month, but that lands on Labor Day. Nations proposed to move the meeting to Tuesday, September S, and everyone agreed. Nations added if the Commission has any input on the metrics, they could send those to her. She will have two years of metrics available for review at the next meeting. Fraser added an action item from himself, he kept waiting for COVID to go away and the City offices to open but he's going to give up on that and will get in touch with Gardner to help her with the Ambassador Program. Gardner added although it's not necessarily something that has to be done by next month, she hopes that all the Commissioners can be thinking ahead to the Climate Festival that will take place in September. They're going to be asking residents and organizations and businesses to post something online talking about why climate action matters to them or the types of climate action they take. There are more details on the website and there's a hashtag to use #IowaCityTakesAction and it is her hope that each of the Commissioners will at least consider Ir] Climate Action Commission August 3, 2020 Page 10 of 10 posting something as a way of participating in the festival. ADJOURNMENT: Tate made a motion to adjourn. Giannakouros seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed unanimously. CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE RECORD 2019-2020 KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM No Meeting -- -- = Not a Member 10 O F�- N F-�Ili W Un 01 -1J 00 NAME TERM EXP.n\i N N o ^ 0 0 0 0 0 o 0 0 0 0 0 0 Madeleine Bradley 12/31/2022 -- -- X X X O/E X X X X John Fraser 12/31/2020 X X X X X X X X X X Stratis Giannakouros UI Rep X X X X X X X X X X Grace Holbrook 12/31/2021 X X X O/E O/E O/E X X X X Kasey Hutchinson 12/31/2022 -- -- X X X X X X X X GT Karr 12/31/2020 X X X X X X X X X X Matt Krieger 12/31/2020 X X X X X X X X X O/E MiclAmerican Jesse Leckband Rep X X X X X X X X E X Katie Sarsfield 12/31/2020 X X O/E X X O/E X X O/E -- Becky Soglin 12/31/2022 -- -- X X X X X X X X Eric Tate 12/31/2021 X X X X X X X X E X KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM No Meeting -- -- = Not a Member 10 Item Number: 4.g. CITY OIF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org October 20, 2020 ATTACHMENTS: Description Historic Preservation Commission: August 13 -.®fir CITY OF IOWA CITY MEMORANDUM Date: October 13, 2020 To: Mayor and City Council From: Anne Russett, Senior Planner Re: Recommendations from the Historic Preservation Commission At its August 13, 2020 meeting, the Historic Preservation Commission have the following recommendation to the City Council: A consensus of the Commission recommends that City Council direct staff to provide staff time and expertise devoted to the support of a subcommittee of Commissioners and the public charged with investigating, preserving, and sharing the untold history of our community, particularly of those who are historically underrepresented. Additional action (check one) No further action needed _X_ Board or Commission is requesting Council direction Agenda item will be prepared by staff for Council action HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 1 of 11 MINUTES APPROVED - REVISED HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION EMMA J. HARVAT HALL August 13, 2020 MEMBERS PRESENT: Kevin Boyd, Helen Burford, Sharon DeGraw, Lyndi Kiple, Jordan Sellergren, Austin Wu MEMBERS ABSENT: Carl Brown, Cecile Kuenzli, Quentin Pitzen, STAFF PRESENT: Jessica Bristow, Anne Russett OTHERS PRESENT: None Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8) An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of Commission members, staff, and the public presented by COVID-19. RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: A consensus of the Commission recommends that City Council direct staff to provide staff time and expertise devoted to the support of a subcommittee of Commissioners and the public charged with investigating, preserving, and sharing the untold history of our community, particularly of those who are historically underrepresented. CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Boyd called the electronic meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. utilizing Zoom. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANYTHING NOT ON THE AGENDA: None CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS: 516 Fairchild Street— Goosetown/H o race Mann ConservationDistrict (garage and drivewav remodel) Bristow explained 516 Fairchild Street is in the Goosetown/Horace Mann Conservation District and is the house that's on the corner and right next to North Market Square Park. It is also a house that was rehabilitated by the UniverCity partnership and sold to the current owner. As part of the UniverCity partnership project they removed some non -historic awnings and replaced many of the windows, they resized a kitchen window and they removed the cellar as they think this house originally had a crawlspace and someone dug out the basement. Because of that there were two chimneys that were no longer supported so they were removed. Additionally, the roof material was replaced and along one side there was an projecting canopy that was also removed. The current owner is going to continue with improvements to the house. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 2 of 11 Bristow explained this house has a potentially long history. It is a form that's similar to the I -House. This house is not quite two stories tall and normally an I House is two stories tall, meaning that the eave would just be higher above the windows. This is more like a one and a half story house. This particular house had a one-story kitchen addition put on the back at one point in time, and there was a garage and then a breezeway was enclosed to connect them all. Currently, the garage has an apartment with a bathroom on the second floor and a living space on the first floor because it was a rental situation for a long time. The exterior wall angles so it slopes from the outer edge of the one-story addition back to the garage. Bristow pointed out the space where there is laundry and entry into the kitchen. She also pointed out a driveway on North Johnson, which is the street around the park that this connects to. There is about a 15 -foot drive curb cut and a 10 -foot wide driveway. Bristow showed a sketch of those spaces. Bristow stated right now it has three evenly spaced columns holding up the roof projection which. Since it covers a walk it will remain. The structure of it will be altered because the one of the main portions of the project is returning the two -car garage to a two -car garage so the door and window that are currently in one half will be replaced with an overhead door. Bristow believes that the existing overhead door will need to be slightly adjusted to the side so that both doors fit. Next Bristow explained the breezeway will change so it's no longer a wall slanted from corner to corner. and the window and door that are in that location will become just a door. She did add to the project that if the owner ever wanted to replace the really large egress apartment style window in the gable with something that was more appropriate for a garage, she would suggest approval for that. Bristow cannot say that is a goal of the property owner but during the project she might decide that's something that she wants to do, and it's something that staff would support. Moving onto the new driveway, Bristow explained at first it had been edited so that it was just a double - wide driveway all the way in but the guidelines suggests having a driveway be the single wide driveway that then flares upon the approach to the garage. Part of that is to minimize some of the pavement and activity that's happening in the sidewalk area. Bristow showed some sketches of how that driveway might actually work. The guidelines talk about an 8 to 10 -foot driveway with a three foot turning radius on each side, which would be a 16 foot curb cut. The driveway would then would widen at the point needed to go into the garage. Bristow noted this is not a traditional driveway length, typically the Code requires that a driveway is 25 feet between the property line, which is on the far end of the sidewalk, to the garage. This does not have that so it's grandfathered in with its current condition and doesn't need to be changed because of the fact that they're not really enlarging this part of the driveway. Bristow next showed an image of the proposed garage front with two overhead doors and the single passage door. Bristow showed the current plan that shows the angled wall with the entrance and noted one of the doors and windows shown is a laundry area. She stated part of the project involves changing that window configuration because the owner is going to put a bathroom there, so instead of two windows, it will become one. There is a very large slider window that was installed at one point by a landlord for egress for a tenant in the back of the garage. One of the relocated windows would be put in that position to minimize the opening and make it more like a typical garage opening. Bristow noted that the garage and breezeway have lap siding and the house itself has asbestos siding. So there is some concern about what happens at the new corner where it transitions from the asbestos to the lap siding. The new plan shows the single opening and the new bathroom area and the reduced openings in the main part of the garage. The plan shows where the second overhead door is and how the entrance wall will now be stepped back from the corner of the main house and project slightly from the garage so it will help define those three different spaces. Bristow noted the owner has submitted a flat panel garage door, it is metal but kind of like a stucco texture, but it's still flat. The owner is reusing the passage door and the windows. Bristow suggests as a HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 3 of 11 condition for approval is to revisit the corner where the asbestos on the house will end up being exposed and the wall moves to see how that ends up being detailed. Boyd opened the public hearing. No one chose to comment so Boyd closed the public hearing. Boyd commented that it seems like an exciting project. MOTION: DeGraw moved to approve the Certificate of Appropriateness for the project at 516 Fairchild Street as presented in the staff report with the following condition: the siding condition at the northeast corner of the house is reviewed and approved by staff once exposed as part of the project. Burford seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. 424 Clark Street — Clark Street Conservation District (porch reconstruction) Bristow explained this is another exciting project at 424 Clark Street in the Clark Street Conservation District. Bristow did check with the owner this morning and she did not have any damage at this house from the Derecho storm. The house has an interesting history because it's hard to determine what's going on. It has a layer of rolled asphalt siding and then also a layer of fake brick shingled asphalt siding. So there are two layers of asphalt siding over whatever is the original siding. Bristow pointed out a dormer and noted that is an addition and there is a smaller hip dormer in the front. Some historians in the past had considered that the house might have some Colonial Revival influences but it may also be a Prairie School design. There were some shutters on it that they thought were original in the past, but they were not positioned or fit properly so they were probably not original. However, there are multiple areas on this house where there's some horizontal emphasis in the windows, there's a pretty wide eave overhang. Additionally, there's a really wide brick band at the bottom and she is suspicious that there might be stucco underneath the two layers of asphalt. This building was built to be what they call flats, even on the historic map, so it was always apartments. It had a small entry porch, the roof is original and underneath there are some porch piers that line up that are brick that match the base of the house and are also original. Bristow explained this project came about because the past owner had poured a concrete slab for the porch floor and it was actually deteriorating, rotting through, and needed to be replaced. Additionally, the new owner also wanted to remove the stone, therefore it's a two-part porch reconstruction project. Bristow showed a detail of the stone. Bristow stated all that will be removed. Currently the porch has steel pipe columns and metal covering all of the soffits. Bristow pointed out a little bit of a column capital that still shows to give some clues about some of the size and shape of the originals. It likely had just the two fairly simple, fairly trim columns. The current proposal is a simple square column. Bristow noted it appears it would align up with what they have for the column capital and the base. It actually has a little bit of a taper which would fit more with Prairie School but also with the Craftsman time period in which the house was built. Bristow stated at this point the project is the removal of the stone, which since that's a non -historic element, could be a staff review and the redesign of what would be an appropriate column. The original remnant of the porch railing would be copied on the other side. Bristow said staff does add one condition to make sure that that the battered or angled size really will fit, but overall approving the idea of a square column, knowing that if the angled side doesn't fit, then it would be a straight sided column instead. Boyd opened the public hearing. No one commented so Boyd closed the public hearing. Burford asked about in the forefront of the photograph of that building, it showed another door and perhaps not actually a porch, but there is something that's built out there. Bristow acknowledged the overhang in the back there. Burford asked if there was any discussion about complementing that to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 4 of 11 work that's being done on the front porch. Bristow stated this house has a new ownership and at the moment she thinks that they're working slowly and taking things step by step. Bristow noted when she looked through the history and the property records, there was a time when someone added a basement apartment in what was a garage and that was probably at one point an entry to an apartment that later was decided to be abandoned by removing the stairs. It is possible that there will be a potential future project to remove the door and put a window in or something. MOTION: DeGraw moved to approve a Certificate of Appropriateness for the project at 424 Clark Street, as presented in the staff report with the following conditions. If the proposed battered column does not appear to align with the existing elements appropriately, modifications, including straight columns will be approved by staff. The columns will have simple square bases and capitals. Burford seconded the motion. uj,g motion carried on a vote of 6-0. REPORT ON CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY CHAIR AND STAFF Certificate of No Material Effect — Chair and Staff Review. 418 North Gilbert Street — Northside Historic District (rear stoop repair) Bristow stated they are replacing a stoop and stairs that's off the alley. Bristow did not have a photo but showed something similar with the same kind of railing. She noted it's around on the alley. It's just a simple stoop step that existed that rotted out. They are able to save some of the railings, some they have to rebuild, but they're matching it all exactly. 608 Dearborn Street — Dearborn Street Conservation District (front porch flooring and railing replacement) Bristow noted 608 Dearborn street is actually two properties. It is a Moffitt house and the front porch is not Moffitt, it was an addition added later but it has been rotting out and they're replacing the floor and some of this railing is rotting as well. 608'/2 Dearborn Street — Dearborn Street Conservation District (deck floor replacement) Bristow explained the half is a converted garage that is a living space in the back, and it has an entry deck and for that one they will be saving the railing and reinstalling it but replacing the floor. REPORT ON CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY CHAIR AND STAFF Minor Review —Staff Review. 1220 East Court Street- Longfellow Historic District (reopening front porch and new stair construction) Bristow stated this is a project to open this porch up, however they suspect there's some lack of columns so they've started talking to the owner about that and they might need to come back to the Commission for approval, similar to the project approved earlier in this meeting. For a porch design they are currently looking for a house to use as a model. The house has a hip roof and has an off - centered gable projection. But currently, they're going to remove a step and remove the enclosure part and discover what they discover when they do that. 418 Church Street — Goosetown/Horace Mann Conservation District (aluminum siding removal, siding and trim repair and porch repair) Bristow stated this is one of the many properties this year that is removing their aluminum siding and repairing and painting. It's a staff review to remove the synthetic siding and she met with the owner to talk about it, there are just some very basic details that are missing including a drip cap, crown edge and some sills and stuff like that. Bristow stated it's all pretty basic and there's evidence of what was there, so it'll be an exciting project to have uncovered. 1107 Burlington Street — College Hill Conservation District (new guardrail) HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 5 of 11 Bristow explained this is a house that was flipped a while ago and has been for sale for a while and because of a Code change there is need to install a guardrail on the side porch. AMENDMENTS TO THE HISTORICAL PRESERVATION GUIDELINES. Originally when the first minor review items were created, the ones that include decks and ramps and things like that, the Commission reviewed each one an agenda item where staff would present it to the Commission, the Commission would discuss it, and then the Commission would vote on it and create a certificate of appropriateness that has all the conditions on it, making it eligible for staff review. Doing so doesn't mean that applicants can say they met all the conditions so they're approved, or they can do it without coming to staff, they still need to come to staff and submit an application. What this is approving is that these things that would normally be alterations or changes that need to go to the full Commission and have generally tended to approve them in the same way over and over and over again could now be approved by staff. This type of review helps streamline the process. The Commission needs to decide if they feel comfortable with staff reviewing the application if the conditions that are listed are the extent of the conditions that you want, or all necessary conditions. Basement egress window and window well alteration project as minor review Bristow explained she has very few examples of finished projects so some of the example images she showed are actually are not perfect examples. In this case they are talking about an egress window that replaces an existing basement window by maintaining the width of the window and replacing the height to provide an egress window. Bristow stated in order to get something that meets egress requirements, it's going to be a casement window, so that it opens enough. City requirements also include that if the rest of the house is historic, it's usually going to have some double hung windows or something like that, so the egress window must have a mutton bar configuration so that it resembles the other windows and is not just a modern casement window. Another condition is that the window well has to be a certain size in order to meet Code and is a material that matches the foundation. If the house has a stone foundation, they tend to approve those rough faced block configurations but not say poured concrete so they tend to either match or blend with the foundation. Boyd asked if the Commission is in favor of moving it first to a minor review and then if there's broad consensus around that, they can talk about any specific potential changes. Boyd noted they had a broad consensus and asked if there's any changes the Commission wants to make through conditions. Burford said her only question is the implication here is that the window opening needs the Code requirements size for an egress window and there may be instances where the property owner would have to increase the size of the opening to accommodate an egress window. Bristow said the reason that it would come to the Commission in the first place is that it is changing the size of a window opening on a structure in a historic district. So far she has never had one that had to change the width because basement windows tend to be a little awning windows or a little hopper windows and they do tend to be a width that will allow them to meet egress if they change the height only. MOTION: Burford moved to approve basement egress window and window well alterations as a pre -approved item eligible for a Minor Review if the following conditions are met: • The egress window is required by code • The egress window will be installed in a basement and is located on the back of the building or in the back half of either side of the building • The window will fit the width of the existing window and only require a change to the window height • The new window will be wood or metal clad wood casement window with a muntin bar HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 6 of 11 adhered to the inside and outside of the window to mimic a double -hung window • The window well is constructed of a material to match or blend with the existing foundation, at least as exposed above grade. DeGraw seconded the motion. Ib& motion carried on a vote of 6-0. Front Step and Stoop alteration project as minor review Bristow noted they have quite a few times when people need to alter or somehow change front steps or stoops or rebuild them. Sometimes it's because they currently have a precast step that can't actually remain if they want to change it. The conditions are that if the building does not have a traditional covered porch where the stoop is planned so they're not removing anything. The landing will be restricted to approximately five feet by five feet and positioned level with the entry door. She continued to say the railing will follow the guidelines for balusters and handrails, the steps will have closed risers and a toe kick, the stoop will be supported on piers or posts aligned with the corner posts and the space between the piers will be enclosed with skirting. All wood will blend with the house or be painted to blend with the house. Bristow shared some images of examples. Boyd noted this was the one that seemed like the one the Commission has done least frequently of these five so he was looking forward to understanding it a little better. Bristow stated the reason why it might be less frequent but is the most problematic of all of them is because since she's been here, staff has been doing them as minor reviews. Sellergren was curious in one of the images shown about the way the back columns of the of the railing came into contact with the porch columns and if that's something that would be taken into consideration. Bristow acknowledged that one is a little odd because there's an original porch pier and they had to create something for this railing to attach to. Bristow said they would always want it to have something so that the railing ends are not just attaching to the wall of the house. She stated they have quite a few porches in town where the railings are grandfathered in at a historic height and now by Code, it can't be that height so they tend to solve that problem by making the new part to be at the correct height, and they tend to have to make two posts in order to make that happen. And sometimes they needed to add a handrail to steps and those would actually have to probably be metal. MOTION: Bufford moved to approve Front Step and Stoop additions as a pre -approved item eligible for a Minor Review if the following conditions are met: • The building does not have a traditional covered porch at the entrance where the stoop is planned • The landing will be restricted to approximately 5 feet wide by 5 feet deep and will be positioned roughly level with the entry door, not a step down from the door • The railing will follow the guidelines for balusters and handrails, including the use of posts • The steps will have closed risers and a toe kick (overhang from risers and stringer) • The stoop will be supported on piers or posts aligned with the corner posts in the railing • The space between the piers will be enclosed with porch skirting if the space is greater than 18 inches • All wood elements will be painted to blend with the house. Sellergren seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 9-0. Solar panel installation project as minor review Bristow showed an example of a garage at 813 Ronalds Street of solar panels. The conditions are that solar panels are installed as to not impact the street view of the house so would be installed on an HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 7 of 11 outbuilding roof or the rear facing roof of the primary building or are on a non -street facing side elevations. For a staff review they would not be installed on a street elevation on a house, they would most likely be installed on an outbuilding or on the back. They are to be installed as close to the roof surface as possible. The installers like to put them at a certain angle to maximize their solar heat gain so sometimes they are not actually parallel to the roof surface, sometimes they have to be slightly slanted so that they have a better angle. Staff would still ask that they are fairly similar instead of being really propped up at an extreme angle. Additionally, the frames and brackets would be a color that blends in with the roof surface and that any of the equipment they install is on the back. Wu asked if there is any reason why there's such strong restriction on putting panels on sides of the building that would face the street and what if the building is on a corner lot and has less space that panels can be put on versus one that's in the middle of a walk. Bristow said they tend to take their direction from the National Park Service because they have also started talking about some of the appropriate places and the guidelines currently include something about not installing these modern vents, modern solar panels, skylights, things like that on the street elevation because they do impact the historic character of the property. So that's one of the reasons that if they can go on an outbuilding even if that surface faces the street, it's the outbuilding instead of the house or the primary and more important building, but also trying to avoid a street elevation. Now that does mean that a corner lot does have the potential to have a gable that faces one way and a roof surface that faces the other way and that could minimize their ability to have solar panels. There are also situations where there are trees that also block the sun and make it so that some roof surfaces aren't appropriate at all because they don't get enough sunlight. Boyd thinks that maybe over time there may be more openness to putting these on places that are a little more visible but those shouldn't be minor reviews and should be up to a Commission to decide if a placement is appropriate in a in a different location. Wu said then theoretically if there was a building where the ideal place to put an array would be on the front, street facing, part of the building, the owner could come to the Commission and they can improve it that way. Boyd confirmed that was correct. Burford asked if they want to include the word roofing in here, because there are now solar roof tiles. Bristow said she wouldn't recommend that because that is more of a roof replacement and they have a minor review for roof replacement and this is for things that have gained consensus over time and not necessarily for things that they haven't had to deal with yet. MOTION: Sellergren moved to approve Solar Panel Installation as a pre -approved item eligible for a Minor Review if the following conditions are met: • The solar panels are installed on an outbuilding roof or the rear -facing roof of a primary building or are on a non -street facing side elevation, not impacting the street view of the house, if the preferred locations are not possible • The solar panels are installed close to the roof surface and at an angle that is similar to the roof surface • The frame and brackets for the panels are a color that blends with the building roof material • Any equipment is located away from a street -facing elevation, preferably on the back of the structure. Wu seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. Skyliaht alteration project as minor review Bristow was having audio difficulties so Boyd explained these are for skylight installations and they HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 8 of 11 have talked about these as similar in some ways to the solar panels by trying to install them on rear facing roof slopes, that they're framed in materials and colors that blend with the roof material, that they're low profile so that they don't kind of stick out above the roof, blend in and size is fitted between roof joints and have a length that is no more than three times the width. Kiple agreed it is very similar to the solar panels, so it makes sense. Boyd is curious about the length and width requirements. Bristow put that in there because in modern construction there's a current fad for really long, thin skylights so those would not be appropriate for just a staff review. The standard size that tends to fit within those dimensions would be what staff could review. MOTION: Kiple moved to approve Skylight Installation as a pre -approved item eligible for a Minor Review if the following conditions are met: • Skylights are installed on rear -facing roof slopes or on side elevations that do not face the street • Skylights are framed in metal and in a color that blends with the building roof material • Skylights are low profile, follow the angle of the roof and do not include fish-eye lenses or other elements that protrude more that 6 inches above the roof surface. • The skylight is sized to fit between roof joists and have a length that is no more than 3 times the width. DeGraw seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. Commercial sign installation project as minor review Bristow stated the conditions for commercial sign installation will fit some of the more recent projects the Commission has reviewed. The sign is a surface -mount or painted sign installed in existing historic sign band or is a projecting sign located below the second floor windowsill and a minimum of eight feet above the sidewalk and projecting a maximum of four feet. She noted the dimensions actually come from the Sign Code so in order to meet the City Sign Code they will meet that as well. All of the direction for this is taken from the Downtown District Sign Guidelines that they created, as well as the City Sign Code and past projects that the Commission has reviewed using the Secretary of the Interior standards. The sign must be scaled to fit the building and takes architectural features and proportions into consideration. The sign shall not obscure any of the original architectural features. Signs on masonry buildings are anchored into the joints instead of the masonry. The materials do not damage or discolor historic materials over time, Bristow included that because of the current fad for Corten steel because it does rust and would discolor. Finally, if the sign is illuminated it is part of the Sign Code that it can't just be a big plastic bubble with painted letters, where the whole sign is illuminated. Bristow showed examples of signs downtown. Boyd noted they have done several of these in the past and have said they should think about considering moving these to minor review. Additionally, to be responsive to commercial interests there are pressures to move more rapidly on some of this stuff. Kiple asked if the business owners are provided with these guidelines so they can just make it really easy on themselves and get it done. Bristow said yes, they tend to talk first to the building official who knows there are specific downtown sign guidelines. Bristow added in response to what Boyd was said saying more than half of the signs that they have approved since she been here they've had to call special meetings to get them approved because of the timeframe and so not only is it helping them just do it faster and with less stress but it also allows the Commission not to have quite as many special meetings and is also is a good thing for the downtown properties as well. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 9 of 11 MOTION: Kiple moved to approve Commercial Sign Installation as a pre -approved item eligible for a Minor Review if the following conditions are met: • The sign is a surface mount or painted sign, installed in an existing, historic sign band on the front of a commercial building, or • The sign is a projecting signs located below the second -floor window sill, a minimum of 8 feet above the sidewalk and project a maximum of 4 feet. • The sign is scaled to fit the building and takes into consideration the architectural features and proportions of the building in its design • The sign shall not be installed on or obscuring any original architectural features such as columns, pilasters, band boards, or trim. • Signs on masonry buildings are anchored into masonry joints and do not damage historic masonry • Sign materials do not damage or discolor historic materials over time (such as rust) • The sign has limited illumination. Plastic signs with painted letters where the entire face of the sign is illuminated is not allowed DeGraw seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FOR JULY 9, 2020 Boyd had one amendment as they were talking about this subcommittee and asked the City Council to provide some staff time to help support that subcommittee, but they haven't moved it forward because he had not heard back from them. In many of the minutes when they move something forward to Council, there is like a recommendation to Council so he'd like to amend the minutes to include that recommendation to Council. MOTION: DeGraw moved to approve the minutes of the Historic Preservation Commission's June 11, 2020 meeting as amended. Burford seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. COMMISSION INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION: Sanxav-Gilmore House update, 109 Market Street Bristow stated the agreement was approved by City Council and the Board of Regents, in fact the Board of Regents was very excited, and the University has determined a use for the building which was always a key part of the relocation in making it a viable house. It will become the future home of the Nonfiction Writing Program as they apparently are creating a writing area related to some of the properties they already have near the President's home. They've hired an architect to go through the process of the figuring out what rehab and coordinating the relocation. Development Update, 400 Block North Clinton Street Bristow stated this is the project they talked about at the last meeting. Council told staff to move forward with the development and are working with a developer. They reviewed the condition of the exterior of the historic building to talk to the developers about what they would recommend and eventually some kind of rehabilitation plan would come before the Commission. Overall, the process is going to be an extensive one because it involves some Code language and the rezoning for the landmark and acquisition of other properties so it is a complicated process. Assuming that everything continues to move forward, they will do a rehabilitation plan for what is needed on the exterior of the house. Bristow noted the house was in pretty good condition considering, most of the brick is in good condition and a lot of the mortar is pretty good, there are just general areas where there's been water damage over time and a few missing wood elements. Russett added in speaking with the property owner they were agreeable to the rehabilitation plan and were also agreeable to salvage for 401 & 112 HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 10 of 11 East Davenport. Boyd stated that obviously a lot of the historic neighborhoods suffered some tree damage, among other things in the Derecho storm and Bristow, Russett, himself and Friends of Historic Preservation are going to meet on Monday to talk about figuring out kind of the best approach to reach out to people. They're using some of the models used around 2006 tornado and will keep folks posted as they can via email. Boyd stated next month on the agenda will be the National Historic Register nomination for downtown. The property owners downtown are receiving an official letter from the State Historic Preservation Office, they're also receiving a joint letter from him as chair and Nancy Bird, the executive director of the Downtown District, talking about why both of their organizations jointly support the effort and to reach out to them directly if there are concerns ADJOURNMENT: DeGraw moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Kiple. The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m. Minutes submitted by Rebecca Kick HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION August 13, 2020 Page 11 of 11 HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE RECORD 2019-2020 TERM NAME EXP. 8/19 9/12 10/10 11/14 12/12 1/09 2/13 3/12 4/09 51114 6/11 7/09 8/13 AGRAN, THOMAS 6/30/20 X X X X X X O/E X X X X -- -- BOYD, KEVIN 6/30/23 X X O/E X O/E X X X X X X X X BROWN, CARL 6/30/23 __ __ _ X O/E BURFORD, HELEN 6/30/21 X X X X X X X O/E X X X X X CLOREGOSIA OSIA 6/30/20 X X X X O/E X X X X X X -' -- DEGRAW, SHARON 6/30/22 X O/E O/E X O/E X X O/E X X X X X KARR, G. T. 6/30/20 X X -- -- -- -- - -- -- -- -- -- -- KUENZLI, CECILE 6/30/22 X O/E O/E X X X X O/E X X X X O/E KIPLE, LYNDI 6/30/22 X X X X X O/E O/E X X X X X X PITZEN, QUENTIN 6/30/21 X X X X X X X O/E X X X X O/E SELLERGREN, JORDAN 6/30/22 X X X X X O/E O/E X X X X X X WU, AUSTIN 6/30/23 __ __ __ __ __ O/E X X O/E X X X X Item Number: 4.h. CITY OIF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org October 20, 2020 ATTACHMENTS: Description Planning & Zoning Commission: August 20 I t,.®4,, CITY OF IOWA CITY `Q�w MEMORANDUM Date: October 9, 2020 To: Mayor and City Council From: Anne Russett, Senior Planner Re: Recommendations from Planning & Zoning Commission At its August 20, 2020 meeting, the Planning & Zoning Commission have the following recommendations to the City Council: By a vote of 6-0 the Commissions recommends approval of CREZ20-0001, an application for a rezoning of approximately 1.76 acres of County Agriculture (A) to County Residential (R) within Fringe Area B — Outside the Growth Boundary of the City/County Fringe Area. By a vote of 3-3 (Craig, Signs and Townsend dissenting) the Commission recommends denial of CREZ20-0002, an application submitted by Bryan Jensen for a conditional use permit to allow for a dog kennel and daycare facility on Lot 2 and Outlot A of 4665 Herbert Hoover Highway in unincorporated Johnson County. Additional action (check one) X No further action needed Board or Commission is requesting Council direction Agenda item will be prepared by staff for Council action MINUTES FINAL PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION AUGUST 20, 2020 —7:00 PM ELECTRONIC FORMAL MEETING MEMBERS PRESENT: Susan Craig, Mike Hensch, Phoebe Martin, Mark Nolte, Mark Signs, Billie Townsend MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Joshua Engelbrecht, Eric Goers, Anne Russett OTHERS PRESENT: Scott Ritter, Jessica Plowman, Bryan Jensen Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8) An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of Commission members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19. RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL. By a vote of 6-0 the Commissions recommends approval of CREZ20-0001, an application for a rezoning of approximately 1.76 acres of County Agriculture (A) to County Residential (R) within Fringe Area B — Outside the Growth Boundary of the City/County Fringe Area. By a vote of 3-3 (Craig, Signs and Townsend dissenting) the Commission recommends denial of CREZ20-0002, an application submitted by Bryan Jensen for a conditional use permit to allow for a dog kennel and daycare facility on Lot 2 and Outlot A of 4665 Herbert Hoover Highway in unincorporated Johnson County. Hensch called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. He welcomed new Commission member Nolte and also noted that Commissioner Carolyn Dyer has submitted her resignation so there is another opening on the Commission. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA: None. Planning and Zoning Commission August 20, 2020 Page 2 of 10 CASE NO. CREZ20-0001: Applicant: Lindsey N. Fudge Location: 4477 Sioux Avenue SE, Unincorporated Johnson County An application for a rezoning of approximately 1.76 acres of County Agriculture (A) to County Residential (R) within Fringe Area B — Outside the Growth Boundary of the City/County Fringe Area. Engelbrecht began the staff report with some background information. This property falls within Fringe Area B outside Iowa City's growth area, the application proposes it to be rezoned to County Residential and the applicant has also submitted a subdivision application to the County to create two lots. Per the Fringe Area Agreement subdivisions of land into fewer than three lots continue to be regulated by the County which is why the subdivision application isn't presented tonight. Engelbrecht showed an aerial view of the property showing the full parcel outlined in yellow with the white being the portion to be rezoned. The parcel is surrounded by County Agricultural Land Use zone and is within Area B outside growth. Engelbrecht showed some pictures of the area noting there is already a dwelling on the property. He also pointed out lots of County Agricultural open space with some development in the distance, more open space and agricultural use to the east across the street, and then more development in the distance and open space to the south. Engelbrecht stated in terms of compliance with the County's Comprehensive Plan and the Future Land Use Map of the County's Comprehensive Plan identifies this area as suitable for agricultural uses and the Agricultural Land Use category typically includes land devoted to agriculture with limited residential development. The City and County Fringe Area Agreement is a component of the City's Comprehensive Plan and it applies to areas outside of the City's jurisdiction that are planned for in the City's Comprehensive Plan. This agreement provides guidance regarding land development within two miles of the Iowa City corporate limits. Staff relies on this Agreement to review rezonings in the Fringe Area. So, the proposed rezoning is located in Fringe Area B, and as noted several times is outside the City's growth area. Agricultural uses are preferred in this zone, or in this area, and restricts to land uses consistent with rural agricultural land use such as row crops, animal husbandry and very limited residential development. In summary, the County Land Use Plan and the City County Fringe Area Agreement recommend agricultural uses in this area, which does not directly align with the proposed rezoning. However, the residential use already exists on this parcel and the proposed rezoning would not allow for additional residential units to be developed. The role of the Commission is to provide a recommendation to City Council on the rezoning based on Fringe Area Agreement and then Johnson County Board of Supervisors is the ultimate decision maker. The next steps are after the Commission, the City Council will review and provide a recommendation to the Johnson County Planning Commission. Staff recommends that although the proposed rezoning does not directly align with the policies outlined in the adopted Fringe Area Agreement, staff recommends approval of the rezoning for the following reasons. The first is that the subject property already consists of residential development and dividing the parcel and rezoning the 1.76 acres would better reflect the current land usage. Second the proposed rezoning would not allow for further residential development as only one unit is allowed based on the size of the lot. Planning and Zoning Commission August 20, 2020 Page 3 of 10 Hensch asked what Fringe Area Agreement they are operating off as he knows the southeast area of Iowa City Fringe Area agreement had expired some time ago. Is this based on that expired Fringe Area Agreement or is there a current agreement that hasn't expired yet. Russett stated the Fringe Area Agreement hasn't expired yet and they are still operating under that one. Hensch asked if in this rezoning are they planning on building a new structure on that 1.76 acre parcel. Engelbrecht stated the application didn't specify so he is not entirely sure but doesn't assume so. Hensch asked approximately how many miles this is from City limits. Engelbrecht is unsure, but noted it is less than two miles. Hensch opened the public hearing. Scott Ritter (Hart -Frederick Consultants) is representing the applicant and is available to answer any questions. He did note at this time he knows of no other buildings to be built there. Hearing no questions for the applicant, and no other public input, Hensch closed the public hearing. Signs moved to recommend approval of CREZ20-0001, an application for a rezoning of approximately 1.76 acres of County Agriculture (A) to County Residential (R) within Fringe Area B — Outside the Growth Boundary of the City/County Fringe Area. Nolte seconded the motion. Hensch noted given the distance from the City, it's not in the growth area and it looks like it's probably close to the two mile outer limit and there's already an existing structure on there he support this application. Signs asked the staff again that there appears to be a little remnant of nonagricultural use or non -field use just to the north of the subject property and could that be re -subdivided at some future time to build another house. Russett replied that would have to be rezoned first before it could be subdivided. A vote was taken and the motion passed 6-0. CASE NO. CREZ20-0002: Applicant: Bryan Jensen Location: Lot 2 and Outlot A of 4665 Herbert Hoover Hwy; Unincorporated Johnson County An application for a conditional use permit to allow for a kennel and dog care facility in the County Residential (R) zone within Fringe Area B — Inside the City's Growth Boundary of the City/County Fringe Area. Engelbrecht noted this application is for a conditional use permit within Fringe area B for kennel and dog care facility. He showed an aerial view of the property and the distance from Iowa City. The property is zoned County Residential and there is a low-density residential development to Planning and Zoning Commission August 20, 2020 Page 4 of 10 the east and then mixed use and multifamily development to the west. The application is also within Fringe Area B however, this one is inside the growth area of the Fringe Area Agreement. Regarding the background, this is an application to Johnson County Board of Adjustment for the allowance of a dog kennel and daycare facility in Johnson County. A conditional use permit allows for a conditionally permitted use on a specific property and the role of the County Board of Adjustment is to determine if a dog kennel and daycare facility meets the supplemental conditions based on the facts presented and they may impose additional conditions if they deem necessary. Engelbrecht pointed this out to make a distinction between the Commission's discretion in policymaking ability and the County Board of Adjustment roll of approving an application based on if it meets required conditions and criteria. The proposed land use is a kennel intended to provide daycare and boarding for dogs with the ability for the customers to request additional services such as grooming (which would require another conditional use permit in the future). The subject property is located inside of the Iowa City growth boundary and the City's Northeast District Plan identifies this area as appropriate for single family residential. Engelbrecht showed some pictures of where the facility would be located and the concept plan showing the proposed kennel and sign. He noted there is development in Iowa City further down the road, open space to the north, and then more open space and some development to the east. The Johnson County Supplemental Conditions state proposed daycare facility and kennel must comply with the following supplemental conditions from section 8.1.23 of the Johnson County Unified Development Ordinance. The first is the kennel shall not be located on parcels fewer than five acres except for as provided in the section. The property is approximately 8.4 acres so the first condition is already met and that means that the second condition doesn't necessarily apply. The second conditions is kennels may be located on parcels three acres or larger if the facility does not provide overnight boarding services and no more than four dogs which do no reside on the property are present at any given time. The third is that all structures and run areas used to house or exercise animals shall be set back a minimum of 200 feet from all property lines. Engelbrecht noted due to the layout of the site, it is unlikely that the project will be able to meet this condition however, the setback can be reduced to 100 feet through the County Special Exception Process. The fourth condition is that animal boarding facilities may exceed the limits for keeping of dogs or cats contained in the section when counting animals temporarily boarded for compensation. The number of animals permanently residing on the premises shall comply with set limits at all times. Regarding the City analysis, the proposed kennel and daycare facility use is allowed as a conditional use in County Residential zones and development projects within Iowa City's projected growth area shall conform to City Urban Design Standards contained in Title 14, Chapter 7 of the City Code of Iowa City, including but not limited to City specifications for streets and roads, sanitary sewer lines, stormwater management facilities and water lines. In addition to complying with the City's Urban Design Standards, staff wants to ensure future street connectivity in this area. Additionally, because the site is located near existing residential uses, staff is recommending the following two conditions for this development. The first being all overnight boarding facilities are located within a soundproof building. Second prior to obtaining any building permits from the County, written approval from the City on the location of any future building or structures is required. Engelbrecht showed an aerial view of the subject property noting it is anywhere from 160 to 230 feet from residential uses, which is the reason for wanting to implement the soundproofing Planning and Zoning Commission August 20, 2020 Page 5 of 10 condition. The existing north/south streets, Nex Ave and American Pharoah Drive, are over 1,000 feet apart so another north/south street is needed in this area, as well as the extension of Grindstone Drive, which is currently stubbed. Staff recommends that all County Supplemental requirements be fulfilled in addition to the conditions that will be recommended by staff. Engelbrecht reiterated the applicant can request a reduction in the 200 foot setback requirement through the County Special Exception Process. The role of the Commission is to determine if the dog kennel and daycare facility should be recommended for approval to City Council and then City Council will make a formal recommendation to the Johnson County Board of Adjustments. Staff recommends approval of an application submitted by Bryan Jensen for a conditional use permit to allow for a dog kennel and daycare facility on Lot 2 and Outlot A of 4665 Herbert Hoover Highway in unincorporated Johnson County, subject to the following additional conditions: 1. That the overnight boarding facilities be located completely indoors within a soundproof building; and 2. Prior to obtaining any building permits from the County, written approval from the City on the location of any future building or structure (including fences) to ensure future street connectivity. Martin asked if this application falls under the purview of needing to do Good Neighbor meeting because this is an area surrounded by Iowa City. Hensch stated likely not because it is in Johnson County corporate limits. Hensch noted the Commission has looked at this parcel before for different agenda items in the past and recalls the development to the west, the multifamily there, created a lot of stormwater issues and runoff to the property to the south so he wants to ensure for this application the City Urban Design Standard are met. He asked if the City have a review process as that development occurs to make sure that happens. Russett stated that since this parcel is over two acres and a non-residential use is proposed, the City would review the site plan. Since it's not being subdivided at this time, they would look at it to ensure compliance with Urban Design Standards, which includes stormwater management. Hensch's second question is mostly just an education piece for the Commission on a Conditional Use Permit, once that's granted, does it go on in perpetuity with the property regardless if the property changes hand, or if the use ceases for at least a year. Russett stated she is not entirely sure if it's in perpetuity or if they need to be renewed. She did note if there are any issues with the use after it's built such as complaints from neighbors, for whatever reasons, it can come back to the County Board of Adjustments for review. Craig stated she was going to ask about the good neighbor policy as well because it does seem there are a lot of people that live within throwing distance of the new dog kennel and the Commission doesn't know what kind of information the neighbors are going to get about this proposal or not. That concerns her as the City limits are to the east and the west. She has concerns about all the exceptions that they're asking, it's smaller than the Johnson County Code says it should be, they're asking for an exception to the setback, it's in the middle of all this residential. Yes there is commercial on the corner but then there is multifamily housing, and it just feels like this whole piece should hook up to the other residential property on east. It doesn't seem logical to her that they're going to plunk down what she sees as a commercial use in the Planning and Zoning Commission August 20, 2020 Page 6 of 10 middle of what is currently residential and most logically would stay residential. She noted she drove out there today and it's a very attractive looking multifamily housing unit. Craig also questioned, it may not have anything to do with their decision making, but they talk about how they're going to use existing water and septic which also serves the house. Currently, it serves both houses and also one driveway is now going to serve the houses and 50 people a day coming to drop off their dogs. Russett noted she can't speak to that, it will have to be reviewed at the site plan stage and they would have to meet the well water and septic requirements but the City would have requirements in terms of our Urban Design Standards and ensuring that if this area's annexed it could be connected to City water and sewer. Craig asked if this application was in the City limits would staff still be approving it. Hensch stated about a year ago the Commission did approve a rezoning for a dog kennel operation at the north east corner of Dodge Street. Townsend remembered but noted that wasn't in the middle of a residential area, it was an area with a lot of other commercial buildings around it, as opposed to this one, which is in a residential area. Signs noted the Code called for a 200 -foot setback from all property lines and looking at the map he doesn't see any way in the world they're going to be even close to that setback from the property lines. Additionally, the report made reference of the need for connectivity to Grindstone and the possible need to have another street coming off of Herbert Hoover. If that new building is built smack in the middle of that parcel the other little building that's existing will make it hard to meet that connectivity. Russett said they would like see Grindstone connect with Nex Avenue. She also acknowledged with the existing structures having a north/south street may be difficult, but that's why they want to review the site plan because the location map and the concept that they've provided is a very rough concept. Signs asked if the site plan review would come back before the Commission or is that just a staff level review? Russett stated it would be a staff level review. Engelbrecht reiterated the applicant can request a reduction of the setbacks. Townsend asked regarding the setbacks, would those proposed come back before the Commission. Russett noted those would just go to the County Board of Adjustment. Signs asked if this property can be further subdivided and if they did have room to take Grindstone over to Nex Avenue and bisect the property, could it be subdivided to where development can be done on that southern half of the property. Russett said it may need to be rezoned, but she does believe there could be more development there. Signs noted then it puts the structure closer to another residential area. Russett spoke to two items that came up in the discussion. The first is the notifying the property owners and the County doesn't have a good neighbor policy that she aware of but they do have notification requirements. The neighbors are being notified of the County Board of Adjustment meeting. And second, this is an unusual situation where they have City and Unincorporated County boundaries like this and as Engelbrecht mentioned in his staff report there had been interest in annexing this land, however the City can't annex this land because there is some unincorporated County to the south which would create an island of unincorporated land which is not allowed by State law. Signs asked if that piece of property remains un -annexed for a length of time can the connection Planning and Zoning Commission August 20, 2020 Page 7 of 10 between Grindstone and Nex Avenue still be made and does the City have any control over that connection and/or the development to the south of that new connection. Russett stated the City would review any rezoning of the area which would go to the Commission and Council and any subdivisions of this land would have to go to the Planning Commission and need to be approved by City Council and need to meet the Urban Design Standards and street connectivity. Hensch opened the public hearing. Jessica Plowman stated she is speaking on behalf of Bryan Jensen and Dave Jensen the brothers that own all 14 acres of that land. Dave lives in the house the small skinny parcel to the west, and the small structure referred to as a house is actually a garage that's probably in disrepair and needs to be torn down. She added there is an unused well under that property that they will utilize for the dog kennel so it doesn't utilize the same well as what's on current houses. The other thing she wanted to address was the 200 -foot setback, she has talked to Johnson County and they said that it shouldn't be a problem for them to get the 100 -foot setbacks. They could fit a 60 x 100, 6000 square foot, building that is long and skinny in there and but that would not allow for an outdoor area for the dogs to go out. So there is a high possibility that they would take an acre of land to the east that Brian also owns with this parcel that they would take a little bit of that to allow for the area for the dogs to relieve themselves and that would meet the 100 - foot setback and could fit a building there. Plowman added they would make the building soundproof; they are very sensitive to the neighbors and the noise. She also added on the east side of the property there is a creek and that absorbs the noise a little bit. Hensch asked if Plowman could elaborate about the soundproofing or the hours that no dogs would be outside because sound seems to be an issue. Plowman stated after 6pm no dogs will be kept outside, they'll be put inside for the evening. They would need evening potty breaks but they'd go out one by one, and no group of animals will not be left out after 6pm. They're all be housed inside overnight and stay inside until 7am. Hensch acknowledged it doesn't occur at this level right now, but if the Board of Adjustment asked for some shrubs or trees or something to add for an additional sound barrier, is that something they would not object to. Plowman confirmed there would be no objections, and noted there are so many trees out there, noting they did have some damage with the recent storm, but there are so many trees that from the street one can't see the house and they wouldn't be able to see this building either. Townsend asked if there was additional land that they own then why didn't they allow enough for those 200 -foot setbacks. Bryan Jensen stated that setback is from the sliver to the west and his brother has three acres so that setback is from his house. The whole area is in different parcels, there's three acres to the west and then there's the 11 in the middle, etc. Hensch closed the public hearing. Signs moved to recommend approval of CREZ20-0002, an application submitted by Bryan Jensen for a conditional use permit to allow for a dog kennel and daycare facility on Lot 2 and Outlot A of 4665 Herbert Hoover Highway in unincorporated Johnson County, subject to the following conditions: Planning and Zoning Commission August 20, 2020 Page 8 of 10 1. That the overnight boarding facilities be located completely indoors within a soundproof building; and 2. Prior to obtaining any building permits from the County, written approval from the City on the location of any future building or structure (including fences) to ensure future street connectivity. Nolte seconded the motion. Hensch noted they have to remember the layers of review of the Code that are above them on this and that the Board of Adjustment will hear this also since this is in the unincorporated area, and it is an existing structure that exists where the special exception can be granted by the Board of Adjustment for that 100 -foot setback. He also thinks they addressed it pretty clearly about the soundproofing, their willingness to do some plantings or something to assist with that. He knows with a lot of development around there, the boarding of pets is really important and there is a shortage of that Iowa City as a pet owner, therefore, this is something that he will be supporting. Craig noted big concerns about the flow of residential as a beautiful new residential building is there to the west, and then there's going to be what most people would perceive as a commercial use before the residential picks up again. Additionally, the fact that this is surrounded on two sides by Iowa City she is having a hard time getting over those two things. Hensch understands that but noted they have to remember that any platting to occur must be approved by others and those issues will be addressed. They are talking about a conditional use here and shouldn't get too overly concerned on things that have to happen yet in the future. Townsend added her concern is not everyone is a pet owner, and not having that 200 -foot setback between the residences and this new use would be a concern to her. A vote was taken and the motion failed 3-3 (Craig, Signs and Townsend dissenting). CONSIDERATION OF MEETING MINUTES: AUGUST 8,2020: Craig moved to approve the meeting minutes of August 8, 2020. Townsend seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed 6-0. PLANNING AND ZONING INFORMATION: 0IOM Planning and Zoning Commission August 20, 2020 Page 9of10 ADJOURNMENT: Townsend moved to adjourn. Martin seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed 5-0. PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION ATTENDANCE RECORD 2020-2021 KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused --- = Not a Member HENSCH, MIKE MARTIN, FI-111FEBE NOLTE, MARK SIGNS, MARK KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused --- = Not a Member