HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-19 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Cole, Mims, Salih,Teague,Taylor,Thomas, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe,Andrew, Mikes, Fruehling, Russett, Sitzman, Heitner,
Seydell-Johnson, Fleagle, Havel, Sovers, Bockenstedt
Others Present: Stewart, Wu (UISG)
Review the Johnson County Fringe Area agreement 111'41:
Throgmorton/All right, so let's begin the Iowa City City Council work session for....uh, it's the
same day isn't it? February the 19th, 2019. The first item is to review the Johnson
County fringe area agreement. So, how do ya wanna proceed, Geoff?
Froin/Anne's gonna come up and give you a presentation and she had a memo in your packet.
Um, as you know the, uh, County has requested that we re...renegotiate, uh, the fringe
area agreement and, uh, we've discussed of course that's a good idea considering all that's
happened since the last time that we've, uh,underwent those conversations. The biggest
thing being of course the County has adopted a new land use, uh, a comprehensive plan.
Um, most of you have not been through the process of fringe area agreement before, so
we thought it'd be a good idea to give you a'fringe area 101,' allow you to give us any
guidance as we start those conversations with the County.
Throgmorton/Good evening,Anne!
Russett/ Good evening,Anne Russett,Neighborhood and Development Services. So just a little
bit of background and then I'm gonna provide some additional information on our current
fringe area agreement. So Johnson County and counties all across Iowa have land use
authority in the unincorporated area. So all of the land outside of city limits. However,
the State law does allow cities to review subdivisions within two miles of the city's
boundary. This is known as the fringe area. And fringe area agreements allow cities and
counties to negotiate land use authority within that two-mile boundary to coordinate
planning efforts. Our current fringe area agreement was adopted in 2006 and it's a
component of our comprehensive plan. It outlines the jurisdictional review authority for
land within those two miles, outside of our corporate limits. And it provides land use
policy guidance on land development within the fringe area. So what types of land use is
envisioned for those area. This is the fringe area map from 2006. It was adopted as part
of the fringe area agreement. The....the green in the center of the map is the
jurisdictional boundaries of Iowa City in 2006. The areas just adjacent to the juris...to the
city limits, what I'm trying to highlight here, are all of the areas within the City's urban
growth boundary. Those areas further out are still within the fringe area,but they're
outside of the City's urban growth boundary. The current fringe area agreement outlines,
urn, like I said before (mumbled) authority for various land use proposals and it's divided
up by land that's inside our growth boundary and land that's outside of our growth
boundary. For commercial zoned property is in fringe area B....which is in this area here.
Um...it's, those developments are subject to the City and County site plan review
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requirements. For developments that are greater than two acres where no subdivision is
required, inside the City growth boundaries, those, um, developments are subject to
review by both the City and the County, in accordance with each jurisdiction's
requirements; and outside of the growth boundary, no review is required by the City
unless it's associated with a rezoning. For rezonings, the County has control over
rezonings. However, the City is required to review and reco....make a recommendation
to the County Planning Commission. And for subdivisions, review and approval by both
the City and the County is required. Different regulations apply, depending on if it's
inside the growth boundary or outside the growth boundary. I have a couple examples
here of some recent subdivisions, as well as a rezoning that were approved. I have an
example from outside of the growth boundary. This was one that was approved by the
City last year, in 2008. It's Glenwood Springs part 1 and 2. Um, since it's outside the
growth boundary, it's subject to rural design standards. So for any, uh, roadways that are
built, there's no curb and gutter. It's subject to County storm water standards, and um,
any development will be on private water wells and septic systems. Here's another map
that shows the location of this subdivision. The blue areas that you see on the map here
and over here are actually, um, within Iowa City's corporate limits. So this subdivision is
very close to our corporate boundary, but it's outside of....outside of our growth
boundary. Here's the part....Glenwood Strings...Springs part 2 final plat. There's been no
construction activity since this was platted. Um, these are one-acre lots and eventually
there'll be 12 single-family homes on the lots. This example is along Herbert Hoover
Highway,just east of Olde Towne Village. It's within our growth boundary. There was a
rezoning from County Commercial to County Residential, and like I said,the....the
County has ultimate authority over rezonings in the unincorporated area. Um, however,
as part of that rezoning, the City reviewed it and made two recommendations for
conditions, which were upheld by the County. Um, one that was any future division or
lot split within this area must be approved by the City, and that went beyond what is
currently required in our fringe area agreement. And the second condition was that the
owner consented to annexation, if an adjacent property owner was to propose annexation
in this area. Here is the plat that was approved by the City in 2017. Um,this was a....a
subdivision mainly to....identify an additional lot for a development of single-family
home for a family member. No....no real construction activity is occurring out here now;
however, any....any, um....planned roadway improvements would be subject to the City
regulations. Until annexation it would,um,be subject to the County storm water
standards, and it would be on private water wells and septic systems. As....as the City
Manager mentioned, the County has formally requested an update to the current fringe
area agreement, and staff has been coordinating with County Planning staff. In terms of
our initial steps related to this update, staff is looking at doing a couple of things. First
we're working, um, to identify any infrastructure needs or issues at the edges of the
community; and we also want to conduct a build-out analysis and we want to identify our
current,um, what our current land use policy and zoning regulations would allow in
terms of development and if....if it would allow enough growth to meet our, um,
anticipated growth within both the city corporate limits and that growth boundary. We
anticipate that several policy issues and policy questions will come up as part of this
fringe area agreement. These are just a few that,um,we've identified. So based on that
build-out analysis, does the City have the existing capacity needed for anticipated
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population growth? If not, where and how should the City grow? Which local
jurisdictions' land use regulations apply within the City's growth boundary? Urn,
which... which,uh,jurisdictions' regulations should apply outside the growth boundary?
And additionally, does the City want to review more land use proposals within our
growth boundary. For example, site plans; uh, divisions in lot splits, which we currently
don't review. And, uh, I just wanted to kind of help highlight, or illustrate, some policy
questions through a more specific example. Um, as....as the City Manager also
mentioned, the County updated its comprehensive plan in 2018. And as part of that
update,they've identified areas for residential, commercial, and industrial growth. And
some of these....in general these areas are located close to cities. They're located in the
fringe area. They're not located within the City's growth boundary, however. So on the
map here, the label here identified as residential is a County growth area. That's within
the fringe area,but outside of our growth boundary. And as you remember; the City did
recently review a proposed rezoning in this area, right here, and that rezoning was in
conflict with the fringe area agreement,but it was consistent with the County's
comprehensive plan. There was a conflict,urn, that resulted after that between the City
and the County, which has now been resolved,but staff anticipates that the County is
going to want something different than what is in our current fringe area agreement.
When there's, um....an inconsistency between that fringe area agreement and the
County's comprehensive plan, they will want,urn, the fringe area agreement to align with
the land use policy direction that they recently adopted, with their comprehensive plan
update. Urn, that's all I have, so I'll turn it back...back to the Mayor.
Throgmorton/Thank you,Anne. Let me ask one quick question, and then I'm sure others have
things they wanna say. Could you explain how a growth boundary is set, you know, I
know this is done in 2006. You were not working for the City then. But you know all
about growth boundaries so how....how is one set then, if someone else or perhaps you
can explain how ours was set, that'd be good.
Russett/It's my understanding that,um, the current growth boundary was identified based on,
basically infrastructure constraints and where we could add a, you know,provide sewer
and water relatively easily in those areas,beyond the current growth boundary, would be
more difficult to serve.
Throgmorton/ Right, thank you. That's the way I recall lit as well, but I just wanted to see if that
was right. Okay, uh, Council Members, do you have any questions for Anne (mumbled)
Teague/I guess in regards to the growth boundary, you mentioned we may want to look at that.
Is there any thoughts of new directions for a growth boundary, essentially?
Russett/Not at this time. We need to do some more analysis.
Teague/Okay.
Fruin/My....my thought would be our growth boundary's going to change. It's been 12 years.
We've had significant population growth. Urn, as Anne mentioned, we don't necessarily
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wanna constrain ourselves to where we can't, you know, we can't grow. We're gonna
experience some of the pressures that you've all been workin'to alleviate,like housing
prices, uh,rising housing prices, scarcity of land for development, that, uh, that type of
thing. Uh, so we'll need to take a good, hard look at what we can serve with water and
sewer. We've made a number of investments to our system since 2006, so there's
probably some areas,urn, that we can expand our growth boundary, um, that isn't as
costly as others,but we need to go through that exercise. We need to kind of examine
what the current capacity is within our growth boundaries, what we think that capacity
needs to be, and then the....the utility constraints is usually that first test is where can we
grow without significant utility investment, and we'll have to kind of see where that....
where that puts us.
Cole/I'm curious, what are the key ares of conflict that you currently see between the County's
new land use plan...plan and our existing...policies that we have? Are there some key
areas of conflict that you see on the horizon, urn, in terms of what their....their plan
allows for in terms of what our plan allows for?
Russett/Well I think in addition to the....the one I've highlighted here, um....on the map here,
along American Legion Road. There's also....some areas in the fringe area where the
Ci....the fringe area agreement, at least the policy direction in the fringe area agreement
says commercial development is not anticipated,but the County has identified some
small commercial nodes, so that could be another example. We haven't done
comprehensive analysis of those potential inconsistencies,but those are a couple that
come to mind. Um, I might have a map here. This area here!
Mims/Can you tell us where that is, cause I can't read the....
Russett/It's on the west side, west of 218, off of Highway 1 and....
Throgmorton/Is that the road(both talking) goin' south or....
Russett/ So all of the....again, like I mentioned before,this is within....this green area is within
our growth boundary, and this area here is outside the growth boundary. So the County
identified a commercial node outside the growth boundary, um....for potential future
development. All of this would be rezoned for commercial development.
Cole/I'm curious about any conflicts in terms of,uh, the density of residential subdivisions. We
had a recent subdivision rezoning, it's my understanding, where there was a conflict
where it was extremely large lots. Urn, I wasn't in favor of rezoning that. Do you see
that as being an issue on the horizon, in terms of different perspectives in terms of what
we would like to see, in terms of desn...density for residential subdivisions and what the
County would like to see in terms of density for residential zone subdivisions. Are there
any conflict areas there?
Russett/Um....that's kind of a difficult question to answer. Because the County does regulate
zoning in the unincorporated areas, and...those subdivisions, and even the Glenwood
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Springs example, is subject to the County's zoning regulations, and....and they have those
areas designated as approximately one dwelling unit per acre. That's kinda their higher
end for residential development. Um, I think the....that's maybe another question on
whether or not we think some areas should be,have higher density residential in those
areas. I don't think I can answer that now.
Cole/Okay.
Teague/I did have a question about,um, when there is a issue and we want a resolution, um, can
you just review what the process is? I know that Susan made mention that we were....
you know, we went and made an agreement with the County,but I'm unsure why you
thought we didn't need to. Um....
Mims/I'm drawing a blank as to what you're referring to.
Teague/Okay. Can you review resolution?
Russett/Our....in that example it was related to the proposed rezoning. Oops, I'm going the
wrong way! On American Legion Road, where staff had recommended against a
rezoning because it was in conflict with the fringe area agreement; however, it was
consistent with the comprehensive plan. Urn,the County then reviewed it and since it
was consistent with their comprehensive plan, they wanted to move forward with the
rezoning. So although the City recommended against it, the County was recommending
for it. There's a provision in the fringe area agreement that says when there is a conflict,
urn, that should be discussed between the City and the County, and some sort of
resolution, um....id....identified, and I think Council Member Mims' comment may have
been the County has land use authority when it comes to rezonings. Maybe they should
just make the decision, instead of having(laughs and both talking)
Mims/I just remember it came back, it seemed like we voted on a second time to agree with it
and I just didn't feel like it made sense cause it still was in conflict with the fringe area
agreement, so that's why I voted no on that one (several talking)
Teague/And I wanted to just bring out that, um, Council Member Mi....Mims did point out that
the County did have the right to make their own decision, so I guess movin' forward, is
that....the situation whenever there is a, uh, a disagreement? That the County in
certain... in the fringe area agreement, can make the decision without the City?
Russett/Currently....currently the....there's a conflict resolution provision that would require
some sort of discussion between the City and the County, and I think the question is do
we want to carry that forward, or are there, um.....certain land use proposals that we
wanna carry that forward on,um, and others that we don't. If that makes sense.
Frain/It's fairly similar to your P&Z consults. You know, at the end of the day you have the
decision,but we've made a policy that when there's a disagreement, you have a
discussion and see if there's common ground that can be reached.
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Mims/I had a question that....just the....the logic of it I guess and whether this would make
sense continuing in....in your memo and you mentioned that per the existing agreement,
the fringe area is fixed and does not adjust as land is annexed and the city grows. To me
that doesn't make a lot of sense. It would seem to me that over time if the city is gonna
grow and you're gonna annex in more land that you would want that fringe area to grow
as well, so that we're still having some consults, um, in those...in that two-mile boundary
around the city.
Throgmorton/ I thought it did,because I thought the fringe area went out to two miles beyond the
current city limits. So if the limits...city limits were expanded as a result of annexation,
wouldn't that automatically push the fringe area....outer edge, further out?
Russett/It's my understanding that we use this map....which is fixed, which was adopted in
2006, and hasn't been updated based on annexations. So if that's something that Council
would like, we can definitely look at that.
Mims/I think we should look at it.
Throgmorton/I think we oughta look at it.
Taylor/I think,uh, Council Member Mims is correct, cause it says the City will review the
extension of the fringe area as a result of annexation on a case-by-case basis, not
automatically extend it. So, that is a little bit confusing.
Throgmorton/So I would think the big questions have to do with Highway 1 and Highway 6,just
outside our city limits and...uh,you know, in various parts of the gro....within the growth
boundary and not within the growth boundary. Seems to me that's what we would be
most concerned about because that's where it's most likely, I would think, most likely
that,uh, subdividers and property owners would want to develop their property and take
advantage of adjacency to the city.
Mims/I think American Legion is another one I think we've already(both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah, yeah, I agree,American Legion as well, and Sand Road, not to overlook it.
Maybe also Williams Road or whatever that's called officially, the one that goes out to
Williamsburg....past our landfill.
Thomas/I think if I were to raise a concern with respect to our current growth boundary and
where....and how it should expand if....if we were to consider that is...is that question,
which I think Geoff referred to,um, and I would just expand on saying, you know, will
the growth generate the kind of tax revenue necessary to support the infrastructure and all
the services that would be required by that expansion. And, uh....it.....it does seem to me
that the further you go out, the more expensive it gets to provide those services and the
infrastructure....which, you know, may vary from area to area around the,uh,the city, but
I think it....it is a concern to me, I mean I keep....I was looking up again today our... in
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our current budget the$340 million unfunded....CIP projects (laughs) and I didn't look
through the list, but it....it sort of speaks to how, well we're not covering hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of projects within our current city limits. Um....how does
expanding help with that, in the long-term? This is really a long-term issue. Um....you
know, it's....it's.....it's all gravy, right, until all that infrastructure begins to require
replacement. You still have the services to provide, but....um,that.....that's a major
concern to me. It does seem that it....it potentially could be a future Council's problem
(laughs) uh, not one that, you know, we would....well, what we're encountering are the
decisions made from 30 to 50 years ago, but....so it's always projected out, but um, I....I
do have real concerns about that.
Throgmorton/And you're....you're just identifying a topic for conversation (both talking)
Thomas/ ...conversation, you know I do feel if...if this is the appropriate word to put toward it,
that you know a....the City should be...preparing proformas for future growth. You
know, what...what do we anticipate? Can we sustain the growth through out tax revenue?
Throgmorton/And I assume that would apply within our city limits (both talking)
Thomas/Absolutely! It's not a, um....it's not limited to the fringe area.
Cole/So I think that gets back to the topic that I was talking about earlier is this question of
density of residential subdivisions, and I think that the County and the City should have a
real conversation in terms of what the expectations are in terms of density for residential
growth in the outer areas. Um, you kn ow, and we've seen in our own rezoning, inside
the City limits where we had much higher density, um, in terms of the single-family, the
multi-family, obviously in the country it is going to be lower density, uh,but I think the
question is is how low that density is going to go, and at least some of the projects I've
seen have been lower than I'm comfortable with. So I think that should be a key topic of
discussion between the County and the City in terms of what is the game plan,because
my fear is if we have some of these little pods of five and seven one-acre units, we're
really encouraging the type of auto-centric commuting that I think to the extent that we
can, uh, we don't wanna facilitate. And I think that would be a good topic of
conversation between the City and the County in terms of,um, future growth.
Throgmorton/Other comments or ideas or suggestions?
Fruin/Well, I think a question for us would be just how involved the Council wants to...to be in
this process. Um, certainly as staff we're comfortable initiating conversation and....and
checking in with you when we think we need to, but we also....we also don't wanna
spend months and months workin' on this and then be surprised if....if you're not
comfortable with a certain aspect of the fringe area agreement. Um, so we could do a
couple things. One thing might be to....to come back in a future work session, after
we've done our, uh, growth analysis, and....and have a more clear picture for you on what
a revised growth boundary may look like, and then we can also zero in on those areas of
conflict within our growth boundary. Um, and have some more,uh, kind of precise
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conversations about those areas where we anticipate there might be some...some issues.
Or we could skip that and you could turn us loose and....
Mims/I like the first option! (laughter) I mean I think it potentially saves staff a lot of time that,
like you said, could be wasted if you misread where we wanna go. Um, and I think it
gives us a chance to weigh in earlier on....what are you seeing as those new growth
boundaries and kind of like.Rockne and John were saying about, you know,what are the
metrics, what do you....what's the proforma? How do you see that paying for itself, if we
do extend the city limits out there, urn, and so I think that would hopefully help keep us
all on a closer track so that you don't end up potentially wasting time.
Cole/I would agree, and I think that if there are any major sticking points that arise, it would
seem to be that,urn, you know, I assume that you would work very well with the County
staff in terms of coming up. If there are some major sticking points where you think, you
know,we may need Council input, then we could get that information,but I think that
first option sounds good to me.
Throgmorton/I would agree. Anybody else have thoughts about that?
Teague/I would agree!
Throgmorton/Okay! Do you need anything else from us,Anne?
Russett/Thank you.
Clarification of Agenda Items:
9.a.Mormon Trek Lane Reduction: David Christ,Dennis Whited,James Klutts,
Janice Fisher,Jean Florman,Bob Elliott, Rex Pruess,Darrell Hansen,Kathleen
Cave,Brenda Kurtz
Throgmorton/Great! Thank you for your help! Okay, I guess we can move on to the next item,
clarification of agenda items. I....I'd like to just get one thing out there. Item#8 has to
do with correspondence...not it's 9, isn't it(several responding) correspondence, and we
received several bits of correspondence regarding Mormon Trek, and the four to three-
lane conversion out there. Uh, a few weeks ago, Rockne, you asked(both talking) show
a video(both talking) yes! So I've asked staff to load up that video, so that we can watch
it, and so that's what we're gonna take. It's about four minutes or somethin'like that. Isn't
it five minutes at the(both talking) so we can see this video and at least see what the
Iowa DOT is, uh...how it's framing all this.
Frain/You might need to put the mic down by the(video starts, unable to hear speakers)
Throgmorton/Great,thanks! So, we got all sorts of emails from people, uh, in our....from
residents who are concerned about the proposed four to three-lane conversion on
Mormon Trek. They raise several...uh, completely relevant questions or concerns about
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the proposed conversion, at least most of'em do. So, I wonder if you wanna follow up on
any of these particular questions, you know, to ask staff to clarify certain things, get...see
if we need better information, anything like that, uh, so that we can make sure we're
ma... we're (unable to hear, noises on mic) make the best decision possible for the people
of the city.
Cole/Well for me I wanna follow up on that 40...47% reduction in crashes. Um, I've reviewed
the research over time and it...this number varies, uh, from as low as 20%, uh, up to as
high as 47%. I think related to that, what the anticipated reduction in personal injury
accidents are, as well as fatalities that we would anticipate, urn, based upon the, um, 20
so other road diets at least have been featured by the DOT. We may already have that
information. I don't know if.....
Fruin/Yeah, I'm lookin' at Scott back there. I....I recall we have the, uh, PowerPoint from the
public meeting on our web site, and I know that statistic's on there. I'm thinkin' we were
projecting a 25%reduction in accidents,based on that slide. (both talking)
Sovers/Yeah, I think that sounds correct, about 25%. But we can....we can definitely (both
talking)
Cole/And then of that percentage, what would break down in terms of a personal injury or
potential fatality.
Sovers/Yeah, we'd have to look into that.
Cole/Okay.
Fruin/I can pull it up here if the conversation goes on.
Cole/Okay.
Mims/I don't recall....pardon me, I just don't remember. Did we get like actual accident
numbers at all of those intersections on Mormon Trek?
Fruin/Yes.
Mims/Okay.
Cole/Anecdotally, um.....about a couple months ago, and of course this is not scientific, uh, I
was on Facebook and I had posted a....a, made a post about the benefits of the four to
three, and one of the residents that lived along Mormon Trek said that pretty frequently
he could literally hear the crashes. So it...it is something that....that has been expressed
as a concern,um, for this particular corridor.
Mims/I'd rather look at the police numbers than (laughs)
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Cole/Well anecdotally(laughter) but again I think(several talking) so compelling though, Susan,
is that the data that we're using is the 20 or so that have been featured by the DOT, peer
reviewed, and there's also a lot of peer reviewed literature, so I think in terms of the
community members, if they have peer reviewed data sets that contradict in any way the
anticipated personal injury accident reductions, I...I would like to hear that information.
Mims/No, I agree! I'm just saying(both talking)
Cole/ ....to me that is just an overwhelming case, and I'm not aware, by the way, of any contrary
data suggesting that, one that it would make it riskier if we would do the four to three. I
think no one's saying that. Urn, and I think the only debatable point would be the amount
of the reduction in accidents that we would have,but I think we can confidently say it
will be reduced with a four to three.
Throgmorton/ So we do have data about accidents on Mormon Trek at these various
intersections, so we can draw upon that data.
Cole/Yeah!
Fruin/Again, from our web site and the public meeting that was held, from 2011 to 2015,
through the entire corridor—that's Petzel to Westside Drive,there was 126 crashes,uh,
resulting in 645,000 in property damage and 56 of those were the type of accidents talked
about in that video. Thirty were 'followed too close,' so rear-end, and 26 'failure to yield
right-of-way' on a left turn.
Throgmorton/What was the timeframe again?
Fruin/2011 to 2015.
Throgmorton/ So we don't have more current information like that?
Fruin/ Oh we would. Um, this is...the public meeting was held in 16, so this was just at that
time,but, urn,we could provide ya updated stats from 16, 17, and 18 probably. I'm
assuming that's going to be in line with what you see from the previous four years.
Thomas/Do we have the speed analysis as well? Is that in that PowerPoint?
Fruin/Uh....the, uh,travel time or the, uh....
Thomas/The actual speeds.
Fruin/I don't have the actual speeds. It's probably in Snyder's report, which is,uh, also online.
That's a...I'm gonna need some more time to look through that. It's a lengthy report.
Taylor/The other question the public raised, uh, was the timing of when we did the traffic count.
Is....is......would it be possible to do another traffic count (mumbled) it is very busy, urn,
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I....I don't know if it would make much difference in the numbers. They could...they
were concerned cause the students wouldn't have been in town at that time and it was
winter and.....
Sovers/I don't expect the traffic numbers to change that much. Urn, it's only been, you know,
less than five years since we...we had the counts from before that we used, so I wouldn't
anticipate much of a change there.
Throgmorton/ So let me be a devil's advocate here, Scott. Several of the emails we got basically
said, 'Oh, you chose January the 12t1' is it.....'when no students are around,there would
be less traffic goin' to the University'. So why'd you choose that date? Why not choose
some other date where the traffic volumes would probably be higher? So, you know, we
need to have a clear answer to that question.
Sovers/ Sure! And we can take....take a look back at the Snyder study and....and, you know, if
there's some areas of that that need to be reviewed, we can definitely review those.
Cole/Do you have a sense of what the daily traffic numbers are on Mormon Trek? What is that
exact number? Approx...I mean approximately. It....it's substantially under 25,000
though, correct?
Sovers/I believe that sounds right, yeah.
Cole/Okay. So....does around 14,000 sound right?
Sovers/Fourteen, 15,000 I think is....kind of in that ballpark.
Cole/And really what we look at for an ideal candidate for the four to three is under 20,000.
Sovers/Correct!
Cole/Okay, so we're substantially within those margins.
Sovers/That's correct. Yeah.
Taylor/Right and that concern was raised as far as the football traffic, which that is a pretty
major intersection for, uh, north-south and east-west for the football traffic(clears throat)
excuse me, but that would be sort of above and beyond that. I don't think it should be
included in those numbers.
Fruin/Yeah, average daily traffic varies based on what part of the corridor you're on, but the
2014...we have 2010 and 2014 accounts for all of the corridor. It ranges from a low of
8,800 to a high in the corridor of 14,100. Again, 2010, 2000....I'm kind of combining
2010 and 2014 numbers. That's average daily traffic.
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Throgmorton/ So here's another question I read in some of the emails. This four to three-lane
conversion will cost a huge amount of money. Okay, so we know we have a project out
there on Mormon Trek, and we did most of the physical work, I think, last summer, fall,
and that cost X dollars. I don't know how much that part of it.... It's my understanding
what we have left, basically....with regard to the four/three lane conversion, is striping.
Sovers/ Correct.
Throgmorton/ Is that correct? I mean so the cost of the striping is minimal.
Sovers/That's right! So the cost for the four to three-lane conversion is, like you said, fairly
minimal. Um,we did do a lot of patching with the project. We took advantage of doing
a project with that corridor to take care of some of the maintenance, um, needs for that
corridor. Urn, we're also replacing traffic signals, completely replacing traffic signals,
and then we also added lighting, um, north of Melrose. So if that was tacked onto the
project,like I said,just because we were doin' a project in that corridor and it made sense
to do...do that as a part of this project. So....
Throgmorton/Yeah, so that was all about improving the quality of the payment...pavement, uh,
improving the flow of traffic and so on, and what's left, pri....overwhelmingly is just the
striping.
Sovers/That's right! And the signals, and then the (mumbled) curb ramps to make them ADA
compliant. So that's another....another piece of the project that, um, is outside the four to
three-lane conversion.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so....then another question, if, uh, I won't ask any more after this, I guess.
Uh, another question that I read in these emails was basically....um.....(sighs) uh, I'm
try...oh yeah! Um,what happens if two years from now, let's say we do restripe this
summer and two years from now conclude that it's really not working well at all. For
whatever reasons,just....because of the unique characteristics of Mormon Trek. How
difficult is it to convert a striped road to a, you know, a three-lane striped road to a four...
back to a four-lane striped road?
Sovers/I mean it would just be a matter of restriping the roadway and then there'd be some....
some signal head adjustments at the intersections,but it'd be fairly minimal cost. So....
Mims/What about the question of....instead of going four to three, adjusting the, one of the
things is the left turns and rear-ending because people are stopping for left turns or that
visibility issue with the left turns, of....adjusting the signals so that going north-south,
where there is that possibility of left turns, if you stay four lanes, northbound and
southbound don't have a green light at the same time. (mumbled) I guess you would call
a three-phase signal maybe or whatever, so that if....if you're going north, you can go
north or you can turn right or you can turn left. Southbound is sitting stationary. I think
that came up in one of the....what would, you know, how would that compare in ter...and
I don't know if you can answer that. I'm just putting it out there cause people are asking
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that question. It seems like that would improve the safety along that corridor,because
what a lot of people are....I think the big thing people are worried about is the travel
times and then cut-throughs in neighborhoods, and what that's gonna be like safety-wise,
and so that issue was raised.
Sovers/Yeah. So split-phasing signals, uh, in a....in a four-lane scenario like that would
significantly reduce, um, capacity of the roadway. I mean you....
Mims/Okay.
Sovers/ ...it's gonna increase congestion.
Mims/Okay. Thank you.
Cole/Do you know of the Iowa communities that have done the four to three, do you know how
many times they've been reverted back to four,based upon an unsuccessful four to three
conversion?
Sovers/I think I've heard of one, and I think that was in Des Moines. Um, and I'm not sure the
specifics behind it. Urn, I don't know if there's a political piece to it or not, but I....I've
only heard of one. Through the whole state!
Mims/We have a lot of people on the east side that don't like the four to three on First Avenue.
We're getting a lot of complaints about that. I don't....again, I don't know if we've done
traffic counts to compare before and after and....but....we continue to get a lot of
complaints about that.
Throgmorton/I don't know that it's true that the Council has gotten a lot of complaints about
the....the First Avenue thing. I know we've gotten some from Bob Elliott, for example.
It may be that individual Council Members get a lot of complaints. I mean I would
completely understand that.
Taylor/Those seem to have revolved around, mostly around the Southeast Junior High area, and
traffic coming and going from there. So I don't know if that's something that could be
looked at, to kinda help with that, urn, but back to Susan's original question, if I
remember correctly, uh, when the construction was going on on Mormon Trek, uh, there
was a north-south, uh.....varied, uh, turn on, uh, at Benton and Mormon Trek,where the
north got to turn left and then the south got to...or the south got to turn left and the north
got to go. So it was timed differently with the green light, and that seemed to work pretty
well. It confused people at first but, uh, now I don't believe it's that way, since....since
it's opened back up, but....it did, you did do that at one time.
Sovers/Yeah (both talking) ...from a safety(mumbled)perspective that works, uh, very well, but
from a congestion standpoint it seems like it was....it was more congested during those
times and we received very...a lot of comments on that. So that's part of the reason we
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went back to the phasing, because (mumbled) original phasing cause we weren't out there
doing construction during....during the winter months.
Cole/We did get a DOT grant, did we not?
Sovers/Yes.
Cole/What, of the total budget cost, what was the DOT grant?
Sovers/DOT grant was for 500,000 of the total project....cost.
Cole/And the total project was 1.1?
Sovers/ I think that sounds right. Yep, a little over a million.
Throgmorton/ One of the things I find most interesting about this is....I111 put it this way, not all
four-lane roads are alike. So one of the driving(laughs) driving forces, nice metaphor,
Jim, one of the motivations behind thinking about a four to three-lane conversion is
because that will make it safer for pedestrians along the street, it will increase the
opportunities for economic development and land development along the street's edge,
and therefore if you look at South Gilbert Street, goin' as far south as Kirkwood, you see
all sorts of opportunity to really enhance the quality of that street by doing a four to three-
lane conversion,but in the case of Mormon Trek, I don't see those kinds of, if you will,
economic development opportunities along the street. So it differs from South Gilbert.
That...that doesn't, I don't think that's persuasive in this instance, because I think there are
other good reasons to, like especially safety, for doin' a conversion of Mormon Trek, but
still it....I think it's important to acknowledge that there are differences among four lane
streets, and some are really great candidates and others are pretty good (laughs)
candidates for four to three.
Sovers/I think that's why we highly recommend when we go through this process that we do a
traffic study. I mean that's, you know, even though we re.....we received the grant from
the DOT, we went through the process of....of doin' the study, to make sure this was a
good candidate for a four-lane to three-lane conversion.
Cole/In terms of the reduction of travel time, what is the estimated reduction from end to end of
the four to three-lane area, from four to four to four to three.
Sovers/ Sure. So I'm goin' from memory. I believe it was less than 30 seconds (several talking)
Thomas/ ....peak hours (several talking)
Sovers/That's correct. Yep!
Thomas/Yeah, I....I think this one is really a safety project, for everyone, not just drivers but
pedestrians and bicyclists. It doesn't have the land use benefit that they often have, but...
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Sovers/One thing I would note is I don't think that we anticipate a reduction in travel time.
There likely will be an increase in travel time, but we expect it to be,uh, fairly minimal.
Cole/Yeah, 30 seconds.
Thomas/I did notice, um, I hadn't been aware, looking at that map of the, um....it's not really
related to this (mumbled) there may or may not be a....a relationship between the cut-
through traffic to the west, which I hadn't noticed (laughs)before in that, you know,that
subdivision area. If you wanna get from, I think it's Rohret to...Melrose, and (several
talking) cause it looks like you wanna get onto the freeway, you gotta get up to Melrose,
correct?
Mims/Right.
Thomas/ So....and I don't know what our....what the conditions are on that cut-through corridor,
but I could see where calming traffic through there, regardless of, you know, the issues
related to, uh....Mormon Trek. It would be good to have....
Sovers/So that particular, um, stretch that you're talking about, we do have, uh, speed humps in
that corridor.
Taylor/I live on the west side and didn't even realize that folks would take that as a shortcut, but
thinking about it, there are like three stoplights along Mormon Trek that I suppose they're
trying to avoid and cut through that way.
Thomas/It's a shorter distance too.
Taylor/(mumbled)
Throgmorton/Do we have any estimates as to how many vehicles per day use that....that
shortcut, I mean the main one that our attention's been drawn to?
Sovers/I don't know that we have that, I mean it's definitely something we can get. I don't think
we have it readily on hand. We have to do some traffic counts, I guess is what I'm getting
at.
Throgmorton/ I don't know, do y'all think it would be helpful to have that information?
Salih/I think so.
Throgmorton/ Imagine the numbers (both talking)
Mims/ ...before and after(both talking) cause I think we're gonna keep getting complaints on this
(both talking) data.
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Throgmorton/So on that point, I...I think it'd be very valuable to...have another answer to a
question, and the question is how ya gonna know if this succeeds or fails.
Sovers/Right!
Throgmorton/ So we....we need....we need staff to recommend something, like two years from
now we'll look at it and decide whether we think it succeeded or failed, and we're gonna
do that by looking at the following criteria.
Sovers/Okay!
Froin/Yeah, I think you need....I think we're goin' into this project acknowledging we're trading
off safety for travel time. Even if it is 30 seconds, we are slowing traffic down through
the corridor, in exchange for hopefully reducing accidents to our target of 25%. Um, and
....and that's what I...when I've talked to a lot of people, I said, yes, that's....that's exactly
what we're doing. Um, we can put together that criteria. I would definitely give it at
least two years, if you wanna....if our primary goal is accidents, you can't base that off of
a couple of months with new signals and everything like that. You need to give it some
time to normalize, if you will, but we can....we can come back to ya with kind of a....a
post-project evaluation, how we would look at that.
Thomas/Yeah, I would say speed reduction would be the other main, um,benefit,because, you
know, as we know,just from our own driving experience, when you have two lanes in
any one direction, you're going to jockey. There's just natural inclination to want to get
into the fast lane, and with the three lane you won't have that option. So it should bring
speeds more into alignment with the speed limit.
Cole/These have been in the works now for about 20 years, does that sound about right? Okay.
Throgmorton/You mean conversions (both talking)
Cole/ ...four to three (both talking) Yeah. Yeah.
Throgmorton/And we....when did the Council first start considering this? Isn't it like three
years ago or maybe longer.
Fruin/Longer than that (several talking) Probably....
Sovers/ ...five years maybe?
Fruin/Yeah, 13, 14 (both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah, we intended to do the striping last year, last summer(laughs) couldn't do it.
Fruin/Yeah, we were delayed a couple of times. We had delays in land acquisition too. It's been
on the books for a while, and of course we have to go through a granting process to get
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those initial funds and...uh, you know, the....this, if the report came out in 15,you can
pretty much bet we were workin' on it in late 13, 14 at least.
Thomas/ Scott,is that paint a standard Iowa DOT specification that you use in the roadway?
Sovers/Yep. It'd be standard, urn, usually use water....water-born paint....for projects. So yeah,
but it's standard, uh, DOT paint.
Throgmorton/Okay, any other questions for Scott or other staff? Thank you.
Sovers/All right!
Throgmorton/Other questions about agenda items?
Cole/Just to clarify, we're obviously not changing direction here, correct?
Throgmorton/ I don't....I don't sense that there's a desire to.
Salih/But did you ask for this, another speed data? During the months that is not January or
whatever. You asked for that?
Throgmorton/Uh, yeah, we asked for a bit more information. Yeah.
Salih/But what you mean like going forward and we're waiting for more information, I really
don't get that. Are we....waiting for information, after that we going to say what we
going to do?
Throgmorton/Well, urn, tell me if you....you agree with this. I think we intend to move ahead,
unless we get some data that says it's a bad idea, and....and we should not move ahead,
like if the data is flawed, the data you're talking about, if it's really flawed and to get other
information, then that would be a...a pretty strong signal,but otherwise I think it's correct
to say,most of us or all of us think that we should just continue to move ahead,under the
assumption that the data is valid.
Cole/And to me it...what we're anticipating is hopefully a....a reduction in accidents of at least
30, and hopefully up to 60, I mean, DOT talks about a 47, so...um,know we have other
topics to cover but for me, the safety piece of it is so much more important than a 30-
second delay. So I'm....I would like to stay the course.
Mims/Yeah, I'm fine. I'm concerned about the public perception of this, um, and that's why I
think it's important that we have pretty good hard and fast data before, and then two to
three years afterwards, um,whether it's on traffic counts, accidents, average speeds,
whatever is reasonable and attainable, uh, given staff time, etc. But I think....I think we
need hard and fast data, because I do think this is and is going to continue to be
controversial.
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Teague/I think Maz was potentially askin' for the traffic counts specifically, um....if they were
gonna be included in the new data that we get. And I'm not sure that that's been
answered.
Salih/Uh huh.
Fruin/You want us to maybe provide you some comments on the Snyder study, since it's...
someone's basically questioned the validity of it. Do you want us to respond formally to
you....
Throgmorton/(both talking) ...yeah, the question was....did the fact that you used January the
12'h, 2016, traffic data, um, by itself reduce the....the observed traffic volumes, because
of the timing of it all. So, we need to reflect on that, be conscious of whether staff
believes 20...that that date provides good, reasonable data. If it doesn't, we need to know
that and get some new data.
Fruin/ Sure!
Throgmorton/Does that sound right?
Thomas/Iowa DOT has some traffic data as well, but yes. I....I would be shocked (laughs) if it
didn't, uh, support doing this, but um....I guess confirmation would be helpful.
Teague/I think we heard that it was around 14, 15,000 count.
Thomas/Maximum. Yeah.
Teague/Right, and it's 20,000 at, you know, you get the 4:00 to 3:00 benefit, urn, so I, you know,
I would like to see, you know, that traffic count, to make sure that it is under the 20,um,
20,000 that....that we, that really makes this, uh, a good project.
Throgmorton/Bruce, I'm not sure what...how you're using those numbers. I mean there's
average daily traffic. There's peak volume, peak hour volume.
Teague/And I'm usin"em based on what Rockne said about the 20,000.
Fruin/Yeah, so...so let me clarify that. The....the Snyder study was lookin' at peak traffic flows.
So they....they were looking at, uh, flows between 7:00 and 9:00 A.M., uh, 11:00 to 1:00
P.M., and 4:00 to 6:00 R.M., at peak times, when we have the most traffic—how are
things functioning? The average daily traffic counts are separate. That wasn't something
that Snyder does. That's something that we do routinely every couple of years on our
roads. We count the traffic, the DOT does, and you can pull up a map of average daily
traffic across the city. So those numbers of, um, 14,000 or 8,000, 10,000, depending on
where you're at, those are DOT numbers that are separate from this traffic analysis.
Mims/Is that where they're just putting counters in the road?
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Fruin/Correct.
Throgmorton/ Okay, can we move on...to the next, whatever the next item is. Does anybody else
have questions about agenda items?
9.i. Greg Shill: Dangerous and inaccessible sidewalks, curbcuts, and crosswalks
Thomas/Well I just wanted to comment on, um, another piece of correspondence, Greg Shill, uh,
9.i. on conditions along, I think it was really along...primarily along Burlington but I
guess in the general downtown area. Um, and they, you know, they had to do a snow
removal, uh, the construction and impacts of construction on pedestrian safety and the
use of the public right-of-way during those construction periods. Uh, coincidentally
enough, before I even read this, uh, letter, I....I ran across over the weekend and sent it
in, I think it'll be coming in our next information packet. Did...did you get (mumbled)
um, this has been a tough winter(laughs) (several talking) ...every way, and uh (laughs)
and....and it has really kind of exacerbated the snow removal and impacts of piles of
snow, uh, on pedestrian safety and mobility, and uh, so I....I happened across a, uh, study,
and it will be in the packet Thursday, but I'll just....I just wanted to give you a heads up
on it, um, Minneapolis is doing a study on this question. I mean it is a common question
in snow country—what do you do about, um, how do you....how do you manage your
snow removal, and I....and I briefly looked through it. It was kind of interesting. It's, uh,
you know something you...for me my....my main experiences have been in Iowa City
and Madison, and Ann Arbor, and I believe all three cities, it's the property owner's
responsibility to remove the snow, but that's not always the case, as this study in
Minneapolis highlighted, but in any event, I do think it's something....just another issue,
you know, and it really does impact people, particularly people, uh, who have physical
disabilities.
Throgmorton/Absolutely!
Thomas/And, uh....so, you know, I think it may be something we wanna....consider. Again,
that'll be in the information packet as a work session topic.
Teague/ Someone reached out to me from the community, um, that talked about, um, their
neighbors, that are habitual, you know, not removing snow, and these individuals they're,
um, they live around, um, property owners that are rentin' out to students, I....I think is
what I understood, and so....their biggest issue was, these are habitual individuals that are
property owners that are not removin' the snow, and so their take was....they suggested,
and they may be here tonight,um, in our formal meetin', um, they suggested that City
Councilors look at the current, um....uh....I guess code or whatever we're doin', urn, and
discipline, as far as like fines and stuff like that, for at least the habitual people that the...
they state the City staff knows are the ones that are continuously,uh, not removin'the
snow, makin'it hard for, um, our city to be a walkable city and a safe city, and especially
when we're tallcin' about persons with disabilities. Uh, that really does limit their ability
to get around the city, and I....I do know that, um, and even in best efforts, you can, you
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know, get out there almost every minute and remove snow and ice, and you'll still have
some residue on the ground. So I do realize that I...I think this individual was really
saying for the ones that are habitual, maybe we should look at what we're doin'with those
individuals. Um, the other thing that they mentioned is that, um, you know, uh, in... City
will go out and...look at any complaint, and then there will be someone to come and
remove snow. Recently, uh, they stated that City staff has been overwhelmed, which I
can get, with all the snowin', so they made mention that, um, City staff didn't come out
for almost a week, and so where there was issues with the sidewalk, the response time
from the City was,um, lagging, and then the contract that the City had with the snow
removals,because they were so overwhelmed,urn, they couldn't even go out, um, in a
timely fashion. So, I think just relookin' at a little bit of that, um, is...is....is probably
worthwhile.
Throgmorton/Geoff, I imagine the staff has received a fair number of complaints about the lousy
job they're doin' with regards to cleaning of the snow (both talking)
Fruin/I mean you get folks that want quicker action than....than, you know, we can provide or
our contractor provide. There's notice provisions, you know, we...we don't just come and
fine you. We give, uh, time to correct the situation. Uh,but then, yes, we have to get our
contractor out there and there's been some delays there that, uh....have been resolved
now. Uh, but then there's those folks that are equally upset that we're enforcin'it, you
know, after an ice storm or after, you know, when we have a polar vortex. Do we really
want to encourage people out there, chipping away at thick ice, when it's negative 30, 35
below. We....it's a balancing act, and it's....it's been really tough this year.
Mims/So many events back to back, I mean it's just made it difficult for everybody. More
difficult than usual.
Thomas/Well and the conditions at the intersections have just gotten really out of control, I mean
they're always difficult,but in this case because of the freeze-thaw, you're....you're trying
to scale a pile of ice at times and that's extremely dangerous, uh, difficult to do.
Taylor/The one photo he showed, the corner of, I think it's Burlington-Clinton there, that was
one we'd gotten a concern about some time ago, not even regarding snow,but because of
the construction. There was no access on either side of the street, uh, east or west, to
cross that intersection, so it continues to be a problem and even more so with....with the
snow and I don't know what we can do about that when there's construction, to be a little
more cautious about that.
Fruin/The intersection is...you have to take the long way around sometimes,uh,but that
sidewalk between Hilton Garden Inn and Burlington's completely closed for construction
and that's....that's the issue that we get. Instead of going, you know, it's a....it's a major
inconvenience for someone that maybe is in the Hilton Garden Inn to go back to Court,
over across to Voxman, uh, you know, and back down to Burlington, and then potentially
has to cross two legs of that intersection. Lot of people will just choose to walk...walk in
the street or...it's tough. It's...construction combined with snow is pretty treacherous.
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Throgmorton/Yeah. Okay, any other comments on that? How bout some....any other topics?
9.g. Rod Sullivan: City budget priorities
Salih/ I just wanna comment on 9.g., the letter about the bench downtown, again. Uh, I guess
somebody suggest that there is just there is low cost, I don't know that,but on the letter
saying that consider removing the center arm rest. There are screws connecting the wood
border. Take them off, then saw the metal divider off. I think if that's something that we
can consider, will be great. (both talking)
Mims/ Sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.
Salih/No! Because you know I guess we are planning to change some of them, uh, as the
number that we agree to change 'em. If there is a way instead of change 'em and take 'em
off, if we can do that from (unable to understand) not asking to increase amount. I'm just
saying like to reduce the cost.
Fruit)/You get into some...you're gonna void warranties on the product when you....I mean
essentially what the writer's suggesting is that you take off one of the wood panels and
saw off the....the, uh, center arm, put the wood slat back on, and....yeah, that could work.
I'd be very hesitant to an area that's highly traffic'd as the ped mall to be making
modifications like that on the benches that are gonna void any type of product warranty
that we have. I think we're better off spendin' a couple thousand dollars on replacement
(both talking)
9.j. Greg Shill: Dangerous and inaccessible sidewalks, curbcuts, and crosswalks
Teague/I wanted to talk, uh,just briefly mention 9.j., um, and this is a letter from, uh, resident
Rod Sullivan, and I....I appreciate, um, him sendin'the letter just to say to us Councilors,
don't be afraid of a small tax increase, um, and also pointin' out, um, you know, doubling
down and invest in those areas that are, uh, important to,um, us as bein', you know, the
great city of Iowa City, things that matter to us, um, and so I just wanted to make...make
mention of that letter. Um, I did appreciate, urn, someone saying(laughs) it's okay to
raise taxes!
Salih/I agree!
9.c. Becky Eiting: Dumpsters
Taylor/ 9.c., the dumpsters. Did....had somebody from staff followed up with Republic or
anyone on....on that?
Fruit)/Yeah, there was a period of time when they couldn't get their trucks in there, and that's the
aftermath of that,but we worked with them to get....get access again, and then it's (both
talking)
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Taylor/Certainly didn't look very good!
Information Packet Discussion (February 7, February 14):
Throgmorton/ ....and there's an aftermath! (laughter) Any other questions about agenda items?
Okay, can we move on to the information packets, February the 7th.
Thomas/I....I had a question on, um....I believe it was at the Center, where rooms,um, are
available to the public for free if they're not reserved, is that....
Monroe/Yes! They just need to call the Center to (both talking)
Thomas/Like the day of or, I mean how does....
Monroe/I think a call up to the day of, so, uh, it just depends on what's on schedule in the rooms
there,but they're welcome to....to use the space. We just want to know, urn, what the
timeframe is that they're planning to use it, um, you know people practice things like
musical instruments or use it to....as a meeting space potentially.
Thomas/ So...so you can't reserve them but you can...the day of make a reser...but how far up, in
advance of wanting to use the room could you reserve it?
Monroe/Urn, I think that they, I mean they'd prefer that people call and reserve something,just
so that they don't end up programming something in the space at that time. Urn,they...
like I said,usually(mumbled)up to that...up to that day or up to that room usage
(mumbled) in the space. Um....and they can, you could reserve,typically we like to keep
it aligned with,urn, programming schedules. So,urn, for larger events,the people would
be,uh, following a specific contract or rental agreement for, you know, a bigger event or
a large meeting or performance, something like that. Um, we could do that up to a year
ahead of time,but um, typically with kind of the upcoming meetings or something like
that,we would just want to make sure that it's, you know, within a couple of months so
that we know ahead of time.
Teague/For like the Library, where meetin'room A, I didn't see....like it seats 200 people. I
didn't see,uh, like can they have food, can they,um, are any of these places where they
can bring in drinks and, you know, can they have outside food or....or they make the food
themselves. I just had questions about that.
Monroe/ Sure! So the Library meeting spaces,they have, uh, all the directives in their,you
know,rental agreements,but typically people can bring in food. Um, there is a charge for
anybody who leaves a space unclean. So just in maintenance,urn, a maintenance fee that
would be incurred,but anybody who brings in food into that space would....would be
permitted to do so, as long as it's scheduled,um, you know, and reserved properly. Urn,
for other meeting spaces, it would be similar. There are a couple of rooms in the Senior
Center that I think are listed,um,just like the exercise rooms with the...the wood flooring
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typically aren't utilized as places people have food and drink, but most of the other
meeting spaces and the assembly hall are all accessible for food.
Throgmorton/Ashley, with regard to the assembly room, at the Senior Center....
Monroe/Yes!
Throgmorton/ ...tryin' to make sure if I'm reading this table correctly.
Monroe/Yeah!
Throgmorton/ So is it not available for use during weekdays at night?
Monroe/It is available. Um,the....the difference in charges, I had to clarify this, urn, there is a
....any....anybody can utilize those rooms. The rates that are listed for the assembly
room on weekdays and weekends, the evenings, um, those are for like business entities.
So, non-profits and....and residents can typically use the rooms at no charge. Urn, non-
profits would get a discount on the rates as well. So....(unable to hear person asking
question) Oh, after 4:30, yes. I'm....my apologies about that. Um, yeah,they....they
would just have a rental agreement to use that space. Um, these are for times that we
regularly staff the building and....and then anything beyond that would require an
agreement for them to rent it.
Throgmorton/So one could ask, in other words!
Monroe/Yes! I'm sorry for that long response.
Throgmorton/Okay, thanks! Incidentally, thank you for the report. I never have seen a
compilation of the various rooms before, so....it's very helpful. Other information....
items, on that packet? How bout the February 14th packet?
Thomas/Well I thought the fine free, which I think we knew was coming, if I'm not mistaken,
but urn....I think that's a really good idea. Uh, so I'm happy to see that. And I...I really
appreciated how the....the memo, I thought it was very, very thorough in terms of, you
know, the analysis that was done in terms of coming to that decision.
Throgmorton/Any other items?
Teague/ I appreciate you, Mayor, urn, givin' a recap of, uh...um, the MIP that we went to. I just
wanted to make mention that there will be one, urn, a summer meeting, uh, in Columbia,
and uh, I think the Mayor went through and kind of talked about some of the great
opportunities that we had while away in Washington, D.C., um, and so I would really
encourage others to consider going,urn, to the one, uh, in Columbia and I was tryin' to
figure out if I can find the dates,um,but maybe we can send that email, well...the next
opportunity.
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Throgmorton/Sure, and just to be clear, when we joined the Mayors Innovation Project, uh, over
a year ago, it was the City of Iowa City that joined, so the....any Council Member, any
staff member could attend without paying registration fees. The only thing you'd have to
pay, of course, is hotel room and travel,but you would not have to pay a registration fee.
Mims/ It's actually at the end of that email. It's August l51 to 3'I in Columbia, South Carolina.
Teague/Thanks!
Throgmorton/And this one, the one we attended, Bruce,just in D.C., is a day, uh, shorter than
the one that's in the fall...or later in the summer.
Teague/And I found it to be very valuable, and so wanna encourage people to give it a try!
Council Updates on Assigned Boards, Commissions, and Committees:
Throgmorton/Especially if you can sing or play an instrument! (laughter) Okay, any other IP
topics for February the 14th,which is of course Valentine's Day! Was, that is. Okay, I'm
gonna move us along. How bout Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and
committees? We could start with Susan, and move to the left.
Mims/Um, work on the Access Center continues. You may have heard that, um, they are
combining everything into one contract,uh, based on some recommendations that were
received. They were going to do a lot of dirt moving as soon as they could in the spring,
but recommendation was that it should be one contract. You can run into problems if you
have one person do the dirt and somebody else does the foundation. Then you have
problems and everybody blames the other person. So,um, things are gonna get pushed
back a little bit,probably till late summer, early fall before they'll....before you'll see a lot
going on out there,but they're still hoping to stay on schedule to open fall of 2020. That's
it!
Thomas/Nothing for me.
Throgmorton/Rockne?
Cole/Jim, could you actually come back to me?
Throgmorton/Sure! Uh, Maz is busy. Bruce?
Teague/Yes, urn.....on the 6th of February we had the MPOJC, um, urbanized area policy board
meeting, and that was here at City Hall. Um, no significant, urn, updates(laughs) and I
would like to point,but that that meetin'did take place. Um, other than that there are no
other committees that I can report on.
Throgmorton/Maz?
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Salih/Yes, I'm sorry, you know we haven't met, you know. That's why I don't have anything to
report,but I forget to bring one item on the 14'h for our next Council meeting, and I know
that whenever we have a meeting on the 1 6th, uh,but you know City, they have their
annual, you know, event that they have every year on the 16'h, and (unable to understand)
only time they can come, and uh, I'm just like proposing since we have five Tuesday on
that month, if we can move the meeting to the 23`a instead.
Throgmorton/So what month are you talking about?
Salih/April (several talking) April the 16th, to the 23`a
Throgmorton/Well, what do the rest of you think?
Salih/Because I know that that's (unable to understand) Council and staff on that meeting, all the
time you guys join the civic annual event and I saw few of you there (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I can say I personally can do that, I can shift it to the 23`a. I don't know about
others.
Mims/Yeah, I think I can. (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/You said yes? Yes? Yeah, so unless there's some huge, uh, obstacle we don't
know about, let's move it to the 23`a
Salih/Thank you.
Throgmorton/ ...mark that down on my calendar..... Okay, so....maybe we can jump back to
where we sort of were. Maz, did you have anything about updates on boards and
commissions?
Salih/No, I...I, we haven't met....yet! We meet every three months.
Throgmorton/Okay. Pauline?
Taylor/Um, nothing really, although there was just one minor thing at the MPO meeting, the
federal swap program came up again, so there was some discussion on that, and there...
it'll be brought up again at the next meeting, next month.
Cole/(mumbled) I need to, I do have an update! Urn, so the City of Lit board, we have not met
much this spring, in part because of the cold weather, the polar vortex,urn, lot of snow.
Um,but there is going to be the famous One Book,Two Book Festival this weekend.
Um, and for those you don't know about it, it's a fabulous program with the City of
Literature where they're really encouraging young writers, um, I still have not had the
opportunity to attend it, for a variety of reasons, but it always gets rave reviews. Um, the
kids do an incredible job, urn, it's a really good collaboration. Maz, you talked about, you
know, collaborating with the School District and various things. This is a great
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collaboration with the City of Literature, City of Iowa City, and various,uh, cooperating
cities, and our School District, and it's always a wonderful event. I won't read off all of
the dates,but I would encourage the public to look at,urn, OneBookTwoBook.org, urn,
and that will give them all the various times,but there's gonna be some fabulous
speakers, great writers,junior high writing jam, comic book confidential, illustrating true
stories, I mean I'm getting excited just reading this stuff. So, it's going to be wonderful,
uh, check that out on OneBookTwoBook.org,uh, this weekend, February 22nd through
February 24th. Hopefully eventually we will be able to actually meet, urn, weather
permitting!
Throgmorton/All right. Uh, I'll make a few quick comments. This Convention and Visitors
Bureau board meeting is meeting, is convening on Thurs....this coming Thursday. Uh, it
has an agenda; I haven't looked at it. The Partnership for Alcohol Safety is meeting on
the 5th of March. Uh, I had a very interesting conversation with the Mayor of Dayton,
Ohio. A woman named Nan Whaley,uh, a couple weeks ago. Uh, she was here for
reasons that are not directly relevant to our discussions right now,but it was interesting
talking to a mayor. And I think the....the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Mayor...uh,
Peter, uh, Bu....Buttigieg, I think, is likely to be in town sometime fairly soon. Uh, also
this....sometime today we all, I think, received an email concerning, uh....um,posters
displaying hateful and anti-....hateful anti-immigrant message. Uh, they were found
posted on...down on the ped mall or downtown. Uh, and we....uh, the email encouraged
us to speak out forthrightly against that. So I thought I would say at the start of tonight's
meeting, I'd make some comments about that, expressing, uh, our general views that...
that, uh, you know,reject that kind of hateful language and so on. So I don't wanna catch
ya by surprise about that. Uh, one last thing is, uh, I saw an obituary column, uh, couple
days ago for a former mayor who, uh, a man who was mayor in the 60s, who died about
four months ago,but his obituary column appeared in the Press-Citizen. So I thought I'd
say a few words about him. His name is William Hubbard. I had never heard of him. I
didn't know him,but he was mayor, I guess, for at least two years in the 60s. So, you'll
learn a lot about him at the start of tonight's meeting, so I'll save...because I'll say a little
bit about him too. Okay, anything else we need to discuss? Fabulous, we're done with
our work session. See you all at 7:00.
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