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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-06-18 TranscriptionPage 1 1. Call to Order Throgmorton: Good evening, everybody! Welcome to your City Hall. It's nice to see all of you on what I guess has been a pretty decent day. I want to note that, um, Councilwoman, uh, Salih will not be able to be with us again tonight. She is still in Sudan, uh, which is a very dangerous place at the moment. She and her children are trying to get on a flight to return to the United States and had not yet been able to schedule a flight. So .... but she's planning to do that and Kellie has been in communication with Maz about that. So, we certainly hope she and they can come back safely. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 2 2. Proclamations 2.a. Juneteenth National Freedom Day Throgmorton: We have one proclamation to read tonight and I think there's no one here to receive it, but I want to read it. Oh, you're going to! Okay, great! So I'll .... let me read it first and then you can come up and accept it. Okay? (reads proclamation) (applause) (unable to hear, away from mic) Please state your name. Oh, you're not going to say .... okay! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 3 3. Special Presentations 3.a. RUN CRANDIC presentation Throgmorton: And this one happens to concern RUN CRANDIC. Come on up, Josh! Schamberger: Thank you, Mayor. (mumbled) Mayor, Council, appreciate an opportunity to have a few minutes here just to thank all of you again like we do every year, well the second year in a row now for all the help the City of Iowa City provides for RUN CRANDIC. This new corridor marathon, the first ever marathon in the corridor, uh, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids. Uh, once again we had a terrific turnout. We had people come in from 31 states and two countries to run the marathon this year and, uh, we ended with some nice checks for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa City Community School Districts, uh, as well as some .... some money for Prairie and Clear Creek Amana, and so, uh, this could not be possible, you know, it goes without saying, without the public safety agencies of the entire corridor. Uh, we put on a lot of events, as you know, and it's certainly, uh, the most challenging to work with eight or nine different police departments, and secondary roads teams and streets teams. There's really only one way you can get from one city to the other, and that's Highway 965, and so, uh, it takes a lot of coordination. So, um, we appreciate Geoff and his entire team and Ashley and their leadership and support throughout all of this. It's really become a great event and this year we had it easy. We just had to get 'em out of Johnson County. Next year they'll.... they'll finish back down here. So, uh, as you know I get more than my fair share of credit for some of these events. The person who really is responsible for making this possible is many .... well is many other things is Monica Nieves, our Vice President of Special Events, and so I'd like to turn it over to her to just present you with a little token of, uh, our appreciation to the City of Iowa City. Nieves: Hello! Thank you for allowing us to be here. On behalf of Think Iowa City, the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, Cordal Running, the University of Iowa Community Credit Union, and the RUN CRANDIC executive committee, I would like to thank the Iowa City City Council for their continued support of the RUN CRANDIC marathon. Thanks to your efforts the RUN CRANDIC marathon had over 300 runners from over 30 states, uh, run across the Park Road bridge on a Sunday morning in April. I'd especially like to thank Lindsey Kent, Jeff Sears, and Juli Johnson from the Parks and Ree Department. Additionally I want to say another thank you to Derek Frank and Officer Ashten Hayes from the Iowa City Police Department, who ensured the safety of our runners, volunteers, and spectators along the course in Iowa City. Ashten not only attended all of our This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 4 public safety meetings and coordinated the Department's efforts, she also was our lead cyclist with the lead female runner that day. RUN CRANDIC would not have been a success of the support of the City of Iowa City, and it is my pleasure to present the City and the Iowa City Police Department with finisher redal..... medals from 2019. Throgmorton: Wow! Mims: Thank you very much! (applause) Throgmorton: Wow! Very sweet! Are there any police officers in the room? (several talking in background) (laughter) Police Department! (several talking in background) Oh what fun! Y'all do great work, Josh. Keep it up! Thank you, Monica. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 5 4 - 9 Beginning of Consent Calendar Consider adoption of the Consent Calendar as presented or amended 9.h. Community Police Review Board: Proposed amendment to Ordinance & By -Laws Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to adopt the consent calendar as presented or amended, minus Item 9.h., which we will treat, uh, separately. Cole: So moved. Teague: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Cole, seconded by .... Teague. Uh, this is, uh, a voice vote? Yeah, all in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. Okay, moving to Item 9.h. Item 9.h., uh, is (clears throat) actually a piece of correspondence concerning Community Police Review Board's recommendation that we amend, uh, their .... the ordinance, uh.... uh, for the Community Police Review Board and its bylaws. Could I have a motion to approve, to accept, that particular piece of correspondence? Cole: So moved. Thomas: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Cole, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Orville, did you want to address us on this? Orville, maybe for the benefit of the audience you could elaborate just a little bit about, uh, what's being recommended by the board. Townsend: Okay. Yeah, Orville Townsend, uh, Whiting Avenue. Um, the board is recommending that the ordinance be, uh, establish a change that would appoint a liaison from the City Council to the Community Police Review Board. Uh, history behind that is, uh, when I first got on the board, uh, and... and the Police Review Board, we review any complaint that a citizen has concerning their feelin' that they were treated unfairly by the Police Department. Uh, as you know, the Police Department, the cars and the officers have video tapes. So any complaint, you know, all members of the board as well as the Police Chief, you know, reviews those tapes to see exactly what happened. Uh, when I first got on the board, um, I was concerned about, you know, a couple situations. Uh, we had a couple older members on the board whose, uh, feelings and mentality was that, uh, we have to look out for our boys in blue. And that feeling, you know, I think This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 6 in some situations they made rulings that were in favor of the officer, but maybe it should have been otherwise. Situation like this, uh... the citizen's rights are bein' violated and they're not bein' given the due justice that they should receive. I found myself in an awkward situation. My choices were I could come before you, the City Council, and I could complain, but I didn't think it was appropriate or productive to wash our dirty laundry in public. If I were to do that, the next day every paper in the state would have it and it would just be a mess. So I chose not to do that. I'm the kind of person if there's a problem I feel that we need to work in the system to fix it. So this is my attempt to do that at this time. I bring it to you. Uh, the .... I shared my concerns with the board, and as a result of that we are makin' this recommendation to you to appoint a liaison to the ... the Police Review Board. Now I can hold my own, but in those meetings, when I was, you know, tryin' to express my concerns, the vote was against me, but not .... not everybody, you know, we've got a lot of citizens that they .... they get on committees because they wanna do a good job and they basically wanna make a difference. But they don't need a hassle. They may not feel comfortable comin' before you, and in some cases they may not feel comfortable, you know, workin' with the members on the, uh, board. So what they would do is they would just kinda bury their head in the sand and we have a problem that, you know, is ongoin'. Also I think it's important that we acknowledge a reality. You as a Council, you appoint members to the boards. You appointed me to the Police Citizen Review Board. And I guess my feelin' is that if there's a problem, you cannot correct it if you do not know it exists. So our recommendation is that, you know .... a liaison will be appointed to the Police Community Review Board. If there's an individual who basically doesn't feel comfortable comin' before you or in some cases even discussin' it further in the, uh, board meetings, then we have a liaison. Now, we know you guys don't wanna start appointin' liaisons because you open Pandora's box. But I think this is an exception. You appoint this board, and if there .... and this is not just your average board. We're talkin' about citizens' rights bein' violated. I think that should put this in a category that has more significance. So, you know, we are submitting this, uh, to you and I would appeal to you to, uh, give it really heavy consideration and pass this. Throgmorton: Great! Thank you, Orville. Appreciate you comin'! So the question to us really is pretty simple. It ... we're not gonna vote up or down on this proposed ordinance. The question is, do we want to have ... uh, put on a formal meeting agenda the proposed ordinance, which we would then open to public conversation, have our own discussion, and vote about whether we want to approve it or amend it. So, that's the question before us. So, and I need to know whether a majority of us This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 7 wants to ... uh, have such a ord... draft ordinance presented to us at a forthcoming formal meeting. So .... what do you folks think? Teague: I would say yes. Cole: I'm supportive of it. Yes. Thomas: I would say yes as well. Throgmorton: I would too, as an act of respect to the board. I .... I think there may be particular aspects of the proposed ordinance that we would want to deliberate upon more thoroughly ..... uh, and I can't predict how that would go ..... but I think as an act of respect we should do that. Yeah, okay so, could I have a motion.... well, we don't .... we don't really need to have a motion to direct the staff to put it on a future meeting. Okay, but we want you to do that (laughs) Okay, so.....could I have a motion to accept the .... the.....do we? (both talking) Mims: ....motion to accept it (both talking) Throgmorton: Okay, right. Thank you. So, uh, all in favor of accepting this correspondence please say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. 10. Community Comment (items not on the agenda) Throgmorton: So this is the moment, as you all know, when anyone who would like to address us on any topic that's not on the formal meeting agenda should feel free to come up and speak. I'd like to ask you to first state your name, and then take not more than three minutes to state whatever is on your mind, and.....who's first? Good evening, Massimo! M. Biggers: Good evening. Uh, my name is Massimo Piciotto Biggers. And, um .... (noises in background) I went on a climate strike for three months, missing classes in order to ask you to ask City leaders to act on our climate emergency. Three months later I'm still waiting for a response. That makes me think you don't believe there is a climate emergency. That you have not noticed historic flooding, historic fires, historic melting of the permafrost, and all the daily headlines and studies. But there is a climate emergency, and cities and countries across the world are acting to meet IPCC levels. The good news is that our School Board is finally doing something to move forward. I'm here again tonight because I met with the Mayor and City Manager, and was told all the reasons we're not doing very much for climate action in Iowa City. I was told our biggest source of emissions are buildings which release 50...60% of our carbon footprint could not be regulated. We actually looked into it and found out that this is not true, that Iowa City can pass much better energy efficiency rules. To be honest, I feel like you misled me, that you lied to me, that you dismissed... that you dismissed us. But this is my future, not yours. When I'm your age, scientists.... scientists will tell us we will be facing an ecolo ... ecological disasters in a planet that will not be livable, if we continue at this pace. Unless we act. And act quickly. And act with a real plan, not.....not a half-baked plan. So it's in your hands, at least for Iowa City. You can continue to dismiss us or lie to us, or you can apologize and pass a climate emergency resolution and a new plan that actually cuts our CO2 emissions in a real way. This is the real question — what is the cost of an action? Energy efficiency is cal .... is called the low -hanging fruit. You could start by hiring more inspectors. You could provide incentives to re... retro .... to retrofit old buildings. Then you could pass better regulations for new buildings. Like in New York City, which plans to cut CO2 emissions by 40% through energy efficiency. The C40 group, which is a coalition of cities for climate action, has agreed to net zero standards for all buildings by 2030. Greta Thunberg has a great slogan: No more excuses! I hope I never hear any more excuses from you again. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you, Massimo. Anyone else? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 9 D. Biggers: Hi (clears throat) my name is Diego Piciotto Biggers, uh, and I also participated in the student climate strikes this spring. Um, and last week it was exciting to hear that the School Board, uh, declared its intention to pass a climate resolution and, uh, get clean energy in the schools. With City staff and Council, I've mainly heard excuses on why Iowa City's doing so little for climate action. But the time for excuses is over and we can't afford to keep delaying. According to a study highlighted in every major newspaper last week, nearly one billion people will be displaced as refugees by the time I'm your age. And the world will be facing major conflicts over food, water, and the ecological collapse. That's my future, so you can imagine why we are here, begging you to act, because I live in Iowa City and we must act locally. If Iowa City can't lead the nation in climate action, then it's probably hopeless. The city called Tiffin, where my friends live, have solar power as a way to show the community its government leaders believe in clean energy. Four years ago Moxie Solar agreed to put a zero down plan to put solar on Iowa City's hall, but you refused. Uh, climate emergency resolution is important because it would force you to actually do something, uh, and to be in line with the IPCC report. Iowa City, uh, and according to the IPCC report, Iowa City needs to double its goal immediately, just like Dubuque did. For example, hundreds of cities have declared their intent to have 100% renewable energy within the next decade or so, and these cities don't rely on Mid American for wind. Uh, I'm gonna list a bunch of cities that have become leaders on clean energy and climate action, and I'd like you to ask yourselves: if these cities can do it, why can't we? Madison, Wisconsin; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; St. Paul; St. Louis; Abita Springs; uh, Amherst; Athens; Augusta; and there's 150 more. Um, they're all cities just like Iowa City, but they're not finding excuses. Pass the climate action .... pass a climate emergency and put Iowa City in the forefront of climate action. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you, Diego. Marker: My name is Braden Marker and I am a supporter of the climate strike. I first would like to read to you a quote from Greta Thunberg, the Swedish student who has inspired climate strikes around the world. She said, 'We have to understand the emergency of the situation. Our leadership has failed us. Young people must hold older generations accountable for the mess they have created.' Going off of what she said, we are here to hold you accountable. Can we honestly say we're doing everything in our power to make Iowa City a national leader in climate action? Every day we read terrifying new studies and news reports on our climate breakdown and yet our governing officials seem to think we can continue business as usual, but business as usual is over. In these past weeks alone we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 10 have seen historic floods in Iowa, historic deadly heat waves in India, and historic fires in the west. On top of that, we've seen studies that one million species are going extent. What will it take for us to make climate action a priority for all of our planning, not just an agenda item we can discuss when it's convenient. I'm here to ask you to pass a climate emergency resolution and update your climate plan. As you know, the UN Council of Scientists, the ICPP, has called on all cities and states and countries to cut CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 and reach zero emissions by 2050, in order for me to live on an inhabitable planet. That sounds like an emergency because, well, it is! In the news just today, we learned that the permafrost in Alaska has melted 70 years earlier than scientists expected. That is an entire life time! Last night Canada announced a climate emergency plan, following other countries. Cities across the country are acting with a sense of urgency. New York City just passed laws requiring all buildings to reduce CO2 emissions by 40%. They're strict energy efficiency rules. Over 150 cities, as mentioned by my peers, have publicly declared their commitment to use only 100% renewable energy within a decade. College towns like Ithaca, New York, are launching green new deal initiatives, uh, for green jobs in retrofitting buildings and local green businesses. Atlanta just set aside seven acres for local food cultivation. Some cities are planting millions of trees. Whether it be planting trees (mumbled) them using completely renewable energy or anything in between, there are so many amazing things Iowa City could be doing, but all this begins with you. You publicly declaring there's a climate emergency and you committing to my generation that you will do everything in your power to update your climate plan, not just continue business as usual. I recognize that some of the things I say may come off very forward. My intent is not to play the blame game, but to express the critical levels of our situation. Thank you very much. Throgmorton: Thank you, Braden. Forbes: Hi, my name is Garrett and I'm a senior at City High and I've been part of the numerous climate strikes this spring. Throgmorton: Pardon me, Garrett, what's your last name? Forbes: Forbes. Sorry. Uh, we all know that there's a climate emergency. It's enough to read the headlines and latest studies. According to the IPCC, we need to cut CO2 emissions by 45% immediately. When the UN tells you that one million species are on track for extinction, signaling an ecological collapse, it's probably time to take notice. And when historic flooding wipes out parts of the midwest and causes billions of dollars in damages, it's probably time to act. We all also know This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 11 that cities are not just sitting back, but declaring climate emergency plans to transition to green economies. This is our opportunity with a climate emergency declaration. Iowa City can finally begin the process of engaging the community to act. It's about sponsoring forums and events and activities to educate our town and bring the city together with our School District and the University and the County. It's about social equity and making sure that people who can least afford to lose with climate change, with higher utility rates, higher food prices, more diseases, and hotter days are protected. Many cities are combining energy efficiency and renewable energy and local food with low-income housing development. A climate emergency resolution is about launching a tree -planting campaign, like Adelaide, Australia, which planted three million trees. An Iowa City farmer planted 40,000 trees just a few years ago. This is a great step to recapture carbon lost in our soil. A climate emergency resolution is about moving us towards 100% renewable energy, like hundreds of other cities. A climate change resolution is about committing to electric buses and a climate emergency resolution is about bringing our community together. Please pla... pass a climate energy resolution and update our climate plan to meet the crisis of our times. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you, Garrett. Good evening. Whelan: Hi! My name is Yardly Whelan. Um, I'm also a senior at City High who has been doing climate strikes, and recently I have had a meeting with Mr. Throgmorton, um, along with the City Managers, uh, where we talked over and attempted to improve this proposed climate energy plan, uh, but to be frank we were not quite satisfied with the results, especially when it came to building code rules, uh, which Mo has just touched on. So for clarification, uh, we found that we can improve our, urn .... our building codes, we just simply cannot deregulate them. Urn .... let's see.....uh, it may seem like a minuscule thing, but, uh, with the issues we are facing we simply cannot cut any corners when it comes to climate action. We must take action (mumbled) seriousness and urgency. Uh, since our country is not looking at implementing a climate action plan and declaring an emergency, unfortunately it becomes our burden to bear. We cannot excuse ourselves from the problem, simply because it is costly and difficult, because the consequences are much greater. So we would hope that we could improve this (mumbled) plan and increase funding towards retrofitting our buildings to decrease our carbon emissions. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you! Good evening, Carla. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 12 Piciotto: Good evening, my name is Carla Piciotto. I'm the mother, uh, of climate strikers and, um, active supporter, um, of their, um, climate action, um, act .... action. And, um, I'm a Iowa City, uh.... um, oh my god. I live in Iowa City. Um, so, uh, I would like just to add a few, um .... uh, details about the meeting that we had with the, uh, Mayor and the City Manager and the Assistant City Manager just two weeks ago, following, um, a march that the high schoolers and middle schoolers, uh.... uh, participated in, um, just at the end of May, uh, for climate action, and I was one of the two adults in the, uh, in the meeting. There were four, uh, children, and urn .... um.....after we, uh, you know, talked about our demands, uh, the Mayor and the City Manager, uh, proceeded to explain to us, uh, why 54% of carbon emissions, um, in Iowa City, um, were .... were not really, uh.... um.....we couldn't, they couldn't cut, and this seems to be some kind of a mantra of the, um, both the Mayor and the City Manager and Assistant City Manager, related to the fact this ... Iowa City, uh, because of, um, State, uh, limitations in terms of regulating carbon emissions, um, basically, um, basically this was the biggest ob.... obstacle for them. Uh, for some reason their explanation wasn't convincing and .... and, um.....so we, um.....investigated, but also mainly we relying on the Press -Citizen, uh, article, um, that, um, inquired about, uh, the actual State, uh.... uh, regulations and limitations on, you know, um, a city, uh, Iowa City, uh, possibility in terns of regulating carbon emissions. So according to the Iowa Fire Marshal, Dan Wood, who oversees the State Building Code Bureau, cities can adopt anything they want, as long as it is more strict. As a rule the State Building Code Bureau has enforced these codes as a starting point. Keep in mind that codes are considered, this is a quotation, considered the starting point. If you're going to give a building a grade just for meeting code, that building has got a D - because it just got the minimum, said David Rockhorn, an architect and State Energy Efficiency Code expert. If you make your building better, you go up in the grading scale. So basically his, uh.... um, his statements, um, totally debunk what we've been told over and over and over. Um, we've been silenced by, um, the City Manager, um, the Assistant City Manager, and the Mayor's, um, statements about this impossibility to change, uh, this, um, State requirements. It is quite puzzling. Uh, it is actually inconceivable to us that the City spent an apparent $80,000 on an out-of-town consultant for the climate plan and did not even address the biggest source of CO2 emissions in the city. So, we're really wondering, um, either you have been misled and misinformed by the City staff, um, or the City staff has been misinformed, or the City staff simply prefers a restricted building in an age of climate breakdown. We're just very puzzled. I just, uh, recall distinctly that, um, you know, Pauline, Jim, John, and Rockne ran on, um, a campaign, uh, for City, um.....uh, Councilors, um, as a climate action candidates, and I remember distinctly that the big point was that you wanted to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 13 break down the revolving door system, related to, um, how developers basically have been running the City. I totally remember this. We need to stop that, and what's really, urn..... urn...... um, also outrageous is that actually you .... you been supporting pretty much a very similar system that you said you were going to, um, to dismantle. Urn .... so, urn ..... also as a mother, I'm very troubled because I understand the misinformation, the misrepresentation among, uh, adults, um, but actually to misinform and misrepresent, urn .... uh, your policies, um.....in front of children, that actually have taken three months of their school time, energy, um, to really, uh, come to you and, uh.... I would say in an innocent way and trusting you, because in the end children cannot do anything else (mumbled) trusting adults, um, and people in power. It's really outrageous. Throgmorton: Pardon me, Carla, I ask people to limit themselves to three minutes (both talking) Bigger: Okay! Throgmorton:.... we've let you speak for five. Bigger: Okay, thank you very much. Throgmorton: Thank you. Bigger: Um, so thank you for listening. Throgmorton: Anyone else? Hi, Brandon! Ross: Hi, I'm Brandon Ross. I think that the, uh, move from five minutes to three minutes, it's kind of a precipitous, uh, leap, uh, into the abyss. It's had to speak with the eloquence and concision and pithiness that City Councilors can speak with. So I am requesting first and foremost of all that you put back public speak from three minutes to five minutes, instead of having commercials, and I would also like to reinforce that the climate change action is very important. I think we should have a committee on this, and I'm willing to give back my, uh, remaining two minutes to the previous speaker, or any of the speakers, uh, who have been there before. Since I only have three minutes I will give those to them, if it's okay with you. Piciotto: (unable to hear clearly, away from mic) ....finish. Um .... so the last question is will you finally step up to the task at hand and follow through with a climate emergency declaration, commit our city to updating its now clearly outdated This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 14 climate plan to meet the IPCC levels, will you finally hire and empower a competent new staff person to carry out the crucial plan for our city. I'm not very shy, uh, at this point and I really feel like our City Manager has not been honest, and has not been up to the task, and Mayor, I actually don't wanna believe that you have mis... you know, you've given false or inaccurate information on purpose. I feel like you've been misled and misinformed. You trust ... the experts. Uh, I really want to believe that, but at this point, um, again, uh, I'm not shy to say that I see a lot of, uh, incompetence or lack of transparencies in the City Manager, um, managing. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you. Anyone else want to address us? Good evening, Adil! Adams: Good evening. Adil Adams, uh, Iowa City. Uh, last month (difficult to understand) regarding, uh, outpatient or dialysis patient, about housing, and I never receive.... received any feedback from the City Council. I don't know they deny my application or (mumbled) ignoring that. Uh, the issue for me is very important. I do dialysis for five years and still I wanna, before I speak, to make sure they gonna give me feedback for my letter (mumbled) City Council. Uh, I don't know if they gonna send me letter or (unable to understand) now. Throgmorton: Uh.... Geoff, my recollection is that we've had staff communications with Adil. Is that correct? Fruin: Yeah, but I think he's taking issue with the staff position on his application. Throgmorton: Yeah. Fruin: So we can inform you of what that situation is if you'd like. (mumbled) prepared to do that now, but .... (both talking) Throgmorton: You say you are or are not (both talking Fruin: to you. Throgmorton: You are prepared, is that what you said? Fruin: Not .... not prepared tonight, but um, but I can provide you that information. Throgmorton: Uh without objection I think we should at least hear what, uh, Adil's complaint is and whether we think staffs doing something wrong. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 15 Fruin: Okay! Throgmorton: Yeah. So we can't address it tonight, but uh, I've just instructed the ... we have just instructed the City Manager to provide us with information so we can judge whether or not we believe we should do something. Adams: Okay. Thank you. Throgmorton: Yeah. Good evening, Mike. Carberry: Good evening, City Council. Mike Carberry, Iowa City. And I've spent, uh, the last 20 years working on climate change solutions with a four-year detour as a Johnson County Supervisor, and uh, on .... on that regards, I'd like to thank you for agreeing to, uh, fund a mobility coordinator position for another year. That was a project that, uh, very near and dear to my heart. Um.....back to ... on climate change solutions, um, and I'd like to thank the climate strike, uh, students here for taking leadership. It's the youth that will lead us on this issue, on guns, and everything else. It's their future, and we're burning it down. When you have a climate emergency, somebody needs to call 9-1-1. Maybe it's the City Council here that needs to do it. Um, in 2006, I was chair of the Iowa City Sierra Club, and Tom Carsner and I gave an award to the City, uh, the Cool Cities Award to... the City signed on to the Kyoto Protocols, from 1999 (laughs) uh, for climate, uh, and carbon reduction. And the City took some steps at that time, hired Brenda Nations, uh.... uh, as sustainability coordinator. I'm not sure if I got her title right, and we've done some carbon footprinting and now you've got a climate plan. But uh, it seems to me, and to many others, that, urn .... maybe that's inadequate, and a little bit too conservative this plan. Uh, you know, we all .... we've had two 500 - year floods — 93 and 08. We've had record, uh, precipitation here in Iowa, and the nation, in the last, uh, year. We've had flooding in the fall, two out of the last three years, and I know that specifically (laughs) as a County Supervisor I was getting daily updates from Emergency Management. We need to do somethin', we need to do somethin' now. Uh, recent reports say the clock is ticking. And that time is running out. We have to be at 100% renewable energy by 2050, and we need to take bold and decisive action to get there. This city is often referred to as 'the People's Republic of Iowa City,' or Johnson County, and we're looked to around the country and around the state as leaders. But on climate action, we've really not been a leader. We've been in the middle of the pack. And I'm asking you, as are all these climate strikers, to take bold and decisive action and to call 9- 1-1 cause we've got a climate emergency. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 16 Throgmorton: Thank you, Mike. Anyone else? Kashia: Mr. Mayor and Council, my name's Miriam Kashia and I live in North Liberty and I'm a member of 100 Grannies for a Livable Future. Wow! Grannies have been standing with and behind these kids for a number of weeks now. We know what they're doing and we know why they're doing it and we believe that they are 100% on track. I did a little simple math. These kids are, I don't know, something around 13, 14 years old. The ICPP tells us in 12 years, unless we have shifted course totally and gone the other direction, the game is over. They'd be 25. Think about it. So, um, this got referenced a few times by others. I don't have a lot to add to what's already been said, but it's a list of the cities in the United States that already have 100% plans or already on track with those, have already achieved those, and states and, um, other things. I'm gonna leave this with you, and I'm gonna send you each a digital copy of it. This came from the Sierra Club yesterday. Iowa City isn't on this list, and it should be. So, I look up here and I see seven goals. The sixth goal says 'promote environmental sustainability' I'm going to respectfully suggest we move that to number one, we pass a climate emergency resolution to match our climate existential, urgent... whatever it is, it's a crisis, folks! And we need to act on it, and you are our leaders in this. I'm asking you to be bold, aggressive, and comprehensive. Let's do the job! Throgmorton: Thank you, Miriam. Could I have a motion to accept correspondence please? Cole: So moved. Mims: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Cole, seconded by Mims. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you! Good evening, Sheila! Zeithamel: So hello there! My name is Sheila Zeithamel and I wanted to state that this is one of. ... or the only in my opinion, the biggest crisis that's facing everyone on this planet. I think that for all of us, the most important thing that each one of us can do is to address this increasing carbon emissions, because our planet is warming and the only way to stop this warming is to reduce emissions. So we met, Jim, with you and we met with Geoff and we met with Ashley, uh, a group of us did, and.....and we talked about declaring a climate emergency. My stance hasn't changed on that. I still request, demand, that the City declare a climate This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 17 emergency and that you develop a community campaign, led by City officials. Number two, that the City Council update your climate action plan to IPCC levels, and number three, that you hire and empower a climate action coordinator to carry out this plan. I .... I also want to add that I think that this County, uh, the City Council, the Iowa City Community School District, and also the Johnson County Supervisors, if the three .... these three entities are not acting together in unison as a team, as a partnership, uh, to solve this problem that we have in Johnson County, I would certainly encourage you folks, somebody to reach out and start engaging so that the three of you, these entities, can work together, because it'll be a lot easier if we do team work, and you're not in this alone. I mean we will all help you in whatever you need to do, but you have to take action. You have to take bold action. Leadership requires bold actions, bold decision, bold decision making, and that task is upon you. This is the time. It's up to you to take that bold action. Throgmorton: Thank you, Sheila. Anyone else? Eastham: Good evening, Council, my name is Charlie Eastham. I live in Iowa City. Uh, I don't wanna detract from what's been, uh, talked about by many people (clears throat) very inspirationally by students, uh, of. ... in regard to climate, uh, action that's needed, and I'm sure there will be much support among the community for the things that you've been asked to do, if you will undertake them. I just wanted to go back to the, uh.... uh (clears throat) police traffic stop, uh, study that you received during your work session. Uh, just to review very briefly, that study looked at, uh, traffic stops, uh, over the last year, the actual study's done by Professor Barnum, and done over the last 10 years, and they, uh, his findings are that the police force and the, uh, leadership of Chief Matherly and, uh, City Manager Geoff Fruin have .... have, is gradually reducing the disparities in traffic stops, uh.... uh, in this community. I ... am curious though if we could extend the, uh, data analysis a little bit further, to see if those reductions in individual officer disparities shown by the index, uh, data that the, uh, Professor Barnum included in his, uh, presentation, if those (clears throat) the idea is to get those index numbers down to one, if in fact if those index numbers go to .... gou.... do go down to one, which means that no police officers are, uh, showing disparities in their individual traffic stop decisions, um (clears throat) if that would mean that the, uh, ratio of African American, Latinics..... residents in the community who do experience traffic stops is similar to their ration of their .... of the entire population in the community. So that, um, I notice that in I think 2016, there roughly 1,500 or so African American black residents who, uh, were stopped to, uh, as part of a ... or had a traffic stop, uh, which is about three times the ratio (clears throat) that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 18 1,500 to the total number of traffic stops was about three times the ratio of, uh (clears throat) black and Latinics, urn .... uh, residents to the entire, uh, community. So if that, if those ratios, if that ratio goes down to one, then that means there are many, many, fewer, uh, African Americans, Latinics residents being stopped, which to me would be a .... a great thing for the entire community. So I wondered if the analysis of that data could be extended to see if, uh (clears throat) the, uh, numbers o£...black and African American, Latinics residents are being stopped now, if they're not stopped because the individual officer ratios go down to one, if that would mean that the ratio of the entire population of, um, African American and blacks, or and Latinics residents would also go down proportional to what their numbers in the community are. It's an easy calculation to make, I think, and 1 think it would be very helpful, if we're .... as we're looking how to improve the lives of everyone in the community. Throgmorton: Thank you, Charlie! Anyone else? Hi, Tom! Carsner: Hello! My name is Tom Carsner, and as a graduate of City High, I'm glad to stand in solidarity with the climate strikers who have spoken and others, uh, who have stood with them tonight. Um, I do believe that the, uh, City's plan needs to be updated to, uh.... accelerate the, uh, CO2, uh, emissions reduction schedule (clears throat) excuse me, to match the IPCC levels. Um .... I stood at this podium in 2006, as Mike, uh, Carberry talked about, uh, with .... for the Sierra Club and the Cool Cities program. Looking back at that time, 13 years ago, it may have seemed kind of simplistic and, uh, and simple the things we were proposing, such as LED lights in .... in the traffic, uh, sys.... traffic light system. Um, now things are more severe and .... while progress has been made in City activities, such as the LED lights, we're really talking about.... activities that need to be, uh, ramped up significantly to meet these types of, uh, of pro .... of problems. And my thought in 2006, and my thought today, is that Iowa City should, uh, be an example, and we got off to, uh, somewhat of a start back then, and uh, did some things, but I do think, frankly (clears throat) that the City, uh, has lost its shine in being an example. Uh, I think first we got sidetracked into bureaucracy. Um, the, uh, original climate plan did create a 2008 baseline of greenhouse gas emissions, but not a whole lot more that's really tangible. We can do more, and then a second point, elections changed the City Council, and the momentum for action changed. That's why I was extremely hopeful in 2015, and if I can address this to the four Councilors that were elected in 2015, I had high hopes that things would change significantly. I haven't given up. I'm just here to encourage you to do more, because the times, uh, demand more. And it's something that's important, and we need to show, uh, that Iowa City can be an example, a leader, in, uh, clean energy This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 19 and in reducing our carbon footprint, as a City, and when the City leads, residents will also follow. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you, Tom. Anyone else? Hi, Liz, how are you? Maas: Hi, how are you? My name is Liz Maas. I live in Iowa City. Um, I'm also parent of a climate striker. And I teach environmental science at Kirkwood Community College. Um, as some of you know, I know many of you. Uh, I love these seven goals. I think these are great to aspire to, but there isn't a single one that climate doesn't impact. So some of you earlier pointed out number six should be put back to number one, but really one through seven, you can't have a healthy economy; you can't have vibrant, walkable places where people wanna live if you have lots of immigrants that are coming here that are stressed out, like why one of our Councilors isn't here tonight, right? I work with a lot of people from northern Africa and from Sudan, and I'm expecting that there's only going to be more of those people. Uh, I think our community's done a great job of trying to support, um, what their needs are, but I think we're gonna be feeling the crush of that more certainly. Um, healthy neighborhoods, um, air pollution, water quality — always a big .... big one for me as you know; solid financial foundation. Again, I know a lot of this, I'm on the Committee for Climate Action. I was part of the group that wrote the plan, and the plan is what the plan is. I think the plan could be more aggressive. Um, there are some things that are happening that I don't think we do a lot of talking about, to tell people that this is what's going on maybe behind the scenes, things that we're thinking about or planning. Urn .... the enhanced community engagement and intergovernmental relations, that's the part that I think is missing a little bit. Um .... it's sort of like buying a new car, right? The minute you buy the car, the minute you drive it off the lot, it's suddenly worth less money. Uh, government takes time. There's always the financial burden, the financial concerns that are associated with that too. Um, but the strength to stand up and say'this is where we have to stand, these are the minimums that we have to meet,' I think that that's what we need to do. We need to have a climate emergency and we need to say that this is who we are and be Iowa City. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you, Liz. Good evening, Jeff. Biggers: Jeff Biggers. Um, so it's in your hands now, July 2nd you're gonna have a work session. And we've done the best we can do (clears throat) for many years. It's a lot of amazing people here tonight. It took a lot for the kids to do this. They didn't really wanna come tonight. They felt betrayed. They felt misled. Lied to. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 20 And we .... we told'em they have to have hope! Three years ago Massimo asked me, is there any hope? And I .... I can't be a dilettante. I said hope resists. That's what it's about. We go and we roll up our sleeves and we do the hard work. And we trusted you.....we put you into office to do the right thing. These kids are facing a climate emergency. That's a fact. If anybody disagrees with that, they should get out of here right now. If you're not up to the task, you should really step down. But now is the time for leadership! And we need it from you! To....to make Iowa City what it really should be, which is the leader in the state and the region and the nation. We need your help, Bruce, to be the leader on this. And, Pauline, this is a public healthcare disaster, and you know that. And, John, you, I mean you, your experience is invaluable.... of what we can do to capture soil, and the carbon we've lost in our soil and .... there's so many things we can do to be a leader, and we're asking you to step up on July 2nd. We're not going to be here. These kids, I don't want them to come back any more. They've done this extraordinary job for three months! They have moved the School Board, that is now passing a climate resolution and moving forward with incredible policies, and the School Board is 100% onboard. They've been educated by these kids. And, John, you came to Southeast Junior High and you saw this incredible thing, 90 students presented their view of what Iowa City could look like as a regenerative city and it was extraordinary! These kids believe in this! Because it's their future! It's not something that can be agenda item if we might get to it, if we have time. We really are counting on you, on July 2nd.....to make us proud, and to step up, and put this city first. So thank you so much. Throgmorton: Thank you, Jeff. Anyone else? Thanks all of you for speaking. Uh, we're not in a position to engage in give-and-take, but I want to mention two points. One is to reemphasize the point that we are going to have a work session discussion focusing on this particular question about whether we wanna alter our climate action plan in any particular way. We're gonna do that on July the 2nd. The second thing I wanna mention is that we have reached out to attorneys in State government for clarification about whether we can adopt energy codes that are more stringent than what the State Energy Code currently is, and we'll find out from them whether that's the case. It certainly is not what we understood to be the situation, but we're gonna find out and we've asked the State Attorney's Office.... or the State's attorneys in the relevant State office to let us know what .... the legal fact is. Okay. We can move on to our next item, which is Item 11, Planning and Zoning Matters. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 21 11. Planning and Zoning Matters. ll.a. Rezoning at the Northwest Corner of Benton Street and Orchard Street — Ordinance conditionally rezoning approximately 1.75 acres of land located at the northwest corner of Benton Street and Orchard Street from Medium Density Single -Family Residential (RS -8) to Riverfront Crossings — Orchard (RFC -0). (REZ18-00019) 1. Public hearing Throgmorton: I'm gonna open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) And ask Danielle to say hello Hi, Danielle! Sitzman: Hello, Mayor, Council, Danielle Sitzman, Neighborhood and Development Services. Uh, first application before you tonight is for a rezoning on, uh, Benton Street, at Orchard Street. The applicant in this case is M&W Properties. They're requesting a rezoning of approximately 1.75 acres, located in the dashed white area, uh, showing on the screen. Each property located within the subject area is owned by the applicant. Um, the applicant is looking to rezone the subject property to assemble it, uh, for development. The intended development is for two multi -family buildings, containing a combination, uh, 125 units. Um, each building would have, uh, maximum .... a height of three stories, which is set by the sub -district to which they are requesting the rezoning. This is the Orchard sub- district. If you'll recall it was added to the Downtown and Riverfront Crossings master plan in 2016. Uh, a portion of this, uh, district has seen a redevelopment already by this applicant, uh, the northern portion, and the darker orange there, uh, the portion that's under request tonight is the lighter orange, along the southern boundary. Um, the comp plan's intention is to provide a transition in this Orchard Court sub -district between more intense uses in the west Riverfront District, and the current single-family uses to the west. The applicant did conduct a good neighbor meeting as part of the master plan amendment and did not repeat that process with this application. Um, it has been evaluated toward the standards for a rezoning, which does include a .... a, consideration of whether it's in compliance with the comprehensive plan. Um since this is the, uh, sub -district, the master plan district for, um, Riverfront Crossings, that was a relevant district to which we looked to, uh, staff to do their analysis. Um, there are, uh, several components of the Orchard Street, uh, the Orchard sub -district, like I explained, the transition between a single-family neighborhood and higher intensity, as well as some other factors. Staff did review those with the Planning Commission. As .... included in the, uh, adoption of the Riverfront Crossings district was the implementation This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 22 (mumbled) form based code. That contains a regulating plan which is shown on this slide to the right. Um, there are some features of the regulating plan specific to the site, including a circled pedes ... uh, purple thing, oval. I'll show you a pedestrian street that has been incorporated into the applicant's concept design for the site. Urn.... basically the concept at this point shows the two buildings I mentioned, um, one oriented north -south and one, uh, more toward .... on the east - west alignment, uh, further north on the site. Staff did review also compatibility with the existing neighborhood. Again, looking towards the master plan for insight into what that meant. In this pacif...specific instance, um, this site will be required to comply with the form based code standards, which were developed with the intention to ensure compatibility. Uh, we did also request a traffic study be conducted, uh, looking at the impact. of this, uh, development on the surrounding neighborhood traffic patterns. Um, at this time staffs not requesting a .... additional signalization of this intersection. Um, the, uh, traffic study did reveal, um, minor additional traffic 30 to 40 trips, uh, being added to the peak periods of traffic flow. Um, that does result in a level of surface.... service, uh, D through the 20-40, uh, peak periods. That's generally acceptable in urban conditions. Uh, it's staffs hesitation to recommend any kind of signalization based on the fact that the intersection with Riverside Drive and Benton Street is very nearby this intersection. It was basically a much closer, uh, combination of traffic signals anywhere else in the city. Instead, uh, staff looked at alternate ways to address traffic, um, that would include the next application on your agenda, which is a vacation of some right-of-way, uh, along the northern boundary of this property. The City vacating some right-of-way to make room for the development to incorporate a driveway along that alignment and then the eventual, um, connection of the driveway to a north -south, um, let me see if I can .... this north - south, um, driveway, private driveway. So basically instead of signalizing this intersection here to address traffic, they're providing an alternate route, uh, through the site, because.... with the vacation and with this additional easement, and um, driveway. Uh, that's intended also to facilitate further development of the Orchard District, uh, to the north. There's also.... there's potential for additional redevelopment in this neighborhood and that would allow for traffic to, um, have multiple routes to reach the main, uh, street. Did also review transportation for pedestrians and bicycles. Uh, Benton Street is identified in the Iowa City bicycle master plan as a functional bi.... as part of the, um, on -street bike network. There will be sidewalks installed with any development that occurs here, uh, including both Orchard Street and Benton Street. Um, as far as next step goes, we're at the step highlighted in green on the screen, the rezoning. Um, after the rezoning, it's been recommended to you by the Planning and Zoning Commission, after tonight, um, or after the rezoning is resolved, the next steps would basically be This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 23 administrative steps, including a site plan review step and a design review for form based code compliance. So based on staffs analysis, the proposed rezoning is consistent with the comprehensive plan or the sub -district pan ... plan, which is the master plan; combat... compatible or complementary of the existing neighborhood, and would not overburden public facilities. Staff did recommend approval of the application to the Planning and Zoning Commission with eight conditions. Um, at their May 16th meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission did, uh, uphold staffs recommendation and is forwarding, uh, the application for your consideration, with eight .... the eight conditions recommended by staff to be included in a conditional zoning agreement. My understanding is the conditional zoning agreement has been signed by the applicant. The conditions, um, included kind of a standard condition requiring compliance with our affordable housing requirements. Um, the inclusion of that vacation case (mumbled) contingent (mumbled) allow for that alternate path for traffic, should it be needed, but the developer dedicate 15 -feet of right-of-way along the north side of Benton Street frontage to the City to facilitate, um, sidewalk installation and to, um, standardize the alignment of sidewalks along Benton Street; construction of a six-foot sidewalk in that frontage; construction of a sidewalk along Orchard Street; the provision of a 30 -foot wide easement, access easement, running north -south, um .... uh, along that driveway area highlighted; construction of a pedestrian street as shown in the regulating plan; and dedication of a public access easement over that span of the street. And that concludes my staff report! Throgmorton: Great! Thanks, Danielle. Any questions for Danielle? I'm not hearing any. Thank you. Would anyone else like to address this topic? Ross: In light of what has been spoken about today earlier regarding this, uh, development, uh, a lot of the language of development is very abstracted, uh, for the citizens. We heard a lot of conversation earlier about environmental, uh, considerations. Uh, what environmental considerations are .... are being included in this particular, uh, development? Uh, has this gone through an environmental, uh, committee to decide whether or not this is actually environmentally sound. Uh, I think why not start right now? Uh, since, uh, we have been alerted to this. I would also, uh, point out, uh, that there is affordable housing, uh, etched in here, at least in that .... that phrase has been etched in there. What is affordable housing in this area? Who will be affor...uh, able to afford this? Um.....you know a lot of affordable housing is talked about, but often times we don't really see concrete results. Urn ..... you know, what, uh, maybe this can be answered. How many units, how many units are affordable, and what does affordable mean? How much are they gonna be charging? Uh, in this city in the past 35 years, I believe that, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 24 you know, the trend has been to develop for the top 10% or 20%, and the bottom 80%, which is the majority — the working classes — end up with nothing, and uh, you know, Chauncey Swan is one example of that, and it's in .... inclose. So I would like to make those two major points. One is the environmental integrity and the other is about affordability, and on our seven -point map, uh, of things we'd like to do, I'd like to say one and four are redundant, and over number four where it says 'financial,' and has the money bags, I think the City should include in its seven points, which is also environmentally integral, equality should be one of the seven — equality. So environmental .... and affordable. What is affordable? Perhaps this can be answered, uh, by the previous speaker, with all due respect. Thank you. Throgmorton: Could be. Danielle, do you or perhaps Tracy have an answer to the question about affordability within this particular project? I assume it has to comply with the Riverfront Crossings District, uh, code. Hightshoe: It has to comply with the affordable housing requirement in the code. So 10% of the units have to be affordable to people below 60% of median income, and their rents can't exceed the fair market rent, the same limit that's available for CDBG and Home basically. It's the Home Fair Market Rents. Throgmorton: Be very briefl Ross: So basically what are these places going to be costing is what Iowa Citians who are watching this, reading this, want to know. What are they going to be costing, and without percentages, what percentage of Iowa Citians will be able to afford to live in this development (both talking) Throgmorton: Okay, Brandon, I think we got it. Thank you. Anyone else want to address this topic? Okay, seeing no one else, uh, I need to ask the Council whether you are inclined to vote in accordance with the Planning and Zoning Commission's, uh, with its recommendation that we approve the rezoning. Are you inclined to vote in accordance? (several responding) Yeah, okay, so I'm gonna close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion for first consideration please? 2. Consider an Ordinance (First Consideration) Mims: So moved. Cole: Second. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 25 Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by .... Cole. Discussion? Mims: I would.... regarding the affordable housing piece, and .... and Brandon's question, um, I think one of the things .... and I find myself having to go back and look at documents, because if you don't have these numbers in front of yourself, I can't keep track of'em, and I don't know if I've talked with you, Bruce, or whatever. I think it would be helpful if it's not too much of an effort on staffs part, whenever we're talking about affordable housing, cause I know these numbers also change, to put in a.....a quick chart, if you can insert it, that shows the .... the average median income numbers and what does that actually mean in terms of the rent that people would pay if they're at 80% or 60% or 40%. Is that something that is reasonably doable? Frain: We can do that, as long as we understand the disclaimer that you're approving a rezoning. We don't know that the building's going to be built riwa... right away. It could be that the building follows in a couple of years, and as you mentioned (both talking) Mims: ....those numbers change (both talking) Frain: .....numbers adjust every year. So (several talking) You just have to .... you just have to use the current numbers and understand that those will change before the building's built and gets its occupancy permit. Mims: Yeah, and I .... I appreciate that comment, Geoff, because I do think that's really important that people understand that those numbers are continually changing, but I think that's a common concern in the community, and like I say, I can't keep those numbers straight. If somebody were to ask me, if somebody's at 60% of area median income, what does that mean they're gonna pay for one of our affordable housing units in Riverfront Crossings for say a one -bedroom or two- bedroom apartment, I wouldn't even begin to be able to answer that question. So to have that stuff a little more frequently in our packets in terms of being with anything that relates to that, I think would get it out in front of the public more and would certainly help us I think kind of keep those numbers a little more top of mind. Throgmorton: Yeah, I agree (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 26 Fruin: Easy to do and we'll get those numbers for your second consider.... assuming this passes, uh, for your second reading. Mims: Thank you. Throgmorton: Uh, any other Council discussion? Teague: I do have to say, um, because I'm.....I'm rehabbin' a building right now with.... With a little construction and so when we're talkin' about new construction, um, personally I woulda found it very helpful for someone to just come in and do an environmental review and just say, hey, these are .... have you considered this? Um, because I'm, even though we're gonna be talkin' about climate change, I'm still educatin' myself on what all that means, and so I, you know, one.....one thing I will say is that it may not be such a bad idea to at some point when we're talkin' about climate change, maybe just .... some of this stuff is gonna come up, about, uh, potentially do we have, um, a review for projects within our community, as well as when things are bein' retrofitted, um, just communicatin' with, uh, individuals within our community, how they can make things a little more, um, climate -friendly. Um, and as far as affordability, um, do we know how long this will be affordable for the units? Is it a 20 -year.... Cole: Ten. Teague: Ten (both talking) Fruin: It's a 10 -year.... requirement. Teague: Okay, um, in the future I think I'm just gonna be ... really zonin' in on that a little bit, um, because I feel that, um, in .... in 10 years, these individuals have to move, if. ... if they can no longer afford regular rent, whoever live in this building, let's say they've been there for 10 years. Let's say it's a ... it's a, um, a child that, um, is with their parents and five -years -old. Uh, when they become 15 -years -old, they're gonna have to move out of this ... buildin' if they cannot afford the regular rent, and dependin' on what they can afford, that lifestyle will be very different. All their friends, you know, from where they've been, it's gonna look very different. Um, we have, um, Iowa City has... every neighborhood is different. I live on the west side. I think it's different from the north side, and so I .... I think that we really do have to look at how we're doin' these affordabilities, um, in these projects that only last 10 years. The embarrassment that this 15 -year-old will have to have when they have to move out, urn .... because this is what they've been This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 27 used to. So nevertheless I will support this, but in the future I'm gonna be zonin' in a little bit more on this affordability periods. Throgmorton: At some point in past Council discussions we have, uh, indicated that we would, we are interested in the possibility of extending that 10 -year period to 20 years. I don't know that we decided to do that, but we've had that conversation. I believe it's something we need to consider. Further discussion? Taylor: Traveling Benton Street quite often, cause I also live on the west side, my concern centers around the traffic volumes and, uh, it was mentioned that they were found to be acceptable, but .... Benton Street, and especially that stretch off ..off of Riverside Drive is very, very busy and there's oftentimes people are confused, they're in the wrong lane and they don't wanna turn off, uh, they wanted to go straight on Benton Street and so then they're trying to jockeying over to .... to the right lane, and I just really have concerns about that .... that busy corridor there, and adding, uh, that much more. Right now currently it's just a .... it's some duplexes and some single-family homes, and to multiply that by 135 units, I .... I just really have concerns about that, and also echoing back on ... on the, uh, our environmentalist friends, I've been harping on that for a long time about new.... new buildings, trying to be more energy efficient and .... and requesting permeable pavement, but I've been told it's more expensive, but I think, uh, they do need to seriously consider that. I know we can't put that in a condition, but we could certainly encourage it, but I am concerned about the traffic volume, for that large a building. Thomas: I'll comment on it. I'm going to be supporting the project, but I .... I do wanna make a few comments, uh, about it. (clears throat) One is, uh, you know with respect to the affordability aspect, um, Miller Orchard as a neighborhood is one of the more, it's kind of an interesting enclave of affordable housing. You know, and it's surrounded by very large, uh, multi -family developments. So it's .... it's kind of almost like this small island of affordability near the downtown, and um, I'm a little bit concerned, uh, with the, uh, you know, the threat of. ... of redevelopment in this area, which could result in displacement of some of that affordable housing. Um, so that's one concern. Um, and it's .... it's reflected in part by the fact that this ... this project, uh, you know, if you look at .... uh, what it, what's... what's taking place on ... on this 1.75 acres, it currently, you know, there currently, uh, what is it, 12....12 units I believe, uh, on this 1.75 acres. It will .... it will go from 12 to 125. That's a ten -fold increase in density. Uh, you know we've kind of lost .... track of density questions, uh, because of our move to a form based code. Uh, but .... it's essentially over 70 units per acre that is being built on this property. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 28 That's higher than any of our multi -family residential zones, uh, you know, in our .... typical zoning, uh, ordinance, not .... setting aside the form based code. So I'm concerned with ... what introducing these levels of density could conceivably do in terms of future development. You know, we're talking about this project as being a transition between Riverfront Crossings and the Riverfront District, the west Riverfront District, with the single-family zoning to the west, I .... I would probably say it's really leaning more towards the Riverfront .... um, west Riverfrom District than it is to the single-family. You know, if..if we're talking about this as a transition, I would ... I would wanna view it as a bridge, that it's something that one can understand in terms of the .... the transition in either direction, and I really feel that it's .... it's leaning, uh, much more toward the, um... the form based code to the east than it is to the existing single-family to the west. Uh.... I've always felt that, you know, the Miller Orchard area is a really interesting place for that missing middle concept of smaller development, um, and what we're seeing, because it's allowed in the Miller Orchard zone is multi -family to a .... a fairly high intensity, given the existing use. So these are .... these are my concerns, looking forward. Uh, I don't wanna lose the character of that Miller Orchard neighborhood. I think it's a really special place and, um, so I'm gonna be looking very carefully at....at how future development is considered, uh, beyond this particular project. Throgmorton: Anyone else? I .... I warm address some of the points that Brandon Ross raised, havin' to do with the environmental effects basically of this particular structure, or proposed rezoning, under the assumption that they will actually build these structures that we've seen renderings of. Uh, some of the features I think of are, first, it's located within walking distance of downtown. That's a big asset for, from an environmental point of view. Secondly, it's located on a bus line. That too is a big asset from an environmental point of view. Thirdly, it must meet the current inter -state energy code for new buildings, which is .... it's my understanding that's... that's what we have to do. Of course (mumbled) we need to clarify. Uh, but it has to meet that energy code, which is pretty stringent, but ideally we would push it quite a bit farther, and lastly, one of our work session items reads as follows: Discuss amending the code to require staff and rezoning applicants of large-scale development to consider the effects of the proposed projects on future carbon emissions and absorption capacity, and to take actions that will help achieve the City's carbon emission reduction goals. So we can't apply that particular language to this project because we don't have any legal basis for doing such a thing. And I don't know if this is a large enough scale of a development to be, for that kind of language to be applicable even if we do move in that direction. But I .... I think we need to be moving in that direction, and to be This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 29 considering the .... this is consistent with what you said earlier, Bruce, to be considering the effects of proposed large-scale projects on future carbon emissions and absorption capacity, and so on. So I think there are good environmental features associated with this proposed rezoning and .... likewise there are affordable housing elements contained within it. It's not ideal, but it's somethin' I'm gonna support. Any other comments? Hearing none, uh... roll call please. Motion carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 30 ll.b. Vacation and Conveyance of right-of-way north of Benton St. off of Orchard Court — Resolution vacating and conveying approximately 4,482 square feet of right-of-way north of Benton Street west of Orchard Court to M&W Properties, subject to a utility easement. (VAC19-01) 1. Public hearing Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Danielle. Sitzman: Thank you, Mayor. This is the vacation that I referenced in the earlier presentation accompanying this application and conditioned upon it, the rezoning. Um, this exhibit shows the location of the area to be vacated. Um, the right-of- way is about 20 -feet wide on the east end off of Orchard Court and narrows to 10 - feet wide to its western terminus. Um, the area requested for vacation is, uh, 4,482 -square feet. As I said, the applicant intends to convert the right-of-way to part of their development, uh, intending to pave the area for a private drive for future .... the future multi -family development. Um, the applicant owns the majority of the property to the south of the subject property. Um, an analysis of a vacation requires six factors to be considered. Staff did walk through these, uh, factors in formulating their recommendation, uh, including the, um, access to, uh, the impact of vehicles and pedestrian circulation if the right-of-way, uh, were to be vacated. Currently the right-of-way does not support, um, vehicle or pedestrian traffic. It's overgrown and, um, not utilized as a street. Um, the impacts to emergency and utility vehicles were assessed. Essentially the replacement, uh, driveway, uh, would improve emergency vehicle access over what is currently provided. Um, the ac ... the impact to, um, adjacent private properties, staffs not aware of any properties currently using that right-of-way as their primary access or any significant access due to its condition. Um, as far as the desirability of the right-of-way for access deeds, um, as I said, uh, adjoining property owners do not use it, or do not appear to use it, and City staff has no plans for the improvement of that right-of-way for future road or alley. Um, the location of utilities and other facilities was investigated. There is one private utility, um, in that area. Um, unless the utility company decides to abandon that use, the City would need to retain, um, a utility easement over it to, uh, allow them to remain there. And then any other relevant factors pertaining to this. Um, the applicant has offered to purchase the area to be vacated, which, uh, would be a consideration for the City Council later. So in summary the subject right-of-way's not currently being used, not intended to be used by the City, and it provides an improved, uh, public, uh.... uh, safety feature, once it would be conveyed to the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 31 applicant for part of redevelopment. Um, there are no additional next steps after the consideration other than the conveyance. Um, so based on staffs analysis, they did recommend approval of this application, as did the Planning Commission at their May 16th meeting. That concludes my staff report! Throgmorton: Thank you, Danielle. Any questions for Danielle? Would anybody else like to address this topic? Seeing no one, I'm gonna ask Council Members whether they are inclined to vote in accordance with the Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation that we approve the rezoning. Or the, uh, the vacation and conveyance I should say. Thank you. Okay. So I'm gonna close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion please? 2. Consider a Resolution Mims: So moved. Thomas: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion caries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 32 ll.c. Rezoning at the Southwest Corner of E. 1st Street and S. Gilbert Street — Ordinance conditionally rezoning 0.20 acres of land located at the southwest corner of E. 1st St. and S. Gilbert St. from Intensive Commercial (CI -1) to Riverfront Crossings South Gilbert (RFC -SG) (REZ194) 1. Public hearing Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Say hi to Danielle again. Sitzman: Good evening again, Mayor! This is a second rezoning and an additional Riverfront Crossings zoning. This one is the, um, South Gilbert Street sub- district. The applicant is Randy Miller in this case, requesting a rezoning to Riverfront Crossings South, uh, Gilbert District, for a small portion of land adjacent to his other, uh, approved development called The Crossings. The white hatched square is a smaller property that was recently acquired by the applicant. Um, this shows the area in blue that is already being ... been rezoned to Riverfront Crossings South Gilbert Street District and is, uh, the site of The Crossings development, um, showing the location of the subject property in relationship to that. Um, this is a .... the plat exhibit as well showing the previously approved plat, uh, and the parcel, or the property that's proposed for rezoning at this time, in relation to that. Um, this would be combined into the third phase of The Crossings development, um, the Riverfront Crossings rezoning would allow for, uh, mixed use of the property, um, and .... would allow for a ..... development under the requirements of the south.... South Gilbert Street District. Um, a little bit of background on the South Gilbert District itself. It allows for a mix of commercial and residential uses, as I said. Um, the code does require retail along store frontages along South Gilbert Street. Um, also that the buildings be located close to and oriented towards South Gilbert Street. There are improvements to the streetscape that would come along with redevelopment of this property, and uh, the property to the south, which is already seeing some of that, uh, happen. Um, as we did again look at consistency with the comprehensive plan with this application as it is a rezoning. Again we looked to the Downtown and Riverfront Crossings master plan for comprehensive plan direction, um, and also to, um, the form based code again, since that's the implementation of this project. Um, the form based code, the property would be subject to the requirements of the form based code if it were to develop. It is shown, um, it was shown, uh, for inclusion and redevelopment ... redevelopment in that master plan. Again we looked at compatibility with the existing neighborhood. Um, it's again a small par ...part being included in the larger redevelopment, uh, which is already occurring. Um, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 33 the area is generally transitioning from a light industrial to, uh, general commercial and housing. Um, there are some.... developments already out of the ground and some that are, if you drive by, obviously under construction now. Did evaluate traffic and pedestrian circulation. Um, we have been requiring dedication of additional right-of-way along South Gilbert Street as part of redevelopment plans, um, in this corridor, and this parcel would be subject to that as well, and that would facilitate improvements to the streetscape, including improved sidewalks. Um, next steps, this fits into, uh, as I said, following the master plan and the form based code. This would be the rezoning to, uh, actually rezone the land to a Riverfront Crossings designation. Um, there is a plat that's following this application that's making its way to you through the Planning and Zoning Commission. After that would be completed, uh, then again site plan review and design review by staff, and eventual building permits. So based on staffs analysis, the proposed rezoning is consistent with the comprehensive plan, compatible or complementary with the existing neighborhood, would not overburden public facilities. Therefore staff did recommend approval, and the Planning Commission did as well at its May 16th meeting, to you. Um, also requiring a conditional zoning agreement for the two conditions that you see here, having to do with affordable housing and the dedication of right-of-way along South Gilbert Street. Again my understanding is they have signed that conditional, uh, zoning agreement! So that concludes staff report! Throgmorton: Thank you, Danielle. Any questions? Wow, you're gettin' off scot-free tonight! Okay, so I need to ask you again whether you are inclined to vote in accordance with the Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation to approve this rezoning. I'm seein' heads nodding yes. So I'm gonna close the public hearing, less anybody else wants to speak! I don't know if I asked that. Okay, I'm gonna close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion for first consideration please? 2. Consider an Ordinance (First Consideration) Teague: So moved. Thomas: So moved. Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Cole: I think it's really awesome to see this district continue to develop. Um, as she mentioned this was a light industrial district, which has its uses but it didn't really This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 34 make sense in that location. Um, it's just wonderful to see this whole Riverfront Crossings District redevelop in ... in this way, so I'm .... I'm glad to support this project. Thomas: Yeah, this .... this particular, um, rezoning will contribute to the construction of a .... a much improved South Gilbert Street too, so I think that's important to get these pieces assembled before we can move forward with that. Throgmorton: Anyone else? Cole: Maybe just a quick comment on the right-of-way. One of the long-term planning pieces we're doing with the right-of-way, at some point in the distant future is to look at potentially a protected bike lane. Nothing in particular, but um, that'd be in the very distant future, so that's something exciting to think about. Throgmorton: Yeah. If there's one thing about, uh, this particular, um, well my .... my attention's drawn to one particular feature of this proposed rezoning, and I'm going to support the rezoning, so not opposed to that. Uh, but I noticed that this particular Riverfront Crossings zone permits, uh, buildings up to six stories in height. That's the basic height limit, with a possible bonus up to a maximum of eight stories. This is an instance where I think the Riverfront Crossings height bonus .... yeah, base heights and height bonuses are just simply excessive and I .... I really believe and I've said this in various meetings in the past, that we need to revisit those height, those heights and height bonuses. At some point it'll be too late (laughs) but .... and.....and I'm confident that Randy Miller, uh, the developer is not intending to build structures as high, so I'm not gonna make a big stink out of it at this particular point, but just imagine eight story structures there. I .... I think they would be completely inappropriate for our city. Okay, so any other discussion? Hearing none .... roll call please. Motion carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 35 ll.e. Bluegrass Ridge — Preliminary Plat — Resolution approving Preliminary Plat of Bluegrass Ridge subdivision, a 13.76 -acre, 7 lot residential subdivision with one outlot located in unincorporated Johnson County, south of American Legion Road and West of Wapsie Avenue SE (SUB19-06) Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please? Teague: So moved. Mims: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Mims. Discussion? Danielle, are you gonna give us a little background please? Sitzman: Give ya.... yes, I'll give you the overview of this. This one has a name now — it's Bluegrass. It may look familiar to you when I show you the location and the layout. This was the, uh, Claude and Adam Greiner previously had come before you for rezoning. This is in one of our fringe areas and we considered at..it at that time. It's, uh, proceeded on to the platting stage with the County and so it's back before you for that consideration. It's a, as you said, a seven -lot residential subdivision. Um .... located, um, has been rezoned residential and is located in the county, um, growth area, uh, I'm sorry, fringe area B outside the growth area. Um, it's requested for the subdivision to accommodate, uh, seven -lot subdivision I said — sorry — and has been reviewed according to our fringe area agreement for such areas. This shows the layout of that, um, subdivision. Um, it will create three new streets, each of which will conform to the City's rural design standards, um, and so that it's not seven lots with seven driveways onto the main street. Um, because it's in the county, water and sewer will be provided privately. They will be, um, individual lot septic system and, um, they will share a well. And that is reviewed according to the County's regulations. Um, as far as next steps go, um ....uh, this will then be recommended to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors for their final determination. Um, based on the policies outlined in the fringe area agreement, staff did recommend approval of the application as did the Planning Commission at its June 6th meeting, and I think that concludes my report! Cole: So these are one -acre lots, correct? Sitzman: They range between one to one and a half acres, yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 36 Throgmorton: Any other questions for Danielle? About how far outside of Iowa City city limits is it, do you know? Sitzman: It says it's outside of the growth boundary. I'm not sure I can give you the exact, um, mileage (mumbled) measured that. Throgmorton: Okay. Sitzman: It's within the two mile boundary, but outside the.... Fruin: The staff report has 1.76 miles east of the eastern city limits. Sitzman: There you go! Throgmorton: Good, thanks! Okay. Uh, anyone else want to address this topic? Hi, there, how are you? Landau: Hello. Good. Throgmorton: Thanks for your patience. Landau: Thank you. My name is Gina Landau. I represent Claude and Adam Greiner. I am from MMS Consultants. Um, this is a county subdivision so it does look a little bit different than you are used to for a city subdivision. We planned ahead for lots purposefully to be over one acre. Um mainly because if people are looking for lots in the county, if they would like to build a home in the county, they are looking for over one acre. It's very hard to market lots less than that in the county. Um, along with that we have to plan ahead for not only the home, construction, driveway, we have to plan for a septic system and an alternative see ....septic system. Septic systems usually last about 20 years, somewhere around in there. So, you know, we all know that we wanna be in our home longer than that. So we have to have an alternative area for that septic system. So that is.... that's a huge reason as to why the lots are larger, as well as if you're going to develop, you want to be able to sell your lots. So over one acre to 1.2, 1.25 acre, those are very marketable right now. Um, we do have, and you can't see farther south on the plat, we have accounted for storm water management, uh, drainage calculations are being configured. There will be a very nice pond south. So I don't know if you could put the (laughs) plat up again. Um, so outlot A to the east will have a dry detention basin on it. There's not enough water that drains that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 37 way for us to have anything wet or any water feature or anything, but directly south, so on the southwest side, there will be a nice water, you know, pond basically. It's a wet detention basin, pond. So basically Claude Greiner owns the 40 acres south of this. He has given us approval to put the pond and to do storm water management on that 40 acres. The intention on that 40 acres is still to row crop it on the areas where we're not putting the pond, of course, but that will accommodate all of the storm water management that we have for these seven lots. Uh, sensitive areas study has been completed. Archaeology study has been completed, per the Johnson County ordinances. Um, so we have followed those rules as well. Um .... like I said, this is a county subdivision, although there are over 80 homes in this area right in that area just slight of two miles outside of the City of Iowa City. So it's a nice little residential area. Cole: Is it walkable or bikable to any services, such as .... entertainment or anything (both talking) Landau: ....1.76 miles so you'd have to do the 1.76 miles just to get to the City of Iowa City, which is basically (mumbled) where that school is, the new elementary school is. So we are on the outer part of the fringe. Um .... I would say not really right now, although American Legion Road, which is where this is, is going to have a brand new widening, um, bike lane, everything like that in 2022 is what secondary roads has planned for that. So that might .... that might change. It sure might, as well as the City, of course, will extend out farther. So it .... that .... that will definitely change. Throgmorton: Thank you, Gina. Landau: Thank you! Throgmorton: Anyone else? All right, seeing no one, Council discussion? Cole: Well I'm actually opposed to this project. Um, we've had a long discussion tonight about, uh, our climate change and our climate action, and part of that is having, uh, reducing auto dependence, and part of that is .... is reducing trips for goods and services, and encouraging walkability. Obviously in the rural areas, this is outside the city limits, it's a little bit different. You're not gonna have the same density, but this is precisely the sort of low-density, exorbitant development that facilitates excessive auto dependency, um, so I can't support this project. I mean even at the preliminary plant stage, uh, that's gonna be my position. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 38 Throgmorton: Okay. Anyone else? Mims: I'm gonna support this. I think there's... you know, a lot of areas in the county that it makes sense for some residential development, um, not everybody wants to live in a city. Um, you know, the .... the amount of traffic obviously depends upon people's lifestyles and families or not families and where they work or don't work, etc. Um .... but I think .... and I would agree that the marketability out in the county, people who do want to live out there do want some space and do tend to want, you know, an acre or more of land. Um, so even if it was, you know, seven houses on two acres, that's, you know, that's not addressing the transportation issues, but not everybody wants to live in Iowa City or in North Liberty or whatever, and so I think you already have, you know, a lot of residential out there and to add this in that same area I think makes perfect sense. Throgmorton: Ot.... other comments? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 5-1. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 39 ILL Conditional Use Permit 4059 Izaak Walton League Road SE —A recommendation to the Johnson County Board of Adjustment regarding a Conditional Use Permit for 4059 Izaak Walton League Road SE (CU19-01) Throgmorton: I must say this is the first time I think I've encountered a, uh, a recommendation concerning Johnson County's Board of Adjustment (laughs) but there you go! Could I have a motion to approve please? Cole: So moved. Teague: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Cole, seconded by Teague. Discussion? Danielle. Sitzman: So as the Mayor said, this is a very rare application. It is subject to the County's, uh, process for reviewing these, which does indicate it needs to come to the City Council, uh, to make a recommendation to the .... to them. It's located in our fringe area agreement, uh, under Area C, outside of the City's growth boundary is the location of the current, um.....sand mining and gravel mining, I believe it is, location, um, and the applicant in this case is S&G Materials and they're requesting for a conditional use permit, uh, basically a change to their existing permit that they have with the County. Um, the request, um, they have a history of establishing this use there under their conditional use permit, dating back to 2000, with some changes over the years. Um, the requested change tonight is to, um, alter their hours of operation. Um, currently they operate, um, 7:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday. They're asking to increase that to 7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M., uh, during March through April, and October through December. Um, essentially to respond to the need, um, for, um .... additional materials occasionally for floods and severe weather events. Um, during their operation they say they use an electric dredge and one large front end -loader on that, on the site. Um, to date the City does not have any concerns about the current operation. We've not heard any complaints. There are existing conditions on that conditional use permit that they already have that will be carried for.... forward, um, so those will continue to govern their operations as well. Um, because the property's not within the City's growth area and it's not likely to be annexed into the City, we don't have any concerns, as I said. In addition to not receiving any complaints about the operation. Here's an overview of their operation essentially, um, if you are interested in the layout. It's not open to the public, so um .... should not impact anyone there. This would be a letter of recommendation going to the Johnson This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 40 County Board of Adjustment. Um, so the staff did base their analysis on that fringe area agreement and, um, and recommended approval, uh, as did the Planning Commission, uh, to you tonight! And that concludes my staff report. Throgmorton: Okie dokie. Anyone else want to address this topic? Thank you, Danielle. Hey, Liz! You again! Maas: I am Liz Maas. I'm with Transition Ecology. S&G is my client. I'm their consultant on this, uh, application. Um, this, uh.....spring my client called me actually and said what's the weather gonna be like, and I said what do you mean, and he said well it's flooding in western Iowa. Is it gonna flood here, and I said well I don't know (laughs) Um, he said because we don't have enough sand, to make sand bags or HESCO barriers. Um, because the winter was such a horrible, long lasting winter, uh, again climate issues, right? Here we're back to the same topic, right? Um .... uh, the .... the sand that had been mined previously had to be used and distributed for both County and City municipal uses on roads, and so the extension of the hours is just to provide a little bit of a buffer zone, um, in....in their ability to be able to actually mine materials so that it's available for the reasons that we need it, especially those weather-related ones. It's challenging to mine at the end of the year, when the water is frozen. They have a floating dredge. If the water's frozen, they can't mine, and then in the spring if the water's really high, they actually can't mine either because they can't get their equipment in and around where they need to be able to operate. Um, so this is trying to build some of that resiliency in and planning ahead for almost more from an emergency management situation than anything. It would, so the regular hours of operation, it's not gonna change the amount of truck traffic that's on the road. Um, I know there's sometimes a concern with that. It would only, um, change just two people, one guy drivin' a load and one guy tannin' the dredge for a couple of hours, um, longer each day during these periods of time. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you, Liz. Anyone else? All right, seeing no one else, Council discussion? Mims: Sounds reasonable! Throgmorton: I think I'm hearing a lot of silent dittos (laughs) Not that I've ever heard a silent ditto before but.... All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 41 12. Riverfront Crossings Park, Phase 4 — Resolution approving project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the Riverfront Crossings Park, Phase 4 Project, establishing amount of bid security to accompany each bid, directing City Clerk to post notice to bidders, and fixing time and place for receipt of bids. 1. Public hearing Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Hi, Juli! Seydell-Johnson: Good evening, uh, more exciting news about Riverfront Crossings. This is phase four of construction. Um, can't resist showing you the grand opening flyer. Make sure you tell all your friends and family — July 20th the grand opening. Um, this phase four of the project happens here within the traffic circle. So for the grand opening, and now when you're out there, it's a big green open space. Uh, we have a really, uh, intriguing idea to get it updated, um, and at the same time relocate the Snelson sculpture from Terrell Mill Park and now my computer is saying 'hold on, we're updating,' so (laughs) you have pictures in your packet. It moves the sculpture, the, um, four modular piece structure to the park, elevates it up on pillars at the, um, north end of the traffic circle. It provides with a wall that will provide the main signage for the park entrance, and kind of ...and dress up that front entrance to the park, um, along with a walkway path and some seating and landscaping, uh, in that traffic circle area. Um, part of this is funded through, um, the public art in lieu fees provided by the developer at 707 S. Dubuque Street, and I'm sorry I can't bring up the rest of the pictures (laughs) but it's really neat! (laughs) Throgmorton: So do you have a recalcitrant computer up there, huh? Seydell-Johnson: Yeah I think now it's gonna let me go. Yep, there we go. So there's the photo of it. Um, work would not start until after the July 20th grand opening. The last thing we wanna do is have that all torn up, uh, for the grand opening. It will take place through the fall, construction will, um, that will mean some closing of the park entrance at points during the construction. So, um .... that's kind of a down side. We'll get the new park open and then have to close the parking lot for four or five days at a time, but um, we'll work with the contractor on that. So ... I can answer any questions. Mims: Just excited to keep it moving! See more advancements there. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 42 Thomas: Was .... was it always intended to be elevated like that, or is that..... Seydell-Johnson: It is. If you, uh, if you do a computer, uh, internet search of Kenneth Snelson's work, uh, most of his sculptures are elevated. So I don't know the original intent of this particular piece, but this fits with most of his, the rest of his artwork. So.... Throgmorton: Okie dokie. Thank you, Juli. Anyone else want to address this topic? Seeing no one else I'm going to close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion please? 2. Consider a Resolution Teague: So moved. Thomas: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Thomas: Well it seems like this piece has finally found a final home (laughs) Throgmorton: So I ... I do wanna mention a few things. Maybe this is really for Geoff what I'm gonna say now. Uh, several.... well, part of it's for everybody, but several days ago, uh, when the Iowa Flood Center was having its 10th birthday over at the hydrological laboratory, I ran into Senator Rob Hogue, and he was one of the people who spoke, and he asked me whether we had any (laughs) I don't know why he asked, but whether we had any projects that we would want to point to as really successful flood recovery projects. Of course I said yes we do, absolutely. And I mentioned the grand openings we have in mind for Riverfront Crossings Park and for the Gateway project, and he said, 'Please invite .... make sure I'm invited for that.' But that makes me think also that if: ... if we haven't already got this in mind, we should invite Governor Reynolds, maybe, uh, well our local legislative delegation for sure, and Representative Loebsack's office for sure, but maybe .... some other key, uh, House and Senate people, in terms of the State House and Senate, like chairman of. ... chairpersons of committees or whatever, but definitely Governor Reynolds. Fruin: Okay! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 43 Throgmorton: I mean I (laughs) I'm just speakin' for myself here. I don't know if, you know, the Council's gotta support (mumbled) Okay. Uh, beyond that.....lookin' forward to further progress and happy to see this. Okay, any further discussion? No, uh, roll call please. Motion carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 44 13. Rochester Avenue Sidewalk Infill — Resolution approving project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the Rochester Avenue Sidewalk Infill Project, establishing amount of bid security to accompany each bid, directing City Clerk to post notice to bidders, and Fixing time and place for receipt of bids. 1. Public hearing Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Is anybody from staff gonna address this? I don't think it's necessary but I was just wondering if somebody was going to. Ron? Hi, Ron! Knoche: Good evening, Ron Knoche, Public Works Director. Uh, this will install a four - foot wide sidewalk on the north side of Rochester, uh, from St. Thomas Court, um, to our ground storage reservoir. Um, it's a four -foot wide sidewalk. Um, it's a piece that had come up on our infill program. Uh, we have had a neighborhood meeting. Uh, there's four properties that are impacted, um, and they were all onboard with the installation. Throgmorton: Great! Knoche: Thank you. Throgmorton: Thanks! Uh, anyone else want to address this topic? Seeing no one, I'm gonna close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion to approve the motion please? 2. Consider a Resolution Mims: So moved. Thomas: Second. Throgmorton: Move, uh, what did I say? Motion to approve the motion? Oh well! All right, uh, moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Thomas: Well this is a nice.... important infill project and I'm happy that, uh, the four residents, uh, supported it. Sometimes it seems ... we don't get that kind of support. Throgmorton: Indeed! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 45 Mims: Especially when they have to now start doing snow removal! (several responding and laughing) Thomas: ....long frontages (both talking) Mims: They probably do! Throgmorton: No further discussion? Roll call please. Motion carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 46 14. 2019 Asphalt Resurfacing — Resolution approving project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the Asphalt Resurfacing 2019 Project, establishing amount of bid security to accompany each bid, directing City Clerk to post notice to bidders, and fixing time and place for receipt of bids. 1. Public hearing Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Not seeing anyone I'm going to close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion to approve the resolution please? 2. Consider a Resolution Mims: So moved. Teague: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Teague. Discussion? Mims: Well it's always good to get more of these projects done and I'm looking forward, and I think we all are, to the study that's gonna give us a better, uh, plan of where we're gonna do road repairs and asphalt overlays, to .... the biggest complaint I continue to hear is .... is our streets, is the condition of our streets. And so to .... to get a plan in place and figure out the financing so that we can really, uh, work on improving the streets across the city, that's obviously no criticism of our staff. It's just getting the money and the planning and resources, uh, in place so that we can do it on a little more frequent and/or expeditious, uh, process. So.... Throgmorton: Any other discussion? Thomas: Uh, now one of these projects, Jim, you had mentioned I think at our last meeting, uh, would entail removing parking. Was this, uh, am I ..... am I getting this (both talking) Throgmorton: That's right. It was, uh, South Governor Street, uh, one .... two blocks of South Governor or something like that. Reichart: Uh, Jason Reichart, Engineering. Yeah, uh, the current plan sheet for the pavement markings on Dodge show, uh, a buffered bike lane as well, and we have discussed internally, uh, including the .... the recommendations of the bike master This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 47 plan and a buffered bike lane on Governor as well. Uh, that would be subject to an upcoming, uh, public meeting that we're gonna have to kind of discuss the removal of parking and .... and kind of based on how that goes we'll, uh, determine how we move forward with those improvements. Throgmorton: Okay. So actions not gonna be taken on that particular street segment (both talking) after you have the conversation. Then see (both talking) Reichart: Yeah, exactly, and it had shown..... it's shown in the current Dodge Street plan, uh, that's included in the plans that are approved tonight, but again subject to, um, to that public hearing, but those improvements are consistent with the bike master plan improvements. So.... Thomas: Would ... would you happen to know if. ... when the bike master plan was being developed if. ... if that was discussed specifically with respect to the loss of parking? Frain: (several talking) There's really not room to do both, so that woulda been part of that discussion, um...... Thomas: And there wasn't any, at that time anyway, any .... any (both talking) Frain: No, but there wasn't necessarily an effort to go and reach out to residents. So unless they were engaged because of their interest in the bike plan, they probably don't know. Thomas: Okay. Fruin: Which is why we need to go through the public meeting process. Thomas: Okay. Tbrogmorton: Great. Thanks, Jason. Reichart: Thank you. Throgmorton: Okay. Any further discussion? Thomas: Well I'm glad that was cleared up, because I (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Throgmorton: ... thanks, I'd, uh, that slipped my mind. Okay, hearing no further discussion, roll call please. Motion carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 49 15. Hate Crime — Ordinance amending Title 8, entitled "Police Regulations," Chapter 5, entitled "Miscellaneous Offenses" to add Hate Crime as a criminal offense. (Second Consideration) Mims: Move second consideration. Thomas: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Teague: I wanna move that the rule requirin' the ordina.....that ordinances must be considered and voted on for the passage at two Council meetings prior to the meetin' at which it is to be finally passed.... passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time. Throgmorton: Sue, is it okay to do it in that sequence? Dulek: Right. It .... probably the first motion needs to be (both talking) Throgmorton: Rescinded? Dulek: Yes! Throgmorton: Yeah, and then we'll (both talking) so would that be all right with you (several talking) Yeah, would you both (several talking) to rescinding.... that first motion? Mims: Yes! Throgmorton: Okay, so we have this motion to .... what's the term, um..... Mims: Condense. Throgmorton: Condense the (several talking) Okay, and it was moved by Teague, seconded by.....anybody here? Mims: Second. Throgmorton: Seconded by Mims. All right, discussion? On the motion to condense readings of...the second and third readings. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 50 Mims: I don't have any problem with it. I think certainly this has gotten very wide public support, um, I think it's gotten wide support from, you know, from the Council. Typically, uh, the issues where we do not, uh.... entertain a motion to condense is where there is some controversy or, um, a feeling that there hasn't maybe been enough public information out there. Um, I think certainly with our last meeting, um, and some of the press coverage, I think people have an opportunity... have had an opportunity to really learn about this. Um, so I have no problem, um, with our condensing the second and third readings. Throgmorton: Any other comment? I can say I received one fairly angry phone call about a week ago. But that's it. And I've heard from, uh, one of our local reporters that there's been active discussion. Mark .... no, I can't ask you that. Never mind. I .... I heard that there was some active discussion but maybe I'm confusing this topic with some other topic. So let me just, uh, withdraw what I just said. Uh, anybody else wanna say anything else? Okay, I .... I see no reason not to condense the readings. Okay, so there's a motion on the floor. Uh, we need a roll call on this, don't we? Uh, okay, so roll call please. Motion carries 6-0. So now we need the .... why don't you go ahead and make the (both talking) Mims: Move final consideration. Cole: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Cole. Discussion? It could be .... I know there's some people who've been waiting. I should give them a chance to express a view at this point, if they want to. Morgan: It's horrible when you have to fight with a reverend to speak first (laughter) Good evening, my name is Jeffrey Morgan and, uh, to .... tonight I'm, uh, privileged to be speaking on behalf of IC Compassion. Uh, I know some of you are very familiar with, uh, IC Compassion, but for those of you that aren't, it's a nationally registered immigration center. We offer many, many community services, like a Wednesday night community meal, ESL, and citi .... citizenship classes, sewing classes. Uh, we have a free legal clinic every week, and we have two, uh, food pantries that operate at least two times a week. So we're definitely a community outreach organization. And one thing that we recognize, as I'm sure that you all know, if that Iowa City is a city of diversity and that's what makes us shine as a community, and as .... one of the previous speakers, Liz, alluded to, uh, we're seeing a lot more, uh, influx of immigrants, refugees, and people that maybe look This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 51 a little differently than we do, and I think that's great, and .... one of IC Compassion's goals is to reach out to the community to welcome them, uh... inside our doors and to make a presence within Iowa City. Uh, we are also partners with the Church of the Nazarene, who has a multi -cultural, uh, congregation. We have six different congregations. Uh, we have a community and open door, which involves people of all colors and ethnicities and economic backgrounds; and a Hispanic congregation, two African congregations, a Chinese congregation, uh, to .... to name just a few. But ..... and I heartily invite you. Twice a year we have, uh, all the congregations together for a meal. I have never ever tasted such good food, and I welcome you, uh, and invite you to the next time that happens, because you will not regret it. I .... I believe that. Um .... on the weekend of March 2nd, uh.... our compassionate ministry center and, uh, church was, uh.... assaulted, if that's the word, with graffiti, uh, with Nazi symbols and, uh, slogans that slurred one of our .... our, both of our African congregations and the people that, uh.....attend our church and our community center. Uh, we were rocked to our core. Because as we open our doors to the community, anyone can walk in, but to come in the cover of night and deface our building and to frighten our people, that's unacceptable. Uh.... we ..... we didn't know what to do. We were torn. We got to .... got to work and we cleaned up the vandalism, uh, because of wonderful people who at the interfaith, uh, community; uh, we had a community vigil, uh, where over 200 people attended and expressed their solidarity that this kind of hatred in Iowa City can't stand. Uh, this was not a drunken prank done by teenagers or college students or, uh, people who are just bored and wanted to do something. This was an intended attack on a culture. Um, in reading this, uh, ordinance, uh, IC Compassion, uh, feels very strongly that it should be passed. We appreciate the Council's support with this. Um, stepping aside in my role as .... as Chairperson of the Board of IC Compassion and talking as private citizen Jeffrey Morgan, uh, I do .... I am troubled by the distinction on the third page of the, uh, comments, where it says that, uh, it would be, for example, sharing investigation, evidence supporting the citation, allow for the prosecution of a person with the intent to intimidate, annoy, threaten, or alarm without legitimate purpose, places a hateful note on the door of another because the person is African American. That's the spirit of the ordinance. I have no problem with that. The next part is .... I would not, for example, prohibit that the placement of a'it's okay to be white' sticker, uh, posting pillar downtown or on leaflets spread through the neighborhood. The latter is protected speech under the First Amendment. I get it. Free .... free speech is.....is so important to this country and our community. However, I think you have to look at intent. You have .... there has been, uh, much public discussion and, uh, in the news about leaflets that were included in the Little Village, uh, newspaper. It did not say, uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 52 that it was .... it was okay to be white. It said to, uh, love your race, and the sponsors of that were a neo-Nazi organization. If you want it .... free speech is fine, but you have to think about intent. What was the intent of this? What is the intent of. ... of the national alliance? It's to spread fear. It's to spread discomfort, and make people of. ... of different nationalities, different ethnicities, different cultures feel uncomfortable in their home community. And so .... even though it might not be included in this ordinance as written, I would just ask that going forward and looking at some of these things as they happen to take maybe a closer look about revising that. Thank you for your time. Throgmorton: Thank you, Jeffrey. Uh, Jeffrey, please do informally invite us to that, uh, the next multi -congregational event that you just described. Yeah. Thanks. Anyone else? Smith: Uh, Pastor Anthony Smith, uh, New Creations International Church. I'm also the Chair of Johnson County Interfaith, uh, Coalition. Uh, first of all I wanna thank .... thank you for comin' and supporting, uh, supporting the ordinance. Thank you, um, Iowa City, and, uh, Council.... City Council. Thank everyone that has, uh, that has .... that has supported Iowa City Police Department. Um, it's, um .... it's ..... it's a must -have. I, uh.... um.....I don't know if I said the last time that I stood up here that our .... our church also is a, uh, we hold a .... an African, uh, congregation. We have our .... our, uh, non -denominational congregation, and at .... and at the time, uh, we had a Hispanic congregation in our .... in our building, and we had a instance where a, um, a individual who we didn't catch came and defecated in our .... in our lower level. The same instance that happened at the.... at the, uh, at the mosque. And so we know that there's.... that that hate is.....is.... is out there. And, uh, and uh.... I ...... I believe that this ordinance is putting, uh, is putting our .... our best foot in the right direction. There's more that we can do. There's more education that we have to do. There's more things that we .... that we have to do, but this .... this ordinance is putting .... is putting our.....our best foot forward. It's our best first step, and .... and I would encourage the Council to continue to .... to look at and work with us and ... and let's just work together as a community, as we have in the past, to work on other measures that will .... that will, uh, discourage, uh, the.... these.....these motivations of hate in our city. Thank you! Throgmorton: Thank you so much. Anyone else? Pries: I'm Mark Pries. Uh, resident of Iowa City. Bruce, I just wanna thank you for condensing this. And to help us all understand how expeditious we need to be This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 53 about this. I was with Pastor Anthony Smith, how long ago was it when we met and prayed and just remembered. It was the ground swell of what became Johnson County Interfaith Coalition. Um, and I really appreciate your ears and eyes and awareness and quick action. Thanks so much! Throgmorton: Thanks, Mark. Anyone else? All right, seeing no one, Council discussion? I'm really excited to be able to support this ordinance. Very pleased to be able to do it. It .... it's just, uh, it's heartbreaking to see the kinds of actions that....lead us to be, feel like we need to adopt this kind of ordinance. You'd like to think that there weren't such people in our city, but there are and there are people outside our city who come here to kind of. ... jerk us around (laughs) and scare us, make us afraid. Uh, but we aren't, so I'm really pleased to be able to support this ordinance. Roll call please. Motion carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 54 16. Deer Management Plan — Resolution Approving the Long -Term Deer Management Plan for the Years 2019 to 2024. Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please? Teague: So moved. Cole: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Cole. Is anybody gonna make any kind of presentation, Geoff? (laughter) Fruin: We can just (both talking) Throgmorton: Just very briefl Fruin: ....a.....a very brief overview. This is, uh, the result of a work session that you had earlier this year. A quick reminder, we did go to the Natural Resources Commission twice last year in 2018 for a request to thin the deer population. Both of those requests were denied. Uh, we are prepping to go back in July for a third request, and uh, the plan that you have outlined, um, combines one year of sharp shooting, uh, one season of sharp shooting, probably a couple of different, um, times within that, uh, season. Uh, followed by four years of non -lethal management. Uh, the plan was put together from staff with City Attorney's office and the Police Department, and we had, um, some really extraordinary help from the Iowa City Deer Friends in compiling, uh, the non -lethal strategies, uh, that you see contained in the plan. So we'd be happy to try to answer any questions that you have. We're looking for your approval. After we get your approval, we will formally submit it to the State and then, uh, again ask for their approval in July. Throgmorton: Okie dokie. Uh, would anyone like to address this topic? Dieterle: I'm Caroline Dieterle. Uh, and I (clears throat) think that the principle objection I have to this is that in a sense this plan is not managing the population. What it does is it lets the deer repopulate after the sharp shooting of this coming winter. I really don't expect the, uh, Commission to approve this, because .... it isn't management. It's more or less toleration, and I really don't understand, um, why the staff, the poor staff, was put in the position of having to write this policy or this plan, um, which is sure to fail. Uh, it's a lot of wasted time and I think that I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 55 find it .... hard to understand why the people in charge here don't understand that there's more at, you know, at stake here than whether cars get hit or deer get hit by cars, and uh, the so-called landscaping. Um, I .... I don't wonder ...I wonder whether any of you have looked into the biology of prions that are causing the cervid wasting disease, because if you did, and if you read the, urn .... web site that 1, that was manag... that was mentioned in the op-ed that I helped write for the Press -Citizen, um, of the Veterinary Association's, you know, take on what deer can carry in terms of diseases and the vectors that go with it. You would agree with me that something has to be done, even if you don't care about the under - story vegetation in the parks, which is another issue. The bare -faced fact is that the numbers of deer must be reduced! And the only way to do that is to kill some! That's the long and short of it. And until we kill some, we're not going to be successful in doing anything for the public health threats that are presented by these deer! And I really urge you to take the time to look at these references and rethink this issue, and come up with another plan. I have here on my phone (clears throat) you know, a letter from somebody who lives in Ames, who is another person who's a biology person, and at Ames they have got, um, both, uh, shar.... shotgun shooting and, um, bow hunting, and they kill a lot of deer, and they manage the situation. We have let things get so far out of hand that I think that we must use sharp shooting, but after that we could have the combination of shooting and bow .... bow hunting, both, and propose that to the... Commission and cite the plan for Ames, uh, and ask why they can't give us the same plan that Ames is (mumbled) is able to take. I don't think that anybody has really looked (mumbled) from anybody, any kind of statistics, about how many, you know, cities in Iowa are .... managing their deer populations by hunting and in what way, to find out how many are really satisfied with bow hunting. I think someone just saying so, you know, isn't the same thing as having the statistics of actually.... the numbers. We don't have the numbers for the number of deer there are in Iowa either, nor do we know, you know, how many bow hunters are licensed, or how much money they make from the licenses. But I'm here to tell you that if nothing is done about the cervid wasting disease, there soon will be no hunting licenses because we'll simply be out there trying to kill as many as possible, to prevent this disease going any farther. So I urge you to redo this and come up with a realistic plan to reduce the numbers, and I know there are people in town who don't want to kill anything, but this just not is a realistic attitude in this situation. Thank you. Throgmorton: Thank you, Caroline. Anyone else want to address this? (laughter, please talking in background) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 56 Irish: Erin Irish, Iowa City. You might recall that I spoke the last time we discussed this, and I wanted to start by taking a little bit of a perspective. Since I served on the committee that did consider this last year, um, and when we were.... after the first, uh, application was denied, and.....and we were charged with coming, having, uh, input. So I think we were a little bit blindsided by the change in the makeup of the NRC, the group that grants permits because in the past sharp shooting was fine, and so we operated with the assumption that sharp shooting, if we choose to manage deer population, would be something that would work, and so the public hearing that we had was built around that assumption. We had Tony DeNicola, this expert who did the sharp shooting before, come in and give a very detailed, um, presentation where he talked about various means, saying that sterilization, technology's not quite there, sharp shooting in his view was far more humane than bow hunting, but I think that there might have been a little bit of a conflict of interest. Now he claimed that he was making enough money, he didn't need our business, he would be fine if we chose not to hire him, but I still felt like the .... the conversation was directed toward sharp shooting or not controlling, and there was not a formal count of the kinds of comments that we got from the public, but I think that the committee, when we met again afterwards, uh, pretty much agreed that it was 3-1 in favor of controlling the deer, and you know, the, really the only way that .... that was presented was through sharp shooting, and then so that was what the application was. But if we had had, um, a maybe a more balance presentation, where we had bow hunting and actual data to say how effective it would be, then I think that the ... we would have been able to tease out a little bit of the attitude of, um, sharp shooting versus bow hunting versus leave the poor animals alone would have been, we would have gotten a clear (mumbled) um .... uh, assessment, because I feel like there's .... we have these two choices. We either don't kill any animals or we are forced to abide by the new set of rules that we have with that current, um, committee. Now the .... the, I wanna point out that that committee's, uh, membership changes every year or two years. There's new people appointed to that. So it could be that right now bow hunting is something that they, like that's the only way that we're going to be allowed to kill a deer, but in future years, and they want a long-term management plan, in future years they might have a different view where sharp shooting would be something that would be permitted, but ... um, I don't know if you had a chance to look at the numbers that I figured out a couple days ago. Two things, if we take ... if we are successful by having a couple rounds of sharpshooting and this winter, and get, actually get numbers down to 10 per square mile, which is a pretty.... pretty substantial goal, um, and then not do anything, and I .... so I just, you know, back of an old envelope I calculated. So if you have five .... if you have 10 deer, five of 'em are does, they're already pregnant, so they.... because they're reproductively This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 57 competent at year one. So .... so right away, so we will have five fawns in the spring and assuming conservatively two of them are females and so now we have seven females per square mile, and so you can go through that and by year five, we have 69 deer per square mile. So we're back to the same overpopulation we have right now. So I .... I understand that there was the sentiment that we need to come up with a non -lethal, um, strategy, but I'm completely with Caroline in saying why waste everyone's time? Let's be sensible about this and come up with a plan that we know from previous conversations with the current commission that.... committee, that ... that, of. ... (mumbled) doing something that they would, um, that they would approve, and the second calculation I did was thinking about.... because one of the measures was we put up fences, or you give us advice on how we could put up our own fences, and I have a little lot in town. It's on 90 X 100, and even if I just did the parameter, plus I went around the outside of my driveway, so my car could get to the garage and back, that's 420 ... uh, feet of fencing and the internet tells me a cheap fence, um, average $25 a foot, that's $10,000 for a cheap, pine fence that I would have to paint every year, and that's .... so, you know, my block alone would.....would cover the cost of sharp shooting for a year. So sharp shooting sounded expensive until I started calculating how much that cost is transferred to each of the citizens who want to protect their gardens. So, I'll stop here. Throgmorton: Uh, Erin, I .... excuse me, I'd like to ask you a question. Irish: I forgot to write my name! Throgmorton: What I hear you saying is .... pitch the proposed deer plan, toss it out the window. Irish: Uh huh. Throgmorton: All right. Do you see any way it could be altered to, uh.....help ensure that the deer population does not suddenly grow back to the (both talking) Irish: One idea I had was to, um, work with the DNR to have .... to increase the amount of hunting in the perimeter of Iowa City, like give out .... the City could buy some deer tags, so that a deer hunter who wants to take more than one animal, what might be encouraged to hunt around here and that at least could just draw some of the animals from the perimeter, you know, decrease that population, there would probably be some exodus into now that cleared space, but ... I .... I have no problem with an urban bow hunt either. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 58 Throgmorton: Okay. Thank you. Hi there! Svymkowiak: Hi. I'm .... my name is Gene Svymkowiak, um, a couple things, uh, just to the City Manager. Um, why were we denied on the previous plans that we submitted? To the State? Fruin: A general adversion to sharp shooting from the Natural Resources Commission. Svymkowiak: So ... they .... they.....and what was their, did they give you a plan? Cause I'm confused why this group, um, has a say in how we manage our deer here, yet they don't give us a plan. So do you understand how that works, and is there anybody on the Council from our vicinity, from this neck of the woods? Dulek: Hi, I was at both the meetings. The seven members, um, you can find their names and addresses on the .... on their web site. I .... I ..... (both talking) that I think is in the Cedar Rapids, the corridor for example, area. Um, that I recall but I don't wanna quote that for sure. But .... under State law, um, it's the Commission that, uh, has to give authority to .... to shoot the deer, or to .... to bow hunt. And so if the City wants to engage in sharp shooting, we must get their permission, and, uh, as Geoff indicated, they would not agree to that without a bow hunt. Uh, that's... Svymkowiak: So the bow hunt was the sticking point. Dulek: Yeah, that seemed to be the bow .... that seemed to be the sticking point. Yes. Svymkowiak: Did they give you any numbers on other towns for.....so for my understanding, um, Coralville has a bow hunt. Dulek: Yes! Svymkowiak: And I talked to John Lundell and he said they've never had any complaints or problems. I also contacted some .... one of the members of the council. They're very difficult to get ahold of. They don't answer your emails. Um, but the one person I did get to talk to, uh, said ... I asked are there complaints, um, in Ames and Des Moines and all the areas that I think .... how many were there (turning away from mic) There's 102 of these things going on with bow hunting in the state. They have .... he said they had no complaints. Did any of you guys verify that or talk to any of the surrounding areas that have bow hunts? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 59 Dulek: Captain Campbell spoke (speaking away from mic, several talking in background) I .... Captain Cam.... Captain Campbell spoke with people in Cedar Rapids and Coralville, and the, uh, indication he received from both those cities that there were not, uh (both talking) Svymkowiak: Okay. All right, so just getting back to .... to a.....a couple things. Um, I'm a veterinarian and what, uh, Caroline was talking about, um, the science is sort of out on .... on chronic wasting, but the one thing they do know is that when you have a high density of deer, um, it's spread from the urine. The prions are .... are ....are spread in the urine, and it is a possibility that that could develop in the herd. Um, whether it jumps to humans or not, who knows. So that's just something that's possible, but by us having a high density here, we're contributing to the problem that the whole state will have, and I .... and I guess the DNR could, you know, address that. But I think we do need to keep the population down, not have it go down to 10 per square mile and then jump up over four years and whack it back down. I think we gotta knock the level down and then do something to maintain it. I don't know the numbers on bow hunting, how that maintains it. And I'd like to see those before we put the proposal and find out why we have to abide by these Council rules. I mean it's just (mumbled) like Erin said, they're gonna change every few years. Um, the other thing with other diseases are transmitted, um, if you put a fence around your yard, like Erin wants to do. I don't want it (laughs) urn .... you can stop the deer, but you do not stop the rodents from entering your property and allowing the lyme ticks to come into your yard and infect your pets and people. We have both lyme and something called anaplasmosis in this area. It's very prevalent out at Kent Park. Um, serious illness in some people. Dogs, I'd say, uh, maybe 25% of dogs that get infected will show disease. Humans it's a little bit higher, but some people respond very, very poorly (both talking) Throgmorton: Excuse me, we .... we need to have a limit on the amount of time individuals (both talking) Svymkowiak: Okay! But I'm just....okay, so the point is that this is not (both talking) Throgmorton: Be very precise, please. Svymkowiak: It's not just a predation on a .... on our flora, um, but it's also a public health problem and you know in addition to car accidents and that sort of thing, you know, cause I can't find how many deer were killed in car accidents in Iowa City. How do you find that out? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 60 Throgmorton: We have data about that. Thank you. No, no thanks, Caroline (talking away from mic; unable to hear clearly) Is there anybody else who wanted to address this topic? All right, apparently nobody else wants to address the topic. Um.... Council discussion? I'll tell ya, uh, some things I'm thinking. When I read the plan I was surprised to see that there was .... there were no apparent.... indications about how the deer population would be kept at the level.... uh.....resulting from the initial sharp shooting. There's gotta be something. So I'm just saying, we, you know, I just read the thing, uh, you know, yesterday I guess, so .... I was surprised to see that. And I'm pretty skeptical the NRC would approve that. Uh, so I think we need to have something in the plan that would, some .... some trigger like, you know, we do a .... we do the initial sharp shooting, we do the head count, uh, the next year, we can .... try these, uh, non -lethal .... uh, steps, but a head count, and if it goes above a .... a certain trigger head count, we've .... we have to do something, and we have to show the NRC that we are going to do something. That's my first sort of gut response, right? Thomas: (both talking) to agree, I mean the .... the fact that....you know, the current proposal really has no (mumbled) of controlling the deer population after year one.... seems to be a non-starter. Uh, so .... you know, Erin's concept, um, was an interesting one and Caroline mentioning the, uh, the work that has been done in Ames suggests that some .... effort to try to, uh, incorporate possibly a hybrid of sharp shooting and bow hunting, um, after we get the population down through sharp shooting seemed like a reasonable proposal to me. Um, it does seem, we .... we can't move forward with anything until we get the Commission's approval. So .... and it sounds very much like that approval will not be given without some five-year plan which controls the population and that bow hunting is going to have to be part of that solution. So .... it seems to me we need to revise the plan to allow for, uh.... the possibility of bow hunting and I .... I like the idea of a combination of bow hunting and sharp shooting, um, in the .... in the subsequent years after year one ..... with some, you know, if we're looking at the numbers each year, you'll have some idea of what may need to be done to control the population. Cole: Well I think all of us were really reluctant to authorize any form of bow hunting, especially within city limits, um, however, it seemed like NRC made it very clear that that was going to be a condition, precedent to authorizing, uh, the, uh, ability to do the sharp shoot, and so very reluctantly during our last work session, that was the position I took is that I did not wanna do that, but I felt we needed to do that, how to control the long-term population. Um, we've, um, talked about the numbers in terms of the nuisance potential. We've also talked about the safety This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 61 component. Fortunately we haven't had any, at least I'm aware of, fatalities or physical personal injuries, in the city, so we've lucked out, but as you point out in other contexts with street safety, we don't wanna wait for the first to happen, and certainly outside the city, that is a major issue. Caroline brings up the question of communicable diseases. Fortunately for now there is no transmission that I'm aware of from deer to humans, but it's certainly a greater likelihood. So certainly I love wildlife, um, but as a lot of people have pointed out, that the, you know, predator -prey is part of.....you know, a billion years of evolution and we don't have that at this point. So unfortunately, um, we have to be the predator, unfortunately, and I don't like using that metaphor, but that's just a reality. Um, but that said, this is the plan before us and, um, would it be possible to amend it prior to (both talking) Throgmorton:.... July meeting is on the 11th. So that's after our next meeting. Cole: So..... Dulek: But the packet deadline is before your meeting. It's, um, it's next Tuesday, or next Thursday. I can't remember. So to get on the July 11 agenda, you have to have something approved, uh, by either next Tuesday or next Thursday. Cole: When's their next meeting? (both talking) Dulek: It's the second Thursday of the month. So August 10th, 12th, whatever (both talking) Cole: ....we're rejected again, we'd be able to do a modification. So I think my position is is a lot of the Deer Friends have done some really good non -lethal approaches as well. Let's present it as is. If it's rejected, I think unfortunately we will have to look at the bow hunting (both talking) Throgmorton: I think that's pretty obvious. If they reject this, they will say you're not going to get anywhere unless you do bow hunting. Cole: Yeah, so let's just move forward with this is my point. Mims: I.....(sighs) Boy this is really hard for me. I'm gonna do a 180 on the bow hunt. I have not been supportive of bow hunting at all, and I don't like the idea of the bow hunting, but we deL... I totally agree we have to do something about the deer herd, for many different reasons. I mean people have talked about public health. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 62 We've talked about car accidents. We've talked about the understory. We've talked about the health of the deer herd itself. Um, I think it's just unquestionable when you look at the numbers that we have, and the density that we have. We have to do something, and I .... it seems to me that the NRC unfortunately has made it very clear that without a bow hunt component, they won't, uh, they won't approve the sharp shoot. Um, so .... and you know Erin made clear, you know ,the members of that Commission change every year and so, you know, there would also be the possibility of trying to go back and trying to amend it later on to replace the bow hunting with more sharp shooting. I'm really concerned about the fact that, um, we do sharp shooting for one year and I think the odds of getting us down to the density that we want is probably pretty slim. Um, and from the bit that I've read, my understanding is that the bow hunting isn't really gonna do a whole lot in terms of actual population reduction. So I would support, uh, at this point that we amend the plan to include, um, bow hunting in years two through five. Throgmorton: So we'll have to process that here in a second. I wanna ask a question though. Um .... uh, there've been, there's been mention of Ames and Coralville, in particular, about what they are doing with regard to bow hunting. Can we obtain that information? If we haven't done it already, can we obtain that information? (mumbled) Dulek: That was in the packet last time we were here in April. That's when Bill Campbell had communicated with Coralville and, um, Cedar Rapids, and I know that information was in that memo, uh, I don't believe Bill has reached out to.... to Ames but .... we can certainly gather that information, but .... and I don't have that memo unfortunately in front of me. Fruin: I'm reviewing the Ames deer management web site now. There's no mention of sharp shooting, and I don't believe that anybody else was sharp shooting. Um, maybe have done shotgun hunts in the .... in the past, but they're not advertising that like they are their bow hunts, but shot gun would be like a shot gun season hunting. It would not (both talking) Dulek: ...yes, it's not professional. That's a distinction. Yes. Fruin: And that .... that is an option. I don't k now that too many people will, too many cities would do shot gun, um, season hunting, um, but uh.... that's something we can look at. So the information's public. You can go on the NRC web site and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 63 look at all the deer management zones in the .... in the state, and .... and look at the areas that .... that have been approved. Throgmorton: Yeah, I .... I don't particularly wanna go up there with a plan that I know's gonna be rejected. So I ... I, right now I'm agreein' with Susan and with Rockne's initial inclination, I think, that we need to build some amount of bow hunting into this, and I think it'd be wise to learn from Ames and learn from Coralville and try to fit it into our context the best that we can. So .... that .... that's where I am right at the moment. I don't know what y'all are thinkin'. Taylor: I agree with that too and, uh, I initially.... of course I'm an animal lover too and ....and was against any sort of method, uh, but then the sharp shooting, when I ... the numbers, especially when I saw a deer on the edge of, uh, Benton Street, right near .... a block away from where the new (can't hear) going to be. It's like I realized that there.... there's no part of this city, any neighborhood, that's immune to them. They're everywhere, and so the population does need to .... to be diminished, uh, and I wasn't a fan of bow hunting, because we'd heard from a lot of people it's ineffective and not very efficient and, yeah, these deer horror stories of the deers running around with arrows, broken arrows in their bodies, but uh, it obviously has helped and it would be good to hear, uh, like the effectiveness in the Coralville area, uh.... but when it comes to population reduction, I think .... my personal opinion is that, the Commission is going to .... to laugh at the wording in some of this, because like under the non -lethal management it says the City plans to manage its deer population through non -lethal men .... means, but uh, the first two things — deer -proof fencing as Miss Irish mentioned and landscaping and gardening. That's putting the onus on .... on the members of the community to do things. Uh.... so it's not really what the City is doing. Of course putting the signage up and reducing speed limits, etc., uh, preventing the accidents, but that's.... that's not managing the population. It's not (several talking) not thinning them out. So I .... I think we do need to, uh, put a little more teeth into it. Throgmorton: Yeah, so ... could you amend your proposed amendment to (several talking) Sorry! My bad! (both talking) Teague: Sorry about that! Um.....so when we spoke about this in April I thought that part of the reason why three other Councilors were going to Des Moines was to talk to the NRC. Um, with .... along with staff to just say, hey, you know, we wanna kill the deer. Really get down the population, and so .... (laughs) um, one way to do that is through sharp shooting, um, and doin' bow hunting. As we've had presentations about the success rate is not good and we have deer tannin' around This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 64 the city, or you know, um, that are injured, um, and so .... I am proposin' that we ....as I understood it, we were gonna wait until after the July meeting, cause I understood from Simon, I believe, um, that we can submit.... we're not nearing deer season, um, or maybe it was Bill Campbell, I don't know who, uh, we're not .... we have time. So the first step was to go and talk in July, and then from there .... we'll come back as Councilors and give kind of our feel as to where they might be. Um, if there's any wiggle room. So that was kinda my understandin'. The other understandin' that I had was whatever plan we submitted, um, we may wanna submit.... let's say what's currently proposed, um, and then we come next year and find out that it wasn't very successful and then we plead to the NRC that these are our results, um, we were not that successful. Will you grant another year, and just have those communications almost on an annual basis, where we are resubmitting our request for sharp shooting. Throgmorton: Yeah but they're said they want a five-year plan. Teague: We would give them a five-year plan. We ..... well my understandin' was we would give them a five-year plan, uh, somethin' that is gonna get approved. Now I'm personally a .... I'm not okay with bow hunting personally, um, but what's been proposed by the City staff, you know, that we can come back in a year to do. Potentially this will get approved, um, as .... what the City staff has in the plan right now. Mims: I don't know. It sounds .... the way I interpreted what staff came back from the NRC meeting was if there wasn't bow hunting in it, they wouldn't approve sharp shooting. Was that.... pretty.... Frain: That .... that is our read. And that's.... that's what we communicated last .... in your last work session when we took this up. So that's still our belief, but the communication or the direction we got from you at the last work session was let's try sharp shooting, one more non -lethal strategy, and .... and we purposely targeted July so that if it was rejected we could come back and still possibly get a sharp shoot (mumbled) Throgmorton: I thought I understand that (mumbled) NRC, I think the Chair of the NRC said, well you know, we could .... we would be okay with some sharp shooting to start off with, but we need .... we need to make sure the herd is kept low and that's gonna mean bow hunting. That's what I thought..... was comin' our way. So, uh, yeah, so I think we need basically to amend this plan to incorporate bow hunting into it, uh, and to use these non -lethal methods to the extent that we can so that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 65 they actually are part and parcel of a five-year plan that begins with those two periods of culling the deer herd (both talking) Cole: ...indicate that they would be categorically opposed to five years of sharp shooting? I mean cause (both talking) Dulek: That's what we asked twice, and that's what they said no to twice. Mims: I think the odds of getting this plan approved are pretty low. Because there's nothing except sharp shooting in it. Thomas: Well it doesn't make sense either, really. Mims: Well, I agree. I agree. Uh, four years of non -lethal methods, we're gonna be right back to the levels that we're at now, you know, or higher. Um, I'm ... I'm concerned, uh.... I'm concerned about the whole section, um, I think as Pauline said calling it non -lethal deer management. There's.... there is.....there is no deer management. It is trying to adapt to the deer and protect properties, etc., but it is not doing anything to actually control the level of the herd, um, with what's in here, and (both talking) yeah, and so .... while these are all good things, I'm not, you know, they're fine to do it, but they don't control the herd. Um, so I guess what I would be interested in doing is amending the deer management plan, um, we have a title, sub -title of sharp shooting in the winter of 2019 to 2020. 1 would propose that we have the second sub -title be, uh, bow hunting, um, in years two through five. So you could list out each of the winters, if you want to to make it very specific, um .... and then .... and I don't ..... I know I'm being a little bit general in my wording right now. I just wanna get the point across. I don't know if within this, and, Sue, probably you can help us with this if we need to .... or Jody, if we need to put any more detail in this proposal at this point in time, other than we would do the bow hunting in those seasons. And then I would retitle what would now be the third....sub-title, um, and I would not call it non -lethal deer management activities. I would, um.....(laughs) coping mechanisms (laughs) I don't mean to be....it....it's, they're not deer management. I totally agree with Pauline, uh.....and I would entertain a different title for that. Uh, if we're going to keep it in here as part of the plan. Throgmorton: Non -lethal deer related activities (laughs) I mean.... Mims: Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. .a Throgmorton: And with regard to the second point, can .... can you read your title again please, I mean very quickly. Mims: I didn't write anything down so I can't read it. I'll try and .... the second title I would say bow hunting in years (both talking) years two through five, or if. ... the Attorney's Office feels it's more appropriate, being um .... similar to the first title, say bow hunting in the winters of. ... uh, 20-21, 21-22, 22-23, etc. Throgmorton: What I was gonna suggest is basically bow hunting in those winter .... the winters of those years, as necessary, to keep the deer population at the .... um, the desired density. Mims: I would be fine (both talking) Throgmorton: That would ... leave it open that maybe we would not have to do, uh, bow hunting in any particular season, or any particular year. Mims: I would be fine with that. Teague: I would suggest (laughs) it was my understandin' again that in April we would go to the July meeting without a plan submitted, have conversation, Councilors come back and have discussion. Throgmorton: I understood we were gonna take a plan with us. Teague: Okay, and that's fine. I didn't understand that. Throgmorton: Does that sound like something staff can .... put together in a timely fashion? Okay, you wanna..... I think Susan stated what she wants and (both talking) so would you just make a motion to amend the plan in the matter you just expressed (laughs) Mims: Yeah. I move that we amend the deer management plan, um, per our immediately prior discussions, uh, basically adding, um, a second sub -title that will address bow hunting in the years two through five, if necessary, to maintain the desired, uh, population and that we would retitle, um, the third sub -title to be something like non -lethal deer, um, what did you say, Jim? Throgmorton: Uh.... (several talking) non -lethal deer related activities. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 67 Mims: Yeah, deer related activities. I'm flexible on that, but not deer management, because it is not deer management. Throgmorton: Okay, so there's a motion on the floor. Second? Cole: Second. Throgmorton: Seconded by Cole. Discussion? Mims: Let me be first to say — I don't like the idea of bow hunting, and like I said I'm flippin' 180 but I just ... I think we have to get something approved by the NRC. Thomas: It doesn't matter what you or I or anyone else here likes or dislikes. We need the Commission's approval. Mims: I agree. Teague: I guess I'm not.....talk to the Commission and so that's what I wanna do first. So I appreciate, you know, um, the desire to, you know, definitely, uh, use the tools which they have (laughs) you know given us, which is bow huntW. That's unfortunate. So I'm not gonna vote in favor. Throgmorton: Fair enough! Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 5-1, or .... yeah that's right, 5-1. So now we need a motion on the amended resolution? No, we're okay. Good deal! All right, uh, could I have a motion to accept correspondence please? Cole: So moved. Mims: Second. Throgmorton: Moved by Cole, seconded by Mims. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 68 19. City Council Information Throgmorton: So could we please start with Bruce and move to the right. Teague: Okay! Um, so....there was one thing that I wanted to mention. Um, so this is Pride Month, and um, last week was Pride in Iowa City and so that was, um, lots of events that, uh, people were able to attend. This was the largest Pride parade ever in ... in, uh, Pride in Iowa City has been goin' on for 49 years. So next year's the big 50th year. Um, I was able to go to, um, Film Scene (laughs) because they had Stonewall, um, but when I got there all the tickets were already.... they were free, but it was all booked up. So that's good for Film Scene. It was not good for me to ... to miss it, but um, so ... other than that, um, this... this, uh, Saturday, as the Mayor mentioned, is gonna be Juneteenth and that's gonna be takin' place at Mercer Park, so I do encourage people to come out. That's all! Cole: I don't have anything. Thomas: I'll just mention, uh, on the 26th, um, Downtown District will have the State of the Downtown in the alley space behind Discerning Eye at 5:00 P.M. Throgmorton: Susan? Mims: Um, attended a meeting last night at Mercer Park, a community meeting, and I warma thank, uh, Captain Brotherton and I can't remember the officer's name that was there. I know it was Adam but I didn't get his last name (laughs) Fruin: Schmerbach. Mims: yeah, um, and Geoff was there and there was a number of other City staff members, from Parks and Rec, you know, Ron Knoche was there. Uh, this was related to recent shootings, um, around Mercer Park and other shootings in the area. I just wanna commend staff for putting this together very quickly to listen to, um, and hear the concerns of the residents about safety, um, in their neighborhood, um, at a .... at a destination park in our city, uh, where we have ballparks and lots of kids, um, I ... I know that in some cases they didn't necessarily get the answers they wanted and part of that is because it's an active investigation, but I think the police were, um, very ...good at explaining to them why they couldn't give them certain answers and share certain information at this point. I think it was also, uh, very much an educational opportunity, uh, to explain to people a bit about how the process goes in terms of, uh, the investigation that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 69 needs to be done and the steps. It also was an opportunity to build some relationships and encourage people to, um, reach out to the Police Department, to reach out to Parks and Rec or others that, uh, might be able to answer questions for them or give them information, and um, places where they could get, um, mental help care if they needed it, uh, for people who maybe experienced trauma that were there. So again, uh, it was .... it was a very good meeting. I think, I mean I think it ended up going almost two hours by the time we got out of there, and just really want to, um, thank Geoff and the rest of the staff for putting something together on ... on very short notice for people on .... and we may be doing some more things like that, but it was .... it was definitely needed. Um, kind of change of direction, the other thing is, uh, Downtown Block Party I believe is this Saturday. So encourage everybody between Juneteenth, uh, and Block Party, there'll be plenty of things going on. So, uh, hopefully get out and enjoy some good summer weather! Taylor: I also did, uh, enjoy the Pride Fest events on Saturday it was, uh, after the rain cleared, it didn't seem to dampen people's spirits, uh, there were almost as many people lining the streets for the parade as there is for the homecoming parade, which was really exciting to see. Uh, very colorful and fun, as always. Um, there, uh, was one, uh, a group of folks on the corner of, I believe it was Washington and Dubuque, uh, that, uh, had signs and were, uh, quietly urging people to repent, uh, and there was (laughter) yeah, I walked right up to 'em and repented, but um .... and then a .... the other group of people that were questioning them, uh, but I was pleased to see, and I thanked them for being there. Four or five of our officers were standing around and, uh, keeping a watchful eye on the group, and as I chatted with them they said, you know, it seemed to be just a shouting match between.... between the groups and that seemed to be what it was, and uh, after about an hour and a half or so both groups dispersed and so that was good to see. But uh, again it didn't seem to dampen anybody's spirits. The party .... the party went on. Uh, so that was fun to see. Um .... coming up Monday, I ... uh, had in my calendar a welcome to the Mandela Fellows, which is ... they're always a great group, uh, to .... to meet and greet and they're always so happy to be here and uh, wanting to learn things about our community, and that's 5:00 at the Hilton Garden Inn. I believe there's another event the next evening, uh, also, uh, Tuesday. Um .... oh, also on Tuesday, uh, at 8:00 in the evening, uh, is, uh, meet the new Nighttime Mayor at Joe's Place. I thought that might be interesting. I don't know, I think his name is Joe Riley. I don't know if any of you have had a chance to meet him, uh, but I think I might try to get a chance to .... to meet with him there and see how things are going. That's all! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019. Page 70 Throgmorton: One of the great things about the Pride Parade at that intersection of Washington and Dubuque, where the protesters were, was that when various....uh....people involved in the parade walked by,uh, they often broke into a chant along with the audience, L-O-V-E, L-O-V-E, I mean it was a really effective way of...of being with people who profoundly disagree with the people who were in the parade and so on. So I really admired that a lot. So I'll mention a few things. Had the pleasure of attending the University of Iowa's Flood Center's 10th Anniversary celebration on the 6th of June. Uh, several people spoke and I'll tell ya, the Flood Center is a great operation. It's known worldwide, and....uh, they have done tremendous work, as I indicate, for other parts of the world,but also for the state of Iowa in literally advancing the state of knowledge about how to forecast flood events,how to forecast the...the extent of flooding, how to....give advance notice of, uh, imminent flooding and that kind of thing. So Witek Krajewski especially and Larry Weber, who used to head the Flood Center, really deserve a huge amount of praise for that. I didn't hear anybody mention the Longfellow Porch Party. Did I miss that? Somebody might have mentioned it. It's such a great event. Uh, lotta happiness, lotta terrific music. Bruce, you are such a singer, you should have been there! I was really disappointed. Uh, there was one,basically a rock band of some kind on, uh, Clark Street I think that had about six people on...in the band, and they were really good,but also a high school jazz band on, uh, on Sheridan. It was so much fun to hear them, and Jean Littlejohn and her Folk Machine people were sittin' out on, uh, I don't know, I can't remember which street it was,but sittin' at a corner, and people kinda strolled by and do their summer kind of thing and hang around for a while and sing things like,uh, you know, 'shine on, shine on silver moon,' or whatever. It was really fun to heat I also attended the World Refugee Dinner. Did I say that right? World Refugee Day Dinner, and program, at Liberty High on the 15th. It was pretty fun, even though I had to arrive late and depart early. On the 20th,uh, ICAD is sponsoring meetings about opportunity zones in Coralville and in Iowa City. Uh, I encourage you to attend, especially the one in Iowa City. I think I'll go to the one about Coralville too, out of curiosity. And, let me think, you mentioned the Mandela Fellows. It's been a great treat to be able to meet with them each time they've come. I don't know that you mentioned the second one explicitly. They're gonna be here, from 2:45 to 4:00 on the 27th. And just meeting with the Mayor and some staff and I don't know who else,but it'll just be this conversation. That's always fun to do. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of June 18, 2019.