There's a lot in this week's meeting -- of special note is Item #30, the consideration of the 5 story College Hill building for council approval. Also,we'll be voting on the city's proposed payroll for staff for 2020 (Item #16) and a new restaurant / gas station for Ridgeway & Hudson. (Item 32). This meeting starts at 7pm at City Hall...prior to that, at 5:45 we'll have a Committee of the Whole meeting for an interview with a CFU Board of Trustees candidate, an update from Grow Cedar Valley (the new name of the Alliance & Chamber) and a presentation on monument-style mailboxes (which are currently prohibited). Both meetings will be broadcast on Channel 15 and YouTube, but I think they're more fun in person. Hope to see you there!
Call to Order by the Mayor
Roll Call
Approval of Minutes
1. Regular Meeting of May 20, 2019. No questions.
Agenda Revisions
Special Order of Business
2. Public hearing on a proposed Agreement for Private Development and conveyance of certain city-owned real estate to Owen 5, L.L.C. This is the public's opportunity to weigh in on this proposal.
a) Receive and file proof of publication of notice of hearing. (Notice published May 24, 2019)
b) Written communications filed with the City Clerk.
c) Oral comments.
3. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement for Private Development and Minimum Assessment Agreement with Owen 5, L.L.C., and approving and authorizing execution of a Quit Claim Deed conveying title to certain city-owned real estate to Owen 5, L.L.C. This would give an 3.9 acres of city-owned property in the Northern Cedar Falls Industrial Park to Cunningham Construction for construction of a new $450K building there.
Old Business
4. Pass Ordinance #2940, amending Chapter 2, Administration, of the Code of Ordinances relative to reorganization of City operations, upon its third & final consideration. (Page 73) No questions; city ordinances require three readings prior to becoming law; this is that last required reading.
5. Pass Ordinance #2941, amending certain sections of the Code of Ordinances relative to the renaming of the Department of Municipal Operations and Programs to the Department of Public Works, in conjunction with the reorganization of City operations, upon its third & final consideration. No questions; city ordinances require three readings prior to becoming law; this is that last required reading.
6. Pass Ordinance #2942, amending Chapter 15, Nuisances and Chapter 17, Parks and Recreation, of the Code of Ordinances relative to the renaming of the Public Works and Parks Division Manager to the Operations and Maintenance Division Manager, in conjunction with the reorganization of City operations, upon its third & final consideration. No questions; city ordinances require three readings prior to becoming law; this is that last required reading.
7. Pass Ordinance #2943, amending certain sections of the Code of Ordinances to be in conformance with the Code of Iowa and consistent with current City operations, upon its third & final consideration. No questions; city ordinances require three readings prior to becoming law; this is that last required reading.
8. Pass Ordinance #2944, amending Chapter 2, Administration, and Chapter 23, Traffic and Motor Vehicles, of the Code of Ordinances relative to updating terminology, in conjunction with the implementation of recommendations from the Downtown Parking Study, upon its second consideration. No questions; city ordinances require three readings prior to becoming law; this is that last required reading. I'm interested to see if we should waive the rules and have the third reading on this night, so that we can put any really pressing changes into effect (like creating new parking spaces) into place in time for Sturgis Falls.
9. Pass Ordinance #2945, amending Chapter 23, Traffic and Motor Vehicles, of the Code of Ordinances relative to establishing parking regulations, in conjunction with the implementation of recommendations from the Downtown Parking Study, upon its second consideration. No questions; same as #8 above.
New Business
Consent Calendar: (The following items will be acted upon by voice vote on a single motion without separate discussion, unless someone from the Council or public requests that a specific item be considered separately.)
10. Approve the following recommendations of the Mayor relative to the appointment of members to Boards and Commissions: The mayor appoints commissioners with council consent. No questions..
a) Kate Brennan Hall, Art & Culture Board, term ending 07/01/2023.
b) Matthew Wilson, Art & Culture Board, term ending 07/01/2023.
c) Lauren Finke, Art & Culture Board, term ending 07/01/2021.
11. Receive and file the Committee of the Whole minutes of May 20, 2019 relative to the following items: No questions.
a) Downtown Parkade and Streetscape.
b) Bills & Payroll.
12. Receive and file Departmental Monthly Reports of April 2019. No questions.
13. Approve the following special event related requests: No questions.
a) Parking variances, College Hill Arts Festival, June 21-22, 2019.
b) Street closures, Sturgis Falls Celebration, June 26-30, 2019.
c) Parking variance, Teacher Festival, July 25, 2019.
14. Approve the following applications for cigarette/tobacco/nicotine/vapor permits: No questions.
a) Bani's, 2128 College Street.
b) Fareway Stores, 4900 South Main Street.
c) Fareway Stores, 214 North Magnolia Drive.
d) Murphy USA, 518 Brandilynn Boulevard.
15. Approve the following applications for beer permits and liquor licenses: No questions.
a) Kwik Star, 2019 College Street, Class C beer & Class B wine - renewal.
b) Kwik Star, 7500 Nordic Drive, Class C beer & Class B wine - renewal.
c) Chuck E. Cheese's, 5911 University Avenue, Class B beer - renewal.
d) Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant, 112-114 Main Street, Class C liquor & outdoor service - renewal.
e) Montage, 222-224 Main Street, Class C liquor, Class B wine & outdoor service - renewal.
f) The Other Place, 2214 College Street, Class C liquor - renewal.
g) Target, 214 Viking Plaza Drive, Class E liquor - renewal.
h) Amvets, 1934 Irving Street, Class A liquor & outdoor service - temporary expansion of outdoor service area. (June 15-16, 2019 & June 28-30, 2019)
Resolution Calendar: (The following items will be acted upon by roll call vote on a single motion without separate discussion, unless someone from the Council or public requests that a specific item be considered separately.)
16. Resolution approving and adopting the City's FY20 Payroll Resolution. This lists the proposed hourly pay rates for each of the city's staff. I'll want to study this a little further, for some insights, but no questions right now.
17. Resolution approving and adopting amendments to the City's Accounting Policies and Procedures and Purchasing Manual. On page 394, Section 11.07.1 (Local Business Preference), the language states that if two or more bids are equal in all respects, preference shall be given to the local (Cedar Falls business) vendor. As I've stated in past council meetings, I believe that this should be changed to within 1% or 2%; the intent is to "buy local" when practical, but only allowing this if the local bid is EXACTLY the same seems unreasonable and unlikely. No other questions.
18. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Service Agreement with Praetorian Digital relative to Fire and EMS training. $4500 in taxpayer funds for an annual subscription for training and testing software. No questions.
19. Resolution approving and authorizing designation of certain streets for operation of all-terrain vehicles. Would continue the existing ordinance for the Western Home area staff and residents to use ATV's like gators and golf carts for transportation. Only slightly related, but I wonder if we could do something to allow access to the back of the Wal-Mart shopping plaza, so that residents could shop without needing to use a 'real' car?
20. Resolution designating the dates and locations for the annual Sturgis Falls Celebration and Cedar Basin Jazz Festival Inc. No questions. City Council is required by ordinance to designate the official dates, in order to prohibit pets from certain areas of Downtown during those days.
21. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Black Hawk County Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever Chapter relative to the Youth Pollinator Habitat Project for the North Cedar Natural Reserve Project. Allows a private group to restore a section of city-owned park property to prairie. No questions.
22. Resolution approving and authorizing the expenditure of funds for the purchase of pavement sealing equipment. Provides $72K in taxpayer funds for this equipment to seal city streets (to protect against cracking & damage from moisture. No questions.
23. Resolution approving and authorizing final acceptance of the Partial Demolition & Exterior Wall Rebuild of 4418 University Avenue, in conjunction with the University Avenue Reconstruction Project, Phase II. Closes out a project for a contractor, which I understand is unable to carry out additional work due to due to pending litigation. No questions.
24. Resolution approving and accepting a Temporary Construction Easement, in conjunction with the Walnut Street Box Culvert Replacement - University Branch of Dry Run Creek Project. Allows the "mini-bridge" for Dry Run Creek at Walnut Street to be completed.
25. Resolution approving and accepting the contract and bond of Peterson Contractors, Inc. for the Walnut Street Box Culvert Replacement - University Branch of Dry Run Creek Project. Required legal paperwork allows the "mini-bridge" for Dry Run Creek at Walnut Street to be completed for $788K. No questions.
26. Resolution approving and accepting the contract and bond of Lodge Construction, Inc. for the 100 Block Alley Reconstruction Project. Required legal paperwork for the creation of the new alley behind Cup of Joe, etc. No questions.
27. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of Supplemental Agreement No. 6 to the Professional Service Agreement with Snyder & Associates, Inc. for 2019 Engineering Services relative to the Clay Street Park Water Quality Improvements Project. N$24K in storm water funds for the design of drainage for Clay Street Park. No questions.
28. Resolution approving and authorizing Change Order No. 1 to the contract with Peterson Contractors, Inc. for the 2019 Street Construction Project. Adds a part of Union Road and removes Holmes Drive from this year's reconstruction schedule, as the severe winter has damaged Union Road considerably. No questions.
29. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Transportation Services Agreement with Metropolitan Transit Authority (MET) for downtown shuttle services from June 6, 2019 thru August 31, 2019. This adds an evening 15-minute interval shuttle looping around Main, 6th, Washington, and Gateway Park (for parking) form 6-9pm on Thus, Fri, and Sat. this summer (no charge to riders). This is a simple way to test out the viability of the service. I'll ask about what signage and information will be placed to show visitors that this service is available for the summer, including the MET Transit real-time map. It would be great to have an easy-to-hop-on trolley; I'll ask what kind of vehicle will be used.
30. Resolution approving a College Hill Neighborhood Overlay Zoning District site plan for a mixed-use development at 2119 College Street. (Page 577) This is the latest iteration of the plan for a five-story building in College Hill. This version removes one "leg" of the building, so now a rectangle rather than "L" shaped. According to the new zoning ordinances for parking requirements, this building meets the definition of a "mixed use" property. Last year, when I voted against this project, I did so because I couldn't buy into the prevailing notion that a 4 stories of residential and 1 story of ground commercial makes the whole building "commercial". I asked for a change in the ordinance to allow for this project without a 'liberal interpretation of the code', and now it appears we have it. Also, the parking impact analysis is included, which was another stipulation of my being able to consider voting in favor of this project. The site plan is worth taking a look at.
I'll also highlight the letter from the Ball, Kirk and Holm, P.C. law firm (beginning page 610) regarding one P&Z member's close and extensive partnerships with the applicant for this project. I'll comment on this issue, since it's included in the packet. The P&Z member in question should have recused himself from voting on this project. He was not the 'deciding vote' (it passed P&Z unanimously), so legally the question is moot -- no action can be taken. By law, it is up to each person to decide for themselves whether to abstain from a vote due to a conflict of interest (no one else can force you to abstain). Regardless of the legal wrangling that could be done here, it's blindingly clear to me (and many others) that a conflict of interest existed here.
31. Resolution approving a Mixed Use Zoning District site plan for a residential development on Lot 2, Pinnacle Ridge First Addition.While many similar plans have been approved all over Cedar Falls, I believe City Council needs to have a discussion about what kinds of housing designs we want to allow and promote in our city, for the sake of quality of life, security, and development of neighborhoods and community. I understand that this site plan for consideration meets the existing requirements, so the issue is what our zoning ordinances should look like in the years ahead, for the kinds of neighborhoods we want to see in Cedar Falls.
32. Resolution approving a Highway 20 Commercial Corridor Overlay Zoning District site plan for construction of a restaurant and convenience store/gas station/automobile service station to be located on Lot 2 of Gateway Business Park at Cedar Falls I. No This would allow a Dairy Queen and gas station to be built at the NE corner of Hudson & Ridgeway. This will be one of the first things that visitors see as the head north on Hudson from HWY 20; much attention has been placed to aesthetics in this design. I'm very pleased the design includes a bike rack and easy bike/pedestrian access; no questions.
33. Resolution approving the preliminary plat of Replat of Lot 16 and Tract "B," West Viking Road Industrial Park Phase IV. Involves changing the boundaries of a tract of land to better suit the needs of the developer. No questions.
34. Resolution approving the final plat of Replat of Lot 16 and Tract "B," West Viking Road Industrial Park Phase IV. Related to the above; no questions.
35. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of Supplemental Agreement No. 7 to the Professional Service Agreement with Snyder & Associates, Inc. relative to extension of 2019 Engineering Services. This would extend the contract with Snyder, not to exceed the original $300K in services. The contract doesn't appear to note a termination date (I might have missed it). I'll ask.
36. Resolution setting June 17, 2019 as the date of public hearing on a proposal to undertake a public improvement project for the Cyber Lane-2018 Street Construction Project and to authorize acquisition of private property for said project. No questions about the date.
37. Resolution setting June 17, 2019 as the date of public hearing on the proposed rezoning from R-3, Multiple Unit Residential, to C-2, Commercial District, of property located at 2600 Grove Street. No questions about the date.
Ordinances
38. Pass an ordinance amending Chapter 23, Traffic and Motor Vehicles, of the Code of Ordinances to be consistent with parking regulations being established, in conjunction with the implementation of recommendations from the Downtown Parking Study, upon its first consideration. No concerns.
Allow Bills and Payroll
39. Allow Bills and Payroll of June 3, 2019. No concerns.
City Council Referrals No concerns.
City Council Updates . I'll ask that the shuttle service be highlighted for downtown since it would start this week.
Public Forum. (Speakers will have one opportunity to speak for up to 5 minutes on topics germane to City business.)
Adjournment
| Council Packet Link | |
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| Meeting Date | 06/03/19 |
