Dan DeGeest's Council Review

Hi Friends,

I hope you don't mind hearing from me twice in one week.  This week the City Council held a workshop to discuss trail connections with Story County and several changes  to our outdoor dining and vending ordinances.  As you recall from my last review they are also spending $150K to try to market Ames to millenials.  During the first phase of that project the consultants identified many things that make a community desirable to that demographic and not surprisingly good recreation options and dining options rate high on the list.  See below for comments.

Thanks for reading,

Dan DeGeest>>

The Ames City Council workshop for September 20, 2016.  The agenda included:

• 2. Presentation by Story County representatives regarding plans to connect bike/trail systems with the City of Ames. (Slides and Maps Presented at the Council Meeting)
  One of the current Council goals is to pursue regional bike trail connections. To that end, Council will meet with Story Co Supervisor Rick Sanders and Story Co Conservation board director Mike Cox, to talk about interest and plans to connect Ames.
  Story County presented 3 main projects they are working on but the bulk of the discussion was about getting a trail connection from Ames to the Heart of Iowa and High Trestle Trail in Slater. Currently they are working with the ISU Research Park and ISU and have secured the necessary right of way to get a trail from the research park 260th Street, which is well short of reaching Slater.  They are continuing to work with land owners and hoping to find a way to get a completely off-street trail to Kelley for Phase 1 along 520th or 530th Streets.  While still not well defined, it was encouraging to hear that County Supervisor Rick Sanders realizes the paved shoulder lanes on R-38 do not offer the safest or best way for cyclists to reach the Slater trailheads.  I have biked R-38 many times and would absolutely not let me kids do it, which I think is a good litmus test for the safety and accessibility of this route.
  
  The county would like to see this path eventually connect to the "vet-med" trail that goes from the ISU Research Park North under HW30 to 4th Street DOT campus and hopes the City will be proactive in paving and improving that trail ($30K of engineering money for this is already in the current CIP budget but there is no plan or funds for completing the work).  If this work was done we could see in 5-6 years an entirely off-street, paved trail from Downtown Ames to Slater.  Anyone who can't see the economic, marketing and healthy living potential of this goal isn't looking hard enough.
  
  Other county trail goals are Ames to Gilbert along Hyde (Grant Ave that will be paved all the way to Gilbert) and Ames to Huxley along the South Skunk River.
  
  
• 3. Review proposed changes to the Vendor Ordinance and Outdoor Cafe Ordinance.

  For the second workshop item, Council will be looking at two food-related programs and suggested changes. The first relates to outdoor seating areas in public spaces (sidewalks, for example), the second pertains to mobile vendors and food trucks.
  
  Outdoor Service Areas - These proposed revisions would allow attached or offset cafes in sidewalks or parking spaces. The proposal also allows for table service to the café area, provided that the area be kept clean and not interfere with pedestrian passage. Staff recommends barriers (42” tall) to define the outdoor seating “premise”. In the proposal, alcohol service would be allowed, but would be subject to several controls (Prohibiting alcohol sales after 10 p.m., staff supervision of areas required, etc.). These cafes would be seasonal, running from April 1st through October 31st. Next step is for Council to review a code revision.
  
  Discussion on this was very positive, seems like everyone is agreement that dining outside can be quite enjoyable.  Several business owners were present to give their support for the proposed changes that would allow more flexibility in setting up outdoor dining areas on public sidewalks, etc.  One item they asked to be removed was the requirement that the outdoor area be dismantled everyday after closing and completely removed.  All business representatives said this would be very burdensome especially given that the code is also asking for "sturdy" barriers, high quality furniture (not plastic), and so on.  One business, Cafe Beaudelaire in Campustown, presented a rather elaborate plan for an outdoor area that would cost "significant money" and would be impossible to remove daily but would be designed to be removed post season.  It looked cool!
  
  The other main sticking point is alcohol service.  Currently the City wants to tie alcohol service out side to their so-called 50/50 rule that requires the establishment to get half of it's revenue from food sales - the same rule used to determine access for minors.  While this might work for the latter it would immediately eliminate many businesses from doing an outdoor area with alcohol and was pointed out by the owner of the upscale wine bar, Della Viti, on Main Street which offers some food pairings but does not meet the 50/50 rule.
  
  Staff will take all the input given and be back with a revised draft of the ordinance changes.  Everyone agreed it was important to get this done before the next available season which would start in April of 2017
  
  Vending – Several changes were made to the vending code last year, and staff report a number of resulting challenges. There are many types of application documents, which can be confusing and sometimes conflicting. It is currently unclear who enforces this code, and staff suggest that it could be handled similarly to our system for approving liquor license renewals. Under current rules, food trucks are not allowed, but council could change the code to allow food trucks at special events when streets are closed. Next steps involve staff reaching out to vendors, then reporting back to Council with a list of issues and proposed solutions.
  
  Current vending applications and rules are overly complicated and Staff would like to improve them and make it better and easier for everyone involved.  This also led to a discussion of food trucks and a few items were proposed to give food trucks a few more options but we still be a ways away from seeing food trucks freely moving around town and vending - something that will remain limited to ice cream trucks only.