Dan DeGeest's Council Review

Hello Friends,

• This past Tuesday the Ames City Council wrapped up its annual budgeting process with final presentations, public input, and motions for moving forward. During public input many residents came forward in support of a proposed plan for creating a Human Services Capital Improvement fund.  Historically the City has only provided funding, through the ASSET program, for services provided by these agencies and for other needs, things like buildings, maintenance, equipment, etc. these providers have had to look elsewhere.  This new program would allocate locally generated funds and create application/oversight process to address these capital funding needs.
  
  The City Council, at a previous budget meeting, had already expressed interest in pursuing this program and the issue at hand Tuesday night was the dollar amount.  The Ames Progressive Alliance was advocating to increase the funding, pointing out that the City's Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) fund has a million dollar surplus and that this program clearly falls within the goals laid out for the use of those funds.  City Council was hesitant to increase over what they had previously agreed to allocate.  They cited the need for more public input but the advocates were quick to point out that Tuesday night was the only night built in to the process for giving input.  Some on Council said it was too late in the process to quickly push through such a large increase despite being reminded that they tacked on a multi-million dollar addendum last year for the East Industrial Area expansion.
  
  In the end $500K will be budgeted for the new program with funds coming from both the general fund and the local option sales tax fund and staff will work to define the application process.

See below for comments on some other agenda items and as always thanks for reading.
Dan DeGEEST>>

Ames City Council review for 02/14/2017. The agenda included:

• 1. Council Budget Presentations (budget document):

  a. Public Art
  b. Arts Funding (COTA)
  c. Human Services (ASSET)
  d. Outside Funding Requests
  e. Other Requests

• 2. Public Input on Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) and Budget.
  Up until this point, all budget presentations have been informational, or Council has had the option to request more info...this is the chance for public to give input on the CIP.

• 3. Final Council Decisions:

  a. Set salaries for Council appointees
  b. Amendments to 2017-2022 CIP.
  c. Vote on motion to approve 2017-2022 CIP, as amended
  d. Amendments to FY 2016/17 budget.
  e. Vote on motion to approve proposed budget amendments for FY 2016/17.
  f. Motion to set March 7, 2017, as date of public hearing on proposed budget amendments for FY 2016/17.
  g. Amendments to proposed FY 2017/18 budget.
  h. Vote on motion to approve proposed budget for FY 2017/18, as amended
  i. Motion to set March 7, 2017, as date of final public hearing on proposed budget for FY2017/18.

The Regular City Council meeting will immediately follow Budget Wrap-Up.

• 24. Resolution approving Plat of Survey for 601 and 603 South 16th Street and 1420 South Grand Avenue.
  A developer of the property at 601 & 603 S 16th St. wants to redefine the lots at these addresses in order to place all of the land considered flood plain in one lot. This would allow the other area to be developed with less difficulty.
  
  There were no concern with this request and motion approving resolution passed 6-0.
• 25. Hearing on Annexation of property located at 4605 Hyde Avenue
  In December of 2016, Council directed staff to start the process of annexation of 4605 Hyde Ave. (and four other non-consenting owners on the east side of Hyde Ave.) This item is back on the agenda, and staff recommend Council proceed with the annexation.
  
  Several of the "non-consenting" property owners spoke against this annexation plan at a previous meeting.  None of them were in attendance Tuesday night and a motion to proceed with the annexation including the additional non-consenting properties passed without discussion 6-0.
• 
• 28. Resolution approving Joint Use Parking Agreement for 3500 University Boulevard.
  McFarland is hoping for a joint parking arrangement for a medical clinic and daycare center they are planning to build in the ISU Research Park. Between the two uses, required parking spots would total 205 spots. Some street parking is available on Plaza Loop, and added together with the proposed 147 spots in McFarland’s lot these parking spaces total 162. Staff recommends approval of the joint parking agreement.
  
  Ames is literally covered with surface parking.  Spend some time on Google maps looking at satellite imagery and you will be amazed how much of our land is dedicated to surface parking.   This resolution would allow the applicants to share parking and reduce the need to pave even more land.  They clearly pointed out their expected peak usage and showed that the two uses had very different peak demand times and amounts.  A motion approving the resolution passed 6-0.
• 29. Follow-up on 2017/18 CDBG Proposed Annual Action Plan projects.
  This plan details revenue and planned expenditures for the city’s 2017/2018 action plan projects. Of $919,775, $98k will be spent on administration, $550k on the old Middle School project, $150k on first-time homebuyer assistance, $45k on renter affordability projects, $60k on housing improvement projects, and $16.5k on property disposition.
  
  Motion approving the 2017/18 CDBG Action Planned passed 6-0.
• 31. Staff report regarding sidewalk cafe requirements.
  In September, Council met to discuss potential changes to our sidewalk café ordinance, and raised several questions for staff. Staff are now reporting back on a series of topics, and asking for more direction from Council.
  
  This was the second most discussed item of the evening.  City staff has been working on changes to better define sidewalk cafes and to increase flexibility in the ordinance hoping to meet the needs of several business owners who are interested in providing this sort of dining and outdoor experience at their establishments.  Not surprisingly the big sticking point is around how to regulate alcohol consumption in these outdoor spaces.  In a town forever scarred by the bad choices of people during the now defunct VEISHEA celebration it is very easy to take a worse case scenario view on this issue.  There are a lot of other cities that have ordinances for this type of thing including Lawrence, KS, which has a very similar makeup as Ames.  City Council, the Mayor, and I all saw a vibrancy in Lawrence when we visited last year that is not quite matched in Ames.  Anybody in Ames who has dined on the patio at Stomping Grounds knows how pleasant it can be.
  
  Another issue was how to define which type of business could have alcohol sales in a sidewalk cafe.  Currently it is determined by the ratio of food to alcohol sales, meaning you have to be a restaurant and getting the majority of your revenue from food sales.   While this naturally works in a lot of cases it immediately excludes a business like Della Viti, a wine bar that also has food and cheese pairings but derives most of its revenue from wine sales.  But surely thier clientele would enjoy having cheese and wine in a sidewalk cafe space, no?  Surely that would bring some increased vibrancy to the Main St. sidewalks?
  
  Motion to proceed with the ordinance including a provision for an exception process for establishments not meeting the normal requirements passed 5-1 (Gartin NO)

• The non-agenda packet is comprised of correspondence from citizens, organizations, developers, other interested parties. During the Council Comments section of council meetings, these items may be brought forth for more information, or to direct staff to put the topic on a future agenda.f
  1. Letter from CAA supporting the concept of a large green space in Campustown, and specifying the 2500 block of Lincoln Way as a potential location for such a space. CAA is asking Council to start planning and investing in such a space now.
  2. Memo from staff about a letter from Heartland Senior Services referred on Jan 10th.  Due to an error in units of service reimbursed by the city, HSS may have some difficulty in drawing down their ASSET funds for the current year. As detailed in the staff memo, the ASSET board is not recommending a change in the current year’s ASSET contract. It is assumed that HSS will still be able to draw down their current funds, or if they don’t, that they could request those funds be carried over to the next year.
  3. Memo from staff regarding incentives offered in 2008 to rural residents on Hyde Ave in exchange for voluntary annexation. At that time, Council extended the “in town” water and sewer connection rate of $1,440 each.
  4. Memo from the legal department regarding Ash trees located on private property. In Iowa, cities have the authority to order the removal of diseased trees, but there are choices about how long to give residents to remove them and penalties for non-compliance.