David's Council Preview

The Ames City Council meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.  The agenda includes:
 

• 31. Resolution Approving the Composition of the Ames Climate Action Planning Community Input Task Force. The Mayor and Council are counting on robust community input to help guide and inform the development of our Climate Action Plan. In this agenda item, staff proposes that we appoint a task force of community members to reach and represent distinct sectors of interest and expertise, including business, non-profit organizations, faith organizations, students, and others. The process would be similar to our Boards and Commissions appointments, in that interested people would fill out applications, the Mayor would nominate individuals, and the Council would then vote on approval. An important part of the task force is that each of its members would chair regular meetings with others in their sector, separately from the full task force meetings. 
• 32. State Reinvestment District Incentive Pre-Application. The City's pre-application for the Iowa Reinvestment District is ready to be sent this week, assuming Council approval. If the Iowa Economic Development Authority then approves our pre-application, then we'll have almost another year to work with them to finalize the application. If the final application is also approved, then the state will divert a portion of new retail sales and hotel/motel tax receipts within the designated downtown area back to the City over 20 years, and we'll use those funds to help pay off the proposed aquatic center on Lincoln Way across from the Department of Transportation. The map below shows the area in green where we propose to capture new sales and hotel/motel taxes and the location of projects currently being considered there.
  
  
  
  The effect of a Reinvestment District award is comparable to a grant that's paid in installments, but since it's actually just a portion of tax receipts, the size of the grant will be limited by the actual amount of new sales and hotel/motel tax generated in this area. It looks like the award would amount to somewhere between $21 million and... $0. That's because the City only gets revenue when there is successful economic development, that is, with paying customers.  And our reinvestment revenues are limited to new tax receipts. So, for example, the City wouldn't receive any revenue on sales tax from the existing yogurt shop even though it's within the district boundaries. So what might these new businesses be? The largest in sight is a proposed mixed-use development on Lincoln Way between Clark and Kellogg including a hotel, conference space, restaurants, retail, and office space, pictured below. 
  
  
  
  Even so, Council approval and City submission of this Reinvestment District pre-application wouldn't commit any private developer to build exactly this or that. The projects envisioned are likely to change and we'll get a fuller picture of the overall finances in the coming year, including probable developer requests for significant public financial support. So the immediate question for Council, in my mind, is simply this: do the possible future revenues still look good enough to send in this pre-application? Our City Manager recommends it. If the pre-application is approved, there will be many more issues to tackle. 
• 33. Urban Revitalization Area Annual Report. Urban Revitalization Areas (URAs) allow for tax exemptions on the value of property improvements if the applicant meets additional criteria set by the City. For example, the URA for 415 Stanton (The Crawford) requires that "The original school structure will remain, and historic materials will be preserved or adaptively reused when possible," among other things. This agenda item compares five applications for URA property tax exemptions against the relevant criteria. The City Manager recommends approval, assuming that one currently incomplete application is completed prior to the Council meeting.
• 37. Hearing on Zoning Text Amendment to the Downtown Service Center Zoning District to Reduce the Number of Vehicle Parking Spaces Required for Apartment Use. Council considered relaxing parking requirements for downtown medium-size residential developments in December and voted to ask staff to prepare an update to our zoning ordinance for it. This agenda item is the first reading of the new ordinance.
  
  

Communications to Council: The following items are requests and communications to Council that aren't published on the agenda, so we won't deliberate them substantially.  This includes staff reports and communications or requests from constituents and developers. Typically, Council will ask city staff for more information, put the item on a future agenda for deliberation and possible action, or just accept the communication, taking no further action. 
 

• Campustown Bars Violations. "Since January 2021, the Police Department has noticed a troubling trend and lack of due diligence to keep underage individuals out of Campustown bars. The following is a list of citations issued since January 1st... The City Council has the authority to initiate the license revocation or suspension process if excessive violations occur; however, the Police Department is not yet recommending that step."

• Transformer Art.  "In response to City Council’s direction, the Public Art Commission (PAC) has investigated options for painting or wrapping electrical transformers in the Downtown area."

Thanks for reading,
David Martin
Ames City Council, Ward 3