David's Council Preview

The Ames City Council meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.  We'll begin with a meeting of the Ames Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Committee, and this will be followed by the regular City Council meeting. The agenda includes:
 

• 1. 10-Year Water Quality Monitoring Plan with Prairie Rivers of Iowa. Prairie Rivers of Iowa has convened a large group of stakeholders to take a comprehensive look at stream and lake monitoring in Story County. The resulting plan is the first of its kind in Iowa where a county-wide plan has been developed. The presentation in this meeting is intended to synthesize the information and to answer Council's questions. The report itself is targeted to be released at the end of March.
• 9. Resolution authorizing Public Art Commission to enter into agreements with artists for 2021/22 Ames Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition selections. The Public Art Commission is celebrating its 25th annual downtown exhibition in 2021. This agenda item showcases the sculptures selected to be displayed in Downtown Ames from May 2021 through April 2022. At the conclusion of the display, sculptures are available for purchase by private individuals or by PAC through the Neighborhood Art Program — which is the topic of the next item.
• 10. Resolution authorizing Public Art Commission to acquire sculptures for 2021 Neighborhood Sculpture Program in the amount of $13,500. The Public Art Commission recommends purchasing these three sculptures for display at Franklin Park, near the entrance to Emma McCarthy Lee Park, and at the Arizona Circle cul-de-sac.
• 22. Preliminary Plat for Kingsbury Subdivision, 5th Addition. This plat, if approved, would subdivide a currently undeveloped lot north of Target on SE 3rd St. into four developable lots. This area is zoned HOC (Highway-Oriented Commercial). The proposal incorporates some updates to previously-approved deferrals of pavement and sidewalk construction until other nearby development occurs. 
  
  
   
• 23. Resolution approving Preliminary Plat for Quarry Estates Subdivision, 5th Addition at 1899 Hyde Avenue. In 2015, this site was the first project to request approval under the Conservation Subdivision standards of our Municipal Code. The intent of the standards is to protect the quality of water in Ada Hayden Lake, protect existing surface drainage systems, promote interconnected greenways, provide commonly owned open space and conservation areas, and protect such areas in perpetuity. The proposed Quarry Estates Fifth Addition preliminary plat adds two additional lots to the subdivision along the north side of Ada Hayden Road. City staff finds it to be consistent with the approved master plan and zoning agreement for this land. 
  
  
• 24. Initiation of Flummerfelt Crane Annexation at the intersection of Lincoln Way and North 500th Avenue. The City has received annexation petitions from two property owners representing seven properties totaling 36.76 acres of land on the north side of Lincoln Highway, immediately west of the current city limits. The owners have expressed interest in developing it as a manufactured home park with a corner commercial node. City staff states that it has reservations about future use of the site for a manufactured home park due to limited amount of land for the use when considering the desired commercial land, need for additional single-family ownership housing options, and the desire to have continuity with three public street extensions from the abutting Sunset Ridge Subdivision.
  
  To be clear, the current agenda item is only about whether to initiate the annexation. If Council is interested in pursuing annexation, staff recommends securing a pre-annexation agreement covering issues like infrastructure extension and traffic studies. Council would also have to decide whether to include some currently non-consenting properties in the annexation or not. The annexation request would go to the Planning and Zoning Commission and come back to City Council for a public hearing before the annexation could be approved. And even then, just annexing the land wouldn't permit development on it; that would take additional zoning and/or subdivision actions. Still, I hope our discussion of the annexation request will clarify the kinds of uses for this land that Council is most interested in, so that the property owners and other interested parties can understand the future possibilities and constraints for its development.
  
  
• 31. Hearing on Voluntary Annexation of property located at 4514 Hyde Avenue. I wrote about this potential annexation in January. Both the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Story County Board of Supervisors have reviewed and support it, so now it is up to Council to decide whether to complete the annexation or not.
  
  
   
• 32. Hearing on Voluntary Annexation of properties located at [1] 23959-580th Avenue (formerly Caremoli), [2] one-quarter mile west of 580th Avenue (north of Highway 30), and [3] 59.69 acres west of 580th Avenue and north of U. S. Highway 30. I wrote about this annexation request in January also. Since then, the Both the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Story County Board of Supervisors have reviewed and support it, so now it is up to Council to decide whether to complete the annexation or not. If completed, it sounds like the Larson Leasing (formerly Caremoli) property is likely to request rezoning to an industrial-type zone, while the other properties will remain zoned for agriculture.
  
  
• 36. Presentation on Fiscal Year 2021-22 Water Rates and First passage of ordinance to increase water rates by 6%, effective July 1, 2021. While we included increased water utility revenue in next year's budget, we haven't actually raised the rates yet. That's what we're taking up now. The presentation here includes various comparisons to other Iowa cities and shows that our rates are pretty favorable. The new capital expenses driving some of the rate increase include nutrient reduction modifications, new wells, improved resiliency, sewer and water line rehabilitation and replacement, and planned infrastructure extensions. 

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. 
 

• Nevada Request for AUFP Initiation. The City Council previously reached agreement with Nevada to allow them to annex land for use by the Verbio company. However, it appears that completing the annexation has not succeeded, and Nevada is now asking whether Ames would agree to an Ames Urban Fringe Plan amendment that could permit Verbio to proceed with their development as County rather than City land.

• Stange Road Speed Study. City Staff has completed a traffic speed study for Stange Road north of Bloomington and recommends increased police speed enforcement in this area due to the nearby park and pedestrian activity, together with continued speed monitoring. 

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