Bronwyn's Council Review

As usual for the review, my comments are red and italicized in the context of the latest Council Preview by David Martin.
 

The Ames City Council meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m at City Hall.  There is currently no mechanism to address Council during our live meetings using Zoom or other online services; if you would like to speak, then please plan to attend. 

The agenda for this meeting includes a single staff report: Workshop on proposed exterior property maintenance code. This proposed property maintenance code would give the City the ability to address complaints that have been lodged by residents over the years but in areas where the City currently lacks sufficient authority to act, such as graffiti, outdoor junk storage, dangerous trees, and other dangers or perceived nuisances. The Council has not yet voted on enactment any of these proposals. However, the Council will begin voting on which of the proposals to adopt, adjust, or eliminate from consideration in a future meeting. The purpose of this workshop is simply to provide a forum for residents to offer their own perspectives on the proposals, in person, at a City Council meeting. The City's previous requests for online feedback seem to have succeeded so far: the staff report for this item includes 132 pages of comments submitted from the community through the City's website. Of course you may always reach Council using our standard email address listed above.

Although the broad outlines of the proposals have been stated previously, the materials provided in this staff report help to clarify some of the City's intent. I've pasted in some quotes and some of my own comments here:

• Most of the proposed regulations are intended to address the most common complaints that staff receives about property maintenance. Staff reviewed ordinances from several Iowa communities and has developed the proposed sections based on the ordinances reviewed. Page 11 of the report shows the relative frequency of the complaints received from the community.
• It is important to note that some of these new regulations may be contentious among property owners. Staff recognizes that it is important to protect the freedoms of property owners while also protecting the neighboring property owners. Therefore, the approach taken by staff in suggesting these regulations is not to burden property owners with extraordinary obligations, but rather to establish basic minimum standards that can be met with modest efforts on the part of property owners.
• The ordinances would be enforced on a complaint basis — the same manner in which comparable ordinances are enforced. There is no intention to have City staff patrol neighborhoods looking for violations. 
• The current enforcement policy for items of this nature is to first provide education. Once it is determined that a violation exists, the property owner is notified of the ordinance and the requirement to resolve the violation. A timeframe for compliance is then given and is followed by a re-inspection. Typically, three notices are sent, with the last one being sent by certified mail, to try to gain compliance prior to initiating the citation process. Citations are not issued when the owner is working toward compliance in a timely manner. (However, repeat offenders may get fewer notices. Under our current code, it can be very difficult for the City to respond adequately to repeat offenders.)
• It is important that any person affected by enforcement action be afforded the opportunity to appeal the violation determination. It is equally important that the appeal process be accessible and easy to follow for the appellant. Therefore, the new ordinance proposes the creation of a separate board to hear appeals of this new chapter. This appeals board would be made up of community members and would have the power to determine whether a specific allegation is actually a violation of the code or not.

Council heard a presentation from staff outlining the proposed regulations as well as other information such as numbers of complaints received per year per topic and potential modifications to the proposed regulations. After the presentation from staff, 20 members of the public spoke with input on the proposals. Most of the input was concerning the limits on vegetation height and density, the subjective nature of aesthetics, and the overall impact of property maintenance regulations on the poor, elderly, and others who might be unable to keep up their properties according to the standards. (Again, in addition to the in-person input , 100+ pages of public comment were gathered on-line prior to the meeting too.)

No action was taken at the workshop, this topic will return to Council at a future meeting when we will discuss each proposed regulation and modify, delete, or proceed. The timing of this item on a future Council agenda has not yet been specified.

Answers to FAQs received regarding the proposals begin on p. 8 of the staff report linked above. The report also includes illustrations of some of the problems that the proposals are intended to address.

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. 

• Broadband Infrastructure Grant. In this memo, staff responds to Council's request to research the feasibility of using a particular federal grant to improve Internet service in the Dartmoor neighborhood. 
  This item was informational only, no action was taken.

• Sawyer Street Safety. A crossing guard asks Council to consider adding a stop light near Sawyer Elementary School.
  This was referred to staff for a memo, 6-0.

• ZBA Definition Request. The Zoning Board of Adjustment asks Council to consider adopting an explicit definition of "temporary" as it relates to special use permits.
  This was also referred to staff for a memo, 6-0.

Thanks for reading,
Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen

Ames City Council, At Large