Rachel's Council Review

As usual for the review, my comments are red and italicized in the context of the latest Council Preview by Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen.
 

The Ames City Council meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall.  The agenda includes the following. Note that you can generally click on individual agenda items below to get the full staff report or other explanation.
 

• 1. Motion approving City Council Values, Goals, and Tasks for 2022 - 2023.
  At a workshop on January 22nd, Council came up with our two-year list of goals. This staff report lists those goals and breaks each goal into separate tasks, with a timeline for each. The following are our goals (not listed in order of priority):
  • By the end of 2023, develop, test, and evaluate strategies to improve community engagement, particularly underrepresented groups.
  • Prioritize and complete the tasks outlined in Ames Plan 2040 that affect housing availability and affordability.
  • Implement City programs (parks and recreation, library, etc.) and initiatives (partnerships with others) that educate, train, and engage regarding mental and physical wellness
  • Establish a task force with community partners to identify steps each partner can take to improve workforce recruitment/retention.
  • Develop a community-wide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan that identifies definitions and actionable strategies by the end of 2023
  • Implement additional accessible and equitable transportation options for the community (transit, bike, pedestrian, micromobility, rideshare, and others).
  • Receive the Climate Action Plan and prioritize and implement Council-approved strategies from it to maintain progress towards the adopted climate goal, and continue pursuing targets of opportunity to achieve greenhouse gas reduction.
    
    We discussed the goals and made some minor edits at the task level. We eventually moved to adopt the goals and tasks as amended (6-0). 
• 2. Review and amendment of Planning Department Work Plan.
  In conjunction with our annual goal setting, Council also reviews the Planning Department work plan. With the Ames Plan 2040 now complete, staff have recommended a list of priority tasks for the Planning Department to undertake to move toward implementation of the plan. 
  
  When looking at the Planning department work plan, there are different lists of tasks council has assigned. In attachment A, there is the prioritized list of tasks and attachment B is non-prioritized items (we like to refer to this as the parking lot - as the items sit there unless the city staff has additional time to start any items on that list after working on attachment A items). We removed several items off Attachment B, leaving 5 requests: 1-12-2016 (2 requests), 1-2020,  10-16-2018, and 7-23-2019. We also removed rental conversion incentives from Attachment A. 
• 3. Overview of Ames Urban Fringe Plan Update Process.
  According to state law, cities can control subdivisions within two miles of city limits. Ames currently has a 28E (intergovernmental) agreement in place with Story County and Gilbert to oversee this process of subdivision. This 28E agreement expires in July 2022, so we are beginning the process of renewing it.
  
  Planning and housing staff provided an overview of this topic to council, but no action was required at this time. 
  
  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.

• Affordable Housing Tax Abatement.
  The City is being asked by Annex Group to assist through tax abatements an affordable housing development at Hayden's Preserve north of Ada Hayden (formerly known as Rose Prairie). The proposed development would include 192 units of housing targeted for those at or below 60% of the average median income for the area.
  
  We moved to put this item on a future agenda (6-0).
• Memo Flag Lot Text Amendment 02-11-22.
  This request is from a property owner on East Lincoln Way who would like to divide his property into two lots. To do so would create a "flag lot" with an access lane that doesn't meet the City standards for flag lots.
  
  We moved to pursue option 1 (6-0). This means that we are authorizing the applicant to apply for this, if they are interested. 

Thanks for reading,
Rachel Junck
Ames City Council,  4th Ward