Rachel's Council Review

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.
 

• 13. Resolution approving Resource Recovery System Annual Report for 2021.
  This report highlights the past year at the Resource Recovery plant. Of 51K tons of refuse from Ames and neighboring communities, just over 40K tons made it to the plant for sorting, 23.5K tons of which were incinerated as RDF (refuse derived fuel). About 1,300 tons of metals and around 250 tons of glass were sorted out for recycling. (6.4 tons of pumpkins were diverted too, not to mention the massive amounts of waste diverted through the annual Rummage RAMPage event.)
  One of the exciting pilot programs has been the compost diversion program. In 2021, 32 tons of organic material was diverted from the landfill. Recently the wastewater treatment plant has been experimenting with feeding compost into their anerobic digester (to create electricity), so it is likely that our tonnage of compost diverted will continue to increase.
  
  This item passed as part of the consent agenda, 6-0. 
• 16. Resolution approving preliminary plans and specifications for Ada Hayden Heritage Park Dredging of Wetland G (Cell 1); setting March 23, 2022, as bid due date and April 12, 2022, as date of public hearing.
  In order to maintain functionality of the wetlands surrounding Ada Hayden, they need to be periodically dredged. Since the park is nearly 20 years old, it is time to begin the process of dredging each of the wetlands.
  
  
  This item passed as part of the consent agenda, 6-0.
• 29. Resolution approving preliminary plans and specifications for Downtown Plaza; setting March 23, 2022, as bid due date and April 12, 2022, as date of public hearing.
  Council is being asked to review this final iteration of the Downtown Plaza design. If approved, it can be put out for bids, with a goal of beginning construction during the summer. The current cost estimate for the Downtown Plaza is just over $4.5 million.
  
  
  A couple of small design changes were highlighted by the Parks and Recreation staff, including the shift of the ice-skating ribbon and building, additional turf area for flexible use/seating, relocated food truck parking, and an ADA walkway added to the stage. There are also four add-alternates that can be added to the project if bids are favorable. The preliminary plans and specifications for the Downtown plaza were approved, 6-0. 
• 30. Iowa Reinvestment District Program.
  Council is being asked to approve a resolution which would authorize staff to submit a final application to Iowa Economic Development Authority for their Reinvestment District program. Last year, the city applied to the and was notified of a provisional award of $10 million, with the final application due this year. The City does not yet have a finalized development agreement for the project we expect to see on Lincoln Way, but the IEDA doesn't require that as part of their final application.
  
  Council had a short discussion about the mention of $30 million TIF in the application. Staff explained that the State only cares that it is a financially feasible project, and by including the TIF reference in the application, it shows the commitment of the City to making the area a more ready project. The application does not lock in the TIF amount for the developer and will have to be negotiated later. Council then moved to authorize staff to submit the final Application to the Iowa Economic Development Authority for the Reinvestment District and include a TIF incentive of up to $30 million with the application (6-0). 
• 32. Hearing on rezoning of 525 SE 16th Street from Agricultural “A” to Highway Oriented Commercial “HOC” and retain the Environmentally Sensitive Area Overlay “O-E” for the floodway.
  This land across from Menards is currently zoned agricultural, and the property owner is asking it be rezoned to HOC. In the Ames Plan 2040, the future land-use designation of this area is as a commercial area, so staff are recommending the rezoning request. Because the property is in the floodway fringe, any buildings have to be built 3 feet ab0ve the 100-year flood level. (Dirt is already being moved on this property.)
  
  
  Council voted to pass the first reading of this ordinance rezoning the property from Agricultural (“A”) to Highway Oriented Commercial (“HOC”) and to retain the Environmentally Sensitive Area Overlay (“O-E”) for the floodway (6-0).
• 33. Hearing on voluntary annexation of 72.99 acres located at 2105 and 2124 Dayton.
  The property owner of 2105 and 2421 Dayton is asking to annex, with the intention of eventually developing this property into small industrial lots. No non-consenting properties would be annexed as a result of this action. 
  
  
  A property owner in the area came to speak and noted that he didn’t have any concerns regarding the annexation, but would like to be kept up-to-date with what is going to happen in the area and that he would like the northwest corner of the annexed property to remain a wooded area. The pre-annexation agreement (requiring the developer to maintain the integrity of the Franklin Township Cemetery on the property) and the annexation both passed 6-0. 
• 34. Hearing on voluntary annexation of property located on the southwest corner of intersection of George Washington Carver and Cameron School Road.
  This annexation was first requested in 2018, and now it is back with a pre-annexation agreement addressing water service, traffic, and sanitary sewer service issues. 
  
  
  Council voted to approve annexation of this property 6-0.

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.
 

• Sculptural Library In Park.
  
  We voted to put this item on a future agenda (6-0).

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