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. 

A quick note: I was out of town for this meeting, and Corrieri joined the meeting a little late, so vote counts will be out of 4 or 5. 

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.
 

• 42. Progress Report from Sustainability Coordinator regarding FY 2021-22 Activities. Resolution approving Contract with Iowa State University for Sustainability Advisory Services.
  Every year, the Sustainability Coordinator (a shared employee of both ISU and the City) reports back on their activities over the past twelve months. This year, notable achievements included assisting with our Climate Action Plan process, which will continue into the fall. In addition, the Sustainability Coordinator is responsible for organizing the Rummage RAMPage event, assisting with this year's Waste-to-Energy audit, continuing to develop the Smart Business Challenge program, and generally representing ISU and the City at events related to sustainability topics.
  Council moved to accept the report and approve the contract for FY22/23 (4-0).
• 43. FY 2022/23 ASSET Contract for The Bridge Home.
  While funding to the other ASSET agencies was approved last month, staff recommended delaying the allocation of funds for The Bridge Home (TBH) until they were able to meet and discuss details regarding services and costs. Since that meeting, staff and TBH have met and developed a plan for moving forward, so staff are recommending approval of the $144,202 allocation for the 22/23 fiscal year.
  Council moved to unsequester the ASSET funds and approve the allocation for the 22/23 fiscal year (4-0).
• 44. Resolution approving request from Ames NAACP for $1,000 financial commitment to the 2022 Ames Juneteenth Event to be held on Saturday, June 18, at Bandshell Park.
  For this agenda item, Council is being asked to approve $1,000 from our Council Contingency Fund for the 2022 Ames Juneteenth Event. This event will be held on Saturday, June 18th, at the Bandshell Park from 3 p.m. until dusk, and includes family-friendly activities such as arts & crafts, live music, dancing, food vendors, and a movie. Juneteenth (a national holiday since 2021) is a commemoration of the day (June 19, 1865) in which the emancipation proclamation was announced in Galveston, TX, bringing Texans news of the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery.
  Council moved to approve this request from the Ames NAACP (3-1-1, Gartin voting nay, Rollins abstaining). The council also moved to direct staff to contact the NAACP to encourage them to apply for funding in the fall during the standard budget cycle (4-1, Rollins abstaining).
• 45. Memo regarding revising requirement for Iowa State University Representative on Transit Board.
  Due to some restructuring at Iowa State, this item is requested by ISU to change wording requiring a Vice-President to serve on Transit Board to instead require "a Vice President or an equivalent level position".
  Council directed the city attorney to draft the ordinance using the proposed language above (5-0). 
• 46. 2516 Lincoln Way Development Project.
  This easement allows the City to perform future maintenance when necessary on the box culvert which connects College Creek to Lake LaVerne under this property. This culvert runs under four properties, though it is sound enough to withstand development of 2516 Lincoln Way, according to City staff and engineers.
  
  Council moved to approve the storm drain easement for the box culvert (5-0).
• 47. Staff Report on Reduced Medical Parking Rate.
  Currently, the City has two categories of parking requirements for medical facilities. If the facility is over 50,000 square feet, they must provide 5 parking spaces per 1,000 sq ft, and if the facility is smaller than 50,000 sq ft they are required to provide 7 spaces per 1,000 sq ft. Two options are proposed in this staff report...either changing all medical uses to the 5 spots per 1,000 sq ft requirement, or reducing the parking requirement to 5/1,000 sq ft for any buildings under 5,000 sq ft.
  Council moved to reduce the parking requirement for all medical uses to 4 spaces/1,000 sq ft. The motion passed 4-1, Betcher voting nay.
• 51. Hearing on rezoning 3005 - 3125 Grove Avenue and 3209 Duff Avenue from Residential High Density (RH) to Residential Medium Density (RM),
  This change, requested several months ago by the neighboring homeowners association, will reduce the density of this area from high to medium. Notices were sent to property owners, and 12 attended an informational meeting. Most neighboring property owners approve of the switch to RM with the exception of the owner of 3125 Grove, whose letter is attached. This property owner stated that they bought the property with the expectation of being able to construct a mixed-use building with offices on the ground floor, a use which is not allowed under RM zoning. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-0-1 to recommend the rezoning to Council.
  
  Council voted to approve this zoning change on first passage (5-0).

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.
 

• Ped Safety at Somerset.
• Crosswalk.
  Since these first two requests were both surrounding pedestrian safety in Somerset, council asked for a memo from staff to recommend a location along Stange Rd in the Somerset area to install a beacon or other traffic calming measure (5-0). 
• Council Letter Recycle Plastics.
  Council asked to communicate the timing of our Waste to Energy audit to the Climate Action team surrounding this request.
• 2359 210th Street Boone County Land Use.
  Council moved to put this item on a future agenda (4-1, Gartin abstaining for conflict of interest)

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