Rachel's Council Review

As usual for the review, my comments are in 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 (and much more). Note that you can generally click on individual agenda items below to get the full staff report or other explanation.

Hi all,
Due to an e-mail snafu on my part, I wasn't able to get a preview newsletter done for the Council meeting tonight.  You can check out some of the interesting agenda items below, sorry I didn't get a chance to summarize them this week!
 

• 10. Annual 2022 Urban Renewal Report.
  Council approved the Annual Urban Renewal Report as part of the consent agenda, which passed 6-0.
   
• 18. Motion approving/denying renewal of Class C Liquor License with Outdoor Service and Sunday Sales – Outlaws, 2522 Chamberlain Street, Pending Dram Shop Insurance.
  After a number of failed compliance checks, citations of minors on-premises, and a complaint from a former employee, staff recommended denying the 12-month liquor license renewal for Outlaws. Council voted to deny renewal of the liquor license 5-1 (Corrieri voting nay).
• 19. Ames Urban Fringe Plan Update.
  City staff prepared a set of changes to the draft urban fringe plan that would address issues identified by the Board of Supervisors balanced with City priorities. The council reviewed these changes in order to forward a recommendation to Gilbert and Story County on how the City of Ames would support proceeding with finalizing the Fringe Plan Update. If either Gilbert or Story County vote to continue with the Fringe Plan Update process consistent with these recommendations, City and County staff will finalize a Plan and initiate the formal adoption process in January. After discussion and public forum on the topic, council moved to proceed with staff's recommendations, 6-0. 
• 20. LIHTC Proposal for Baker Subdivision for multi-family housing development.
  Council received one proposal to its RFP for the 4% noncompetitive LITHC program for the multifamily on the Baker Subdivision site. However, after staff visited with the applicant about some requested adjustments to the mix of units and overall design, the 4% project proposal ended up being financially infeasible without additional local assistance of approximately $720,000 (on top of the already requested local assistance of 1.8 million in HOME funds). Council moved to decline to accept the proposal and direct staff to prepare an outline for an RFP in December to once again solicit development proposals for this project in January 2023 for the 9% tax credit (for an application to IFA due in the Spring of 2023). The motion passed 6-0.
• 21. Staff Report on Response to West Towne Request for Residential Uses.
  The owner of West Towne is requesting a text amendment to the CCR zone standards to allow for ground level residential units instead of the existing commercial. Back in January, council asked staff to have a conversation with the owner to see if they would be willing to offer some affordable housing units in exchange for rezoning the site, and staff came back with two options that the owner was willing to look further into: opening up all 325 residential units to accept Section 8 vouchers or reserving 4-5 units for a 60% AMI threshold. Council moved to allow the applicant to apply for a text amendment with approval of a Major Site Development Plan and affordable housing plan, and to have staff draft a Developers Agreement for West Towne Apartments LC to open up all 325 residential units to accept Section 8 vouchers. The motion passed 5-1 (Gartin voting nay).
• 22. Staff Report on Residential Solar Zoning Regulations.
  This item is from a citizen request asking to simplify the regulations for solar installations in the city of Ames in order to encourage solar panels and work towards the council's climate action goals. Council moved to delete the standards for Roof Mounted Solar Energy Systems for Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Properties, which passed 6-0. This option simplifies the process for roof mounted solar, but does retain the zoning standards (sizing and location) for wall-mounted and freestanding solar systems.
• 23. Iowa Department of Natural Resources Grant Funding for the Sands-McDorman Land Purchase.
  The City of Ames has been awarded a Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) grant through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The grant is for $200,000 and will help fund the acquisition costs of the Sands-McDorman land for a community park in West Ames. The council approved the grant agreement 6-0.
• 26. Municipal Code of the City of Ames.
  These code changes were requested by Mary Greeley Medical Center in order to align our city ordinances about the Hospital Board of Trustees with the Code of Iowa. Council approved these ordinance changes on first reading 6-0.
   

Thanks for reading,

Rachel Junck

Ames City Council, Ward 4