Bronwyn's Council Preview

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.

• 15. Resolution approving biannual Sustainability Report by Sustainability Coordinator .
  This item falls within the Consent Agenda (items 2-43 of this week's agenda). The Sustainability Coordinator is a shared position between the City of Ames and Iowa State University, and every six months the City gets a progress report. Fun facts from this one:
  • 80+ tons of food waste have been diverted through the free drop-off program at the Resource Recovery Plant since the program's inception.
  • At this year's Rummage Rampage, Ames diverted 71 tons of furniture from the Boone landfill. $49,000 was raised by the 2022 RAMPage, which goes back to local non-profits that volunteer to staff the event. (Next one will be July 28-Aug 5, 2023.)
     
• 20. Resolution approving changes to Smart Energy Rebate Program as proposed by City staff .
  This is the program whereby you can get rebates on higher efficiency appliances, etc. Staff are proposing the following changes:
  • Rebate for mini-split AC/Heater units increases to $500
  • Increased rebate for geothermal systems
  • Increased rebates for solar installations (not in this report, but to be presented in early 2023)
• 42. Resolution approving Minor Final Plat for Compass Subdivision Plat 2 .
  This subdivision seeks to divide the lot pictured below into two lots. 
  
  
   
• 43. Resolution approving Major Final Plat for Domani Subdivision, 2nd Addition .
  This item is for a Planned Residence District for 13 single-family homes south of Oakwood Rd.
  
  
   

• 44. Fitch Family Indoor Aquatic Center:

  a. Resolution authorizing submittal to the Iowa Department of Transportation of an offer to buy property located at 122 North Oak Avenue, Ames, in the amount of $2,900,000
  b. Resolution awarding contract to Story Construction of Ames, Iowa for Construction Management Services, in the amount of $1,392,229
  c. Resolution awarding contract to RDG Planning and Design of Des Moines, Iowa, for Architectural Services in an amount not to exceed $1,783,850.
  These items represent the beginning of the process to procure the land for and construct the Indoor Aquatic Center. The land itself (just north of Lincoln Way and a couple of blocks west of Grand) will cost $2.9 million, and construction management and architectural services account for another $3 million together. 

• 46. Budget Issues/Guidelines .
  This agenda item is an outline of a number of issues that are important for Council to consider before we head into budget season in early 2023. No Council direction is required, rather it is just an informational report, meant to address the following:

  • Factors which may affect the budgeting process, such as state changes in property tax, or our sales tax projections (among other things)

  • Citizen/Organization input on budget issues

  • Gather any early input from Council on specific budget items or service levels
     

• 50. Hearing on rezoning with a Master Plan the property on the Southwest Corner of Cameron School Road and George Washington Carver Avenue from “A” (Agricultural) to “FS-RL” (Suburban Residential Low-Density) and “FS-RM” (Suburban Residential Medium-Density).
  
  This is a request to rezone approximately 85 acres of land to the southwest of Cameron School Road and GW Carver. This area was annexed in 2018, and was considered an "allowable growth area" in the Ames Plan 2040. Some of the site will be reserved to allow for a commercial area, in keeping with more modern philosophies about having services available within walking or biking distance of new neighborhoods. Staff are also recommending that an Environmentally Sensitive Overlay be applied to the floodway area of the property, to help assure further review of any activities that might disturb land in this more sensitive localized area. The report goes on to detail other studies that have been conducted since annexation, such as sewer demand vs capacity and traffic impact. Staff are recommending approval of this Master Plan, as did the Planning and Zoning Commission, by a vote of 5-0.
  
  
   

• 52. First passage of ordinance to amend Municipal Code of the City of Ames, Iowa, by amending Chapter 28, Division 1 for the purpose of establishing a Commercial Electric Vehicle Charging Rate and Updates to the Industrial Time-of-Use Rate.
  These proposed changes are both intended to incentivize the use of electricity at off-peak times. (During the summer especially, the need for electricity for the City peaks in the mid afternoon, and a new peak in energy consumption would be costly because it could potentially require the Electric Utility to expand.) These amendments are designed to encourage charging vehicles (in the case of CyRide, for one example) overnight, or during other off-peak times.

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.
 

• Ames Gilbert Sidewalk .
• Shared Use Path Concern .
• Snowmobile Request .
• Mary Greeley Foundation ARCH Program Request .
• Urban Fringe Plan Letter Gilbert .
• Urban Fringe Plan Board of Supervisors Extension Request .

Thanks for reading,

Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen
Ames City Council, At Large