Committee of the Whole Meeting

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE City Hall – Council Chambers February 18, 2019 The Committee of the Whole met in the Council Chambers at 5:20 p.m. on February 18, 2019, with the following Committee persons in attendance: Mayor Jim Brown, Tom Blanford, Frank Darrah, Susan deBuhr, Rob Green, Daryl Kruse, Mark Miller, and David Wieland. Staff members attended from all City Departments. Mark G. Miller, Gerald Sorensen, Andy Miller with Wantman Group, Inc. (WGI), Tom Nelson with the Waterloo Courier, and other members of the community also attended. Mayor Brown called the meeting to order and introduced the first item on the agenda, Board of Adjustment Interview – Mark G. Miller. Mr. Miller stated this is a reappointment to the Board of Adjustment. He explained he has served nine years. A brief discussion was held. Mayor Brown called the meeting to order and introduced the second item on the agenda, Board of Adjustment Interview – Gerald Sorensen. Mr. Sorensen stated this is a reappointment to the Board of Adjustment. He explained he has served six years. A brief discussion was held. Mayor Brown introduced the third item on the agenda, the Downtown Parking Study. Andy Miller with WGI gave a presentation to review the parking study information. He stated this presentation will be similar to the public information meeting which was held in January. He explained the process started in October and included an online survey in which 2,683 surveys were received. He reviewed parking violations and stated the City’s handhelds are compatible with LPR and pay-by-mobile technology platforms. He reviewed the parking in the downtown area at various times, including lunch times, peak evening, and after 8:00 p.m. He reviewed parking occupancy counts for two different dates; October 25-26 and December 6-7. He stated maximum efficiency is 85% occupancy and the City is in line with this. Mr. Miller reviewed the new developments and their standalone parking lots. He explained after review, the number of parking stalls is adequate when he analyzed using the Urban Land Institute rating scale. He reviewed the number of parking spots in the downtown area and also reviewed the parking restrictions in the downtown corridor and what modifications could take place. He stated there is a possibility to add additional parallel parking spots along some of the downtown streets. Mr. Miller stated he reviewed other cities of comparable size; however he found no good comparison. He also reviewed the street scape improvement plan. Mr. Miller reviewed a list of recommendations he developed when completing the study; stating he is using them as a planning guide for short-term, mid-term, and long-term recommendations. Mayor Brown opened it up for discussion from Council. Mr. Miller answered questions with regards to parking time restrictions for specific businesses, utilizing private parking lots, enforcement time changes to include evenings and weekends, parking kiosks instead of meters, and differences in overnight parking permits from day time permits. Mayor Brown opened it up for comments from the public. Rosemary Beach 5018 Sage Road asked about additional handicapped parking. Mr. Miller stated this could be reviewed during the downtown street scape improvements. LeAnn Saul of 1825 W. Greenhill Road commented on mass transit’s effect on the parking study. Mr. Miller stated there is a .2% use of public transit to get to work and stated Cedar Falls is not a public transit community like other cities in Iowa. Eashaan Vajpeyi of 3831 Convair Lane commented that new developments should be reviewed for parking requirements. Ivan Wieland of 2216 W. 3rd Street commented the downtown is oversaturated with restaurants and bars. Kevin Rogers, City Attorney, stated we could not limit the type of commerce. Deb Iehl of 4219 East Park Road commented she would like the 2-hour parking to remain next to Agape Physical Therapy as it works well with their patron’s appointments. She also stated additional lighting should be looked at on a few streets. Carol Lilly with Community Main Street looked forward to working with the City and is happy about the parking study. Jennifer Rodenbeck, Director of Finance and Business Operations, stated the next steps would be for ordinance changes to be made and be presented at the Council meeting. Frank Darrah motioned to approve the downtown parking study findings and to direct staff to precede ahead with the proposed implementation recommendations. Mark Miller seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Mayor Brown introduced the final item on the agenda, bills and payroll. Daryl Kruse moved to approve the bills as presented, Rob Green seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. There being no further discussion, Mayor Brown adjourned the meeting at 6:41 p.m. Minutes by Lisa Roeding, Controller/City Treasurer