Committee of the Whole Meeting

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE City Hall – Council Chambers November 4, 2019 The Committee of the Whole met in the Council Chambers at 5:35 p.m. on November 4, 2019, with the following Committee persons in attendance: Mayor Jim Brown, Tom Blanford, Frank Darrah, Susan deBuhr, Rob Green, Mark Miller, and David Wieland. Daryl Kruse was absent. Staff members attended from all City Departments. Mary Madden and Geoffrey Ferrell with Ferrell Madden attended, as well as members of the community. Mayor Brown called the meeting to order and introduced the first item on the agenda, Downtown Visioning Update. Karen Howard, Planning and Community Services Manager, stated the Downtown Visioning project started last April and the Downtown Vision Plan was presented to the public at an open house meeting on September 25 and discussed by the Planning and Zoning Commission at their meetings in October and recommended for approval. She introduced Mary Madden and Geoffrey Ferrell, who were here to review the Downtown Vision Plan. Mary Madden stated they receive a priority list from the City Council and held public engagement meetings. Geoffrey Ferrell stated they looked at the downtown area of the city and looked at the character not just the use of the area when they prepared the study. He stated they identified nine areas in the study area, each have their own characteristics. He stated there are images of different frontage types for each character area. Mr. Ferrell stated they identified the “missing middle” housing types that would be appropriate in scale for the residential character areas. Illustrations of examples of these building types were shown in the “what if’s” section of the plan. He explained the Vision plan is a guide to complement existing buildings and other public improvements. He reviewed various examples. Ms. Madden stated the draft plan was released in September and they had over 200 visitors to the website and 150 of them downloaded the Vision plan. She stated they amended the initial draft document to emphasize that adaptive re-use of existing buildings is also a goal of the plan. She explained this plan sets the stage for zoning updates for the downtown area. She explained the next step is to adopt the plan on November 18, 2019 and then begin working on zoning code update. Ms. Madden anticipates a draft of the zoning changes to come forward in the spring of 2020. Mayor Brown opened it up for discussion. Frank Darrah asked for example zoning ordinances, especially in the residential zones. Ms. Madden stated they do have examples. Mr. Ferrell stated if developers know the zoning code changes, it shouldn’t be hard for them to comply. Mayor Brown introduced the final item on the agenda, bills and payroll. David Wieland moved to approve the bills and payroll as presented, Rob Green seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. There being no further discussion, Mayor Brown adjourned the meeting at 6:03 p.m. Minutes by Lisa Roeding, Controller/City Treasurer