Committee of the Whole Meeting

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MINUTES City Hall, 220 Clay Street August 18, 2025 The meeting of the Committee of the Whole met at City Hall at 6:15 p.m. on August 18, 2025, with the following Committee persons in attendance: Gil Schultz, Chris Latta, Daryl Kruse (via Teams), Aaron Hawbaker, Dustin Ganfield, Hannah Crisman, and Kelly Dunn. Staff members from all City Departments and members of the community attended in person. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE: Mayor Laudick called the meeting to order and introduced the only item on the Agenda, Trailer Ordinance Amendment. Mayor introduced Building Official Jamie Castle to present clarifications in City code regarding trailers and parking. The referral directed staff to revise the city ordinance removing the prohibitions on parking recreational items such as boats and towable travel trailers on the side and rear yards. Staff recommends a clarifying sentence regarding parking of motorized vehicles on hard surfaces, and non-motorized vehicles may be parked on the side and rear yards while maintaining all other applicable nuisance code requirements. Staff have concerns due to complaints received regularly about parking in side and rear yards; homeowners not being able to park in their yard; size and number of vehicles on the property; amount of yard taken up; and proximity to other properties. Staff’s proposed change include: parking of any motor vehicle on a hard surface except for parking on unapproved surfaces for up to 48 hours in any consecutive 30 days. Non-motorized vehicles must be parked on a hard surface except for 2 non-motorized vehicles smaller than 5’x8’, kayaks, canoes, and bicycles if they are empty and the area around them is maintained. Enclosed trailers, boats, and travel trailers may be parked on unapproved surfaces if it does not exceed 48 hours in any consecutive 30 days. Castle recommended a motion to either continue with the original referral or revise sections of the code for clarification regarding private parking of motorized and non- motorized vehicles. Mayor opened for Council discussion. Ganfield motioned to approve the original referral for clarification and was proposed and Schultz seconded. Councilmembers, staff, and Mayor discussed: clarification of the original referral; the need to clarify what is allowed in rear yards and adjust the side yard while allowing other portions of code to cover nuisances; limiting the number of vehicles and tying it to lot size; increased parking time allowed on unapproved surfaces; clarifying definition of parking area vs parking lot; protecting private property rights; questions about warnings and citations issued; driveway definitions; and safety. Mayor opened for public comment. Craig Fairbanks, Cedar Falls, spoke on the upcoming task force; restricting home ownership principles; paving concerns contributing to stormwater; safety; and the importance of discussing issues directly with neighbors. Mayor opened for further Council discussion. Council members discussed: meeting was requested due to complaints and no resolution with neighbor involved; paving requirements to park in rear yard; screening or fencing; HOA’s; and temporary parking allowances. Mayor requested a motion to move forward with the clarification on parking non-motorized vehicles in the rear yard with a need to revisit temporary parking in the future. Aye: Kruse, Ganfield, Schultz. Nay: Latta, Hawbaker, Crisman, Dunn. Motion failed 3 to 4. Following the vote, Hawbaker moved for further discussion; Latta seconded. There being no further Council or public discussion, Mayor asked for a voice vote on the motion. Aye: Schultz, Latta, Kruse, Hawbaker, Ganfield, Crisman, Dunn. Motion carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. Minutes by Lyndzy Murtha, Administrative Assistant