HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/16/1989CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES
October 16, 1989
6:15 p.m.
Large Conference Room
Members present: Mayor McKinley, Wright, Dell, Brown, Fox,
Angel, Budak.
Moved by Angel, seconded by Fox that the Agenda, as proposed, be
approved. Motion carried.
Members of the Gateway Committee were introduced including Craig
Shirey, Chairperson, Renata Sack, Jan Guthrie, Sue Fleege, and
Craig Ritland. The Gateway Committee, appointed by Mayor
McKinley, is responsible for reviewing the Relocated U.S. Highway
218 Corridor and recommending to the City Council a long-range
development plan providing comprehensive and reasonable
regulations within the corridor. The Committee has been working
with many requests within the corridor and will soon be bringing
an ordinance to the City Council for adoption dealing with
development within the corridor.
The Committee has been reviewing a proposed urban design
agreement with Rundell Ernstberger & Associates and recommend its
subsequent approval by the City Council. The designer will
review the proposed highway improvements and make recommendations
as to how the corridor should look, both on public and private
property. They will also make recommendations on adjacent
property to the corridor. They will prepare preliminary design
documents and prepare estimated costs. These cost will be
reflected in future capital improvement programs and also will be
presented to the Iowa Department of Transportation for possible
funding.
Craig Ritland, member of the Gateway Committee, stated that the
focus of the design agreement will be to create a positive visual
image of our City from the highway.
Budak now present at 6:20 p.m.
Mr. Ritland stated that the RUDAT Team that was in Waterloo in
July 1989 did provide valuable input by providing a form for
public input into the highway process, heightening the
community's interest concerning the highway, and amplifying the
need to hire an urban design planner. Five firms were contacted
prior to the recommendation to hire Rundell Ernstberger &
Associates from Muncie, Indiana.
The Gateway Committee has also been exploring the possibility of
instituting an interim planning overlay district (I -POD). This
will be a landscaping ordinance that will be referred to the
Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission and the City Council
designating the types of planting along the corridor, the
locations, and various other landscaping items. The Gateway
Committee is also recommending that the Council approve the
adoption of a maintenance agreement that will provide the
enforcement mechanism for property owners in the care of their
landscape features.
Mayor McKinley stated that the recommendations presented by the
Gateway Committee are cutting new ground that has never been
tried in other cities. Craig Ritland complimented all parties
for the cooperation that has been shown by those who have
requested to build within the moratorium area and by the City.
City Council Work Session
October 16, 1989
Page 2
Councilperson Brown questioned the cost of the design contract,
which is $50,000 plus a maximum of $12,000 in expenses. He
stated that he thought the RUDAT Team had recommended a study
ranging in cost from $20,000 to $30,000. Don Temeyer, Planning
and Development Director, stated that the study recommended by
the RUDAT Team was to look at the possibility of redesigning the
highway. This was done cooperatively by INRCOG and the City of
Waterloo at no cost. Their assessment was to proceed with
existing design plans. This agreement would be paid out of
engineering services from the Interstate Substitution account and
will provide specific recommendations on public art, signage,
landscaping, etc.
No official action was taken by the City Council on this matter.
With no further business before the Council, the meeting was
adjourned.
Larry P. Burger
City Clerk/Auditor