More City Council News

After input from the city attorney and Parkview Terrace resident Mary Murphy, the Iowa City Council deferred a vote concerning the Taft Speedway Flood Mitigation study Tuesday night. The project would have authorized HDR Inc. to provide engineering services in determining the effects of raising streets between 4 and 15 feet, and if doing so would be beneficial for the Taft Speedway during flooding. City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes told the council that the state wants the city to look at expanding the area to include Parkview Terrace. The council will address the resolution that would approve the $84,550 Community Development Block Grant for the flood mitigation project at its Aug. 2 meeting.

The council unanimously passed the final vote needed to enact a $75 permit fee to sell products and require trash receptacles during University of Iowa football game days for vendors along Melrose Avenue in designated areas along Kinnick Stadium. Although the new ordinance will prohibit those vendors from the sale of alcohol, council members expressed concern about the exemption of organizations like the Magic Bus to the no-alcohol rule. Melrose Neighborhood Representative Jean Walker also addressed the city council Tuesday night in a last attempt to ban turkey legs and shish kabob sticks that posed a neighborhood threat to the safety of pets and wildlife. Mayor Matt Hayek said they had received her letter of amendments and had addressed most of the amendments, including the turkey legs and shish kabob sticks left on lawns, which would be addressed through the increase of trash receptacles during game days. 

Councilors Connie Champion and Mike Wright voiced their displeasure at dropping the amount granted to the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center with "no" votes in a resolution that passed. The resolution approves a one-year grant agreement for $70,000, down from $75,000, to support community outreach programming, senior center television and the senior nutrition and home delivered meal program serving older adults throughout the county. "It's kind of sad," Champion said. "The senior center isn't getting any cheaper to run."

The council approved a resolution to provide urban design and consulting services for an update in downtown improvements and the redevelopment of the Riverfront Crossings District. The total cost of design and consulting services is $164,440, funded by a $50,000 CDBG Smart Planning Grant, $57,000 in budgeting set aside for planning consultant services and $57,440 in budgeting for the Riverfront Crossings Capital Improvements.

Looking into the cost and impacts of converting the one-way Washington Street that travels through the downtown back into a two-way street was also given a nod by the council.