Sanitary sewer rate increase

Bronwyn's Council Preview

 

YOU MAY VIEW THE MEETING ONLINE AT THE FOLLOWING SITES:
https://www.youtube.com/ameschannel12
https://www.cityofames.org/channel12
or watch the meeting live on Mediacom Channel 12

 

Usually some of the agenda items will have a period where members of the public may briefly speak to Council.
TO REACH THE MAYOR AND ENTIRE CITY COUNCIL:
Send email to MayorCouncil@AmesCityCouncil.org
(Note that emails to elected officials are generally subject to Iowa Open Records requests)
 

The Ames City Council meeting is at 6 p.m. at City Hall.   The regular council meeting agenda (part 1)  and agenda (part 2) includes the following. Note that you can generally click on individual agenda items below to get the full staff report or other explanation.

• 1. Motion approving Draft FY 2025 Transportation Planning Work Program and setting May 28, 2024, as date of public hearing.
  This document is an annual work plan, showing major transportation related categories and projects for each in the next year.
  
  
• 2. Hearing on Final FFY 2025-2029 Passenger Transportation Plan.
  This will update the PTP (Passenger Transportation Plan) for CyRide. It was first presented in February, and has undergone its public comment period (no public comments were received).
  
  
• 25. Resolution Approving Geothermal Easement Agreements for Baker Subdivision.
  This item deals with easements for the geothermal systems in the Baker Subdivision. If you remember, in 2020, in an effort toward sustainability, Council directed staff to pursue a geothermal installation at the Baker Subdivision (between State Ave. and S Wilmoth Ave.). At first, we had hoped for a shared system between all the single-family lots, but ultimately bids were too expensive, and instead we pursued geothermal wells on each site. 
  
  
• 27. Discussion of Text Amendments for Housing Development and Subdivision Standards and General Zoning Standards Flexibility.
  Council gets many requests to modify zoning and subdivision standards on a case-by-case basis, and we recently asked staff if there would be ways to make our systems more flexible, so some of these case-by-case requests could be handled at the staff level. Staff recommend a zoning ordinance update, though this is a time-consuming project, and would need to be put into the Planning Department's work plan. In addition, staff recommend a review of our Conservation Overlay system, especially given some recent State legislation that may affect how Cities oversee stormwater control.
  
  
• 28. Resolution approving amendment to the Option Agreement for the sale of Lot 27 to Townhomes At Creekside, LLP (Affiliated with Hatch Development Group) in conjunction with a Development Agreement for a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) application for Multi-Family Housing Development within Baker Subdivision.
  This item is the next step towards a multi-family low-income housing development at the Baker Subdivision. This updated development agreement includes language about the geothermal installation (mentioned previously), and would dedicate an additional $300,000 of City HOME funding to the project. 
  
  
• 29. Update on Parks and Recreation Project Plan.
  This is an update on a timeline of all the Parks projects in the works, including (but not limited to) 
  -The Steven L. Schainker Plaza
  -Bandshell improvements
  -Community Center upgrades
  -Ontario Park (new parkland) master planning
  -Fitch Family Indoor Aquatic center construction
  
  
• 35. Staff presentation on FY 2024/25 sanitary sewer rate increase.
  The presentation linked in this staff report shows a history of rates in Ames, as well as the state and national trends of increasing water and sewer rates. This rate increase will be 7%, effective July 1, 2024.
  
  
• 36. Resolution authorizing the Mayor to sign a Letter of Support to Polk County, Iowa for the Central Iowa Priority Climate Action Plan Implementation funding through Phase II of the US Environmental Protection Agency Carbon Pollution Reduction Grant in the amount of $49,999,999.
  Several counties in central Iowa, including Polk, Guthrie, Dallas, Madison, Jasper, Warren, and Story are working together to submit a grant request to the EPA. The focus of the grant will be to assist in residential energy reduction, through winterization and other improvements to residential properties. 
  
  

Communications to Council: The following items are requests and communications to Council that aren't published on the agenda, so we won't deliberate them substantially.  This includes staff reports and communications or requests from constituents and developers. Typically, Council will ask city staff for more information, put the item on a future agenda for deliberation and possible action, or just accept the communication, taking no further action.

• Game day special event parking.
  
• Train noise near AHS .
  
• Play Ames Imagine Your City final report spring2023 .
• Kiwanis paper donation trailer.
  

Thanks for reading,
Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen
Ames City Council, Ward 1

 

 

 

Bronwyn's Council Preview

 

YOU MAY VIEW THE MEETING ONLINE AT THE FOLLOWING SITES:
https://www.youtube.com/ameschannel12
https://www.cityofames.org/channel12
or watch the meeting live on Mediacom Channel 12

 

Usually some of the agenda items will have a period where members of the public may briefly speak to Council.
TO REACH THE MAYOR AND ENTIRE CITY COUNCIL:
Send email to MayorCouncil@AmesCityCouncil.org
(Note that emails to elected officials are generally subject to Iowa Open Records requests)
 

The Ames City Council meeting is at 6 p.m. at City Hall.   The regular council meeting agenda includes the following. Note that you can generally click on individual agenda items below to get the full staff report or other explanation.

 

• 24. Staff Report on CYTown Development.
  For several years now, ISU has been developing the concept of CyTown, a commercial/residential/entertainment district at the Iowa State Center. Not only do they believe it will add a vibrancy to the area, it is also the mechanism by which they can fund much-needed renovations to the main four buildings at the Iowa State Center. (Hilton, Scheman, Fisher, and C.Y. Stephens). The City's concerns with CyTown were two-fold. First, the university doesn't pay property tax. Second, per State code, they aren't allowed to compete with the private sector in certain ways. In order to come to a compromise on these issues, a Memorandum of Understanding is being proposed, which outlines responsibilities for maintenance and establishes a payment-in-lieux-of-tax (PILOT) to be paid to the City. For the first two decades, this PILOT would be reinvested in the ISU Center, and then would gradually revert to the City. 
  Council isn't being asked to make any decisions at this meeting, rather this is just information to digest for now. We'll be discussing this topic at a future meeting, likely in April. 
   

• 25. Motion approving City Council Values, Goals, and Tasks for January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025.
  This is a follow up to our goal setting meeting from 1/6/2024. Staff are asking for clarification on two items. One is a goal referencing a specific Community and Regional Planning class, and staff are asking if Council would like to change it to more general language about public engagement. The second question relates to Council's interest in encouraging the Transit (CyRide) Board to pursue "fare-free" CyRide. After clarification on these two issues, Council will be asked to confirm these goals. 

Communications to Council: The following items are requests and communications to Council that aren't published on the agenda, so we won't deliberate them substantially.  This includes staff reports and communications or requests from constituents and developers. Typically, Council will ask city staff for more information, put the item on a future agenda for deliberation and possible action, or just accept the communication, taking no further action.
 

• Board and Commission Appointment Criteria.

Thanks for reading,
Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen
Ames City Council, Ward 1