Yeah, and that's the way.

So I said did I use it.

Yes, great.

Yeah.

I do have to talk about it.

Still kind of trying to work.

That's what I think.

So I guess we've heard you know, uh, we can say that's the same.

I'm sorry.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Yes, yeah.

Yes.

Okay.

I didn't actually take it.

They didn't believe they can be some case for something else.

Oh, we only have the time.

So you can't do a screen time.

I don't have advantage on the channel.

Yeah, yes.

I think that yeah, yeah.

I did.

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, I know it's a different side of highest people.

Right.

And I just tried to make sure in what case is whether it's coming to our hands.

Right.

We're gonna burn you right out.

I can't remember.

So I don't have to be there.

This meeting of the Cedar Drabbit City Council will come to order.

Welcome everybody to our city council meeting for Tuesday, February 10th, 2026.

I'll note a few absences today.

Council members Scott Olson and Ann Poe are absent today.

Councilmember Ashley Van Orney had indicated that she may be late to this meeting due to another matter.

I want to welcome as always our city manager, our city clerk, and our city attorney, and thanks to city staff as always for being here.

Available to answer questions by phone or email or here with citizens, should we have them.

And a reminder to those of you here to turn off any cell phones or electronic devices that might distract us from our business today.

And note that all of our meeting agenda, minutes, uh agendas, minutes, videos are always available on our city's website.

And the meeting is also streamed live on Facebook and available on replay.

So we'll begin now with our invocation by public safety chaplain Dennis Miller, followed immediately by our Pledge of Allegiance.

During this African American History Month, my heart thinks of Father Augustus Tolton, a man who is hopefully on his way to becoming a canonized Catholic saint.

He was born in 1854 in Missouri, but raised in Quincy, Illinois, and died in a hospital in Chicago.

He's the first African American Catholic priest in the United States during his ordination ceremony.

We will see it if it deserves that honor.

If America has never seen a black priest, it has to see one now.

Can you drink the cup?

He asked Augustus.

Yes, I can, Tolton replied.

And so we pray.

Creator God who inspired Father Augustus Tolton and countless other African American men and women to serve as leaders in churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship.

They have inspired their people and us to overcome the oppression of slavery, racism, and discrimination.

Continue to inspire us by their witness to be a tireless servant of justice.

May we be their examples of service to the gospel and love of neighbor and bring unity to your people and an end to any racial divisions that still prevent individuals from respecting one another as brothers and sisters created in your image and likeness.

May they who face the struggles of their times be sign of hope, a bright light to face the dark times and struggles in our own.

Amen.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice.

Thank you.

Hi, Anthony.

Anthony Bedder's here to accept the proclamation on behalf of the African American Museum of Iowa.

Whereas Black History Month, also known as African American History Month, is observed each February in the United States as a time to honor and celebrate the history, culture, and contributions of African Americans.

And whereas Black History Month was established in 1926 by historian Dr.

Carter G.

Woodson as a week-long observation uh observance, intentionally aligned with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, and was later expanded in 1976 to encompass the entire month of February.

And whereas African Americans have made profound and lasting contributions to the social, cultural, political, economic, scientific, and artistic development of the United States and the state of Iowa, and whereas the African American Museum of Iowa is dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and sharing the history and culture of African Americans in Iowa and beyond, ensuring that these stories are remembered, honored, and passed on to future generations.

And whereas the museum serves as a vital educational and cultural resource, fostering understanding, dialogue, and appreciation for the achievements, resilience, and lived experiences of black people.

And whereas recognizing Black History Month affirms a commitment to inclusion, historical truth, and the celebration of the diverse voices that continue to shape our communities and our nation.

Now, therefore, I, Tiffany O'Donnell, mayor of Cedar Rapids, on behalf of the entire council to hereby recognize February as Black History Month and encourage the community to engage in reflection, learning, and celebration through exhibitions, programs, and conversations that honor the enduring legacy and ongoing contributions of African Americans.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Did not know I was going to be speaking today, but hey, it is okay.

So, of course, it's Black History Month.

Um, this isn't something that is just relevant for February, right?

This is something that is relevant all year round.

Um, and I appreciate you, Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell and the council um for the proclamation uh for today.

And as the newly board president of the African American Museum, I would say, please visit the African American Museum.

And if you have not donated, and if you enjoy and understand the mission and the vision of preserving the excellence and the uh the teaching of African American history of Iowa, I would please ask you to donate, but most so importantly, come to the museum.

It's very uh newly renovated and it's a great experience.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Nthani.

All right.

Next up, we have a presentation on our homeless systems update.

And Laura Shaw is here to talk about that.

And Janae Peterman, I see with her as well.

Ladies, I'll recognize you both.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Laura Shaw Community Development.

Hey Peterman, Housing Fund for Lynn County.

We're updating on the homeless systems uh initiatives.

So creating a systematic approach to ending homelessness for our community.

Um some of the things that we look at is aligning interventions and resources across programs throughout the community, establishing performance.

Oh my god.

Sorry.

I want to make sure it's on.

It is okay.

Yeah, okay, thank you.

Uh I'll talk, I'll talk more directly on so establishing uh systematic performance measures for all the different um programs that we have and monitoring standards of practice for the programs in our community.

In 2025, the homeless systems uh created some goals, and the goals were to improve coordinated entries response to um resources and response time, increasing housing opportunities throughout our community, creating a standardized street outreach approach, and creating a targeted prevention system.

Um with that, I'm gonna hand that over to Janine.

Okay.

Okay, so I wanted to take a step back here and just look at the things that we accomplished over 2025.

I think we did a lot of really great work.

Um, so one of the things that we did is we developed our homeless systems oversight board, and so they review and analyze community data on a quarterly basis.

Um, they also provide letters of support for programs receiving both local and statewide funding opportunities, um, specifically for programs that address unsheltered homelessness and literal homelessness within our community.

Um, we also developed a the homeless systems roadmap, and so that is our five pillars that are used to guide the work of individual agencies in the system.

Um, also making sure that everybody's working together.

There are champions in each pillar so that people can stay focused on what it is that they do best to really improve those services.

We also developed a lived experience advisory council, um, and that's been really crucial to the work and moving us forward.

Not only have they brought um 50 biometric lockers to our community, so those are currently out at the winter weather shelter, they are going great.

People love them.

We have really wonderful feedback on those.

Um, they also created a street outreach peer support model where they were helping the programs go out and connect with individuals on a different level, helping individuals move their belongings from one spot to another, clean up their spaces, um, or if an encampment was left behind, they would go and help um solid waste clean that up prior to solid waste needing to go out.

Um they took that peer support model and put it into the winter weather shelter.

We have a different staffing model out there this year, so just different policies and procedures.

So we worked with them to develop new policies and procedures, and then they also are on site to help individuals understand those policies and procedures and why things are done differently this year with this new staffing model.

Um, so that's been a great support having them out there helping us with that.

And then they conduct they recently worked with our street medicine providers or that pilot program that we're starting and conducted a community needs assessment to get them to phase one of their program.

So they've done a really a lot of really great work in our community.

Um we developed the landlord.

Sorry, I missed some words in here.

We developed the landlord tenant success initiative um with CRBT.

And so that um we've successfully housed 37 individuals, and prior to going into housing, those individuals were experiencing unsheltered homelessness in our community.

So that made a huge dent in the work that we're doing, and that's been really successful.

Um, and then we developed a community street outreach team.

Um, so with that team, we were able to create a by-name list of each individual experiencing unsheltered homelessness in our community, track their progress, track which services they're connected to, where they're staying on a regular basis, so we can connect with them if they're missing appointments or they have an upcoming appointment that's important that they make it to.

Um, and then through that team, we also responded to 120 encampments that were reported through CRPD.

So that's a great work we did in 2025.

Again, I clearly can't type.

Oh, you know, this is right 2025 point in time data.

I'm like, my years are mixed up.

Um, so I did just finish our 2025 point in time data, and we saw another decrease in homelessness.

So we saw another 12% decrease, which is great.

Um so it shows that what we're doing is working, and these numbers here, this 125 individuals in July and 172 individuals in January.

Um, those are individuals found on sheltered and in an emergency shelter program.

So it's a combination of both.

And then when we look at our unsheltered trends, we did see a stark decrease there, especially in our July count from 111 individuals identified on sheltered to 58.

Um, and then 2023, we saw a slight increase, but that just can be from multitude of things, different weather changes on that day.

They chose not to go into winter weather shelter, things like that.

So that's really great work for the um the street outreach team.

And then I broke this out just so that we can see the population.

It continues to be, and we've seen this over the last decade, it's always typically the same.

The majority of individuals experiencing homelessness are single men.

Um, we did see a slight increase in children this year.

If you remember last year, it was seven percent.

Um, but we did have some very large families in shelter on this night.

So those families attributed to more children in shelters.

Um, I think all both shelters had families with six plus kiddos in them.

So that adjusted our numbers a little bit there.

Um, the winter weather shelter is currently up and going.

So that's a partnership between the city of Cedar Rapids, Lane County, Waypoint, Anaheim Security, Housing Fund for Lane County, and then our lived experience advisory council that are all over helping oversee this the operations this year.

Um, so so far we've served 234 individuals with a nightly average of 66 individuals per night, which is um down from years prior.

And our highest nightly census is 86, and last year our highest nightly census was 110.

So even with those really, really cold nights, we're still seeing fewer individuals than we saw last year, which is a great indication that what we're doing is working and we are seeing that decrease all around.

Um, I will also note I don't have numbers from these agencies, but um, all surrounding counties Waterloo, Des Moines, and Iowa City have all reported that their overflow shelters are at capacity to where they are turning people away.

Um, and we're seeing lower capacity here.

So it's just an indication that what we're something we're doing here in the community is working because we're seeing the opposite, where we're seeing a lower census than we've seen in years past.

Um with our homeless systems roadmap, we're going to continue to focus on those five pillars, which is prevention and diversion, street outreach, housing focus, crisis response, and that is just making sure that our shelters are housing focused.

So once somebody comes into shelter, we're immediately on how focusing on housing solutions, um, increasing access to affordable housing and expanding supportive housing within our community.

We decided not to change our focus.

So that is what we are continuing to into 2026.

We will be focusing on.

And we worked with all of the community providers to really define our goals this year.

So with increasing or improving the coordinated entry time, we're going to provide additional training to the staff, make sure that they really understand resource navigation for people.

Um, we're going to continue to develop a monitoring system so that we can focus on that quality improvement, making sure if somebody calls coordinated entry, they are getting put to the right to resource immediately and not kind of given the runaround at times.

Um, and then identifying improved technology.

So it is a call center, they receive well over 100 calls a day, so we really need to help them improve technology over there because it is very a very manual process, which slows down their response time to individuals.

We want to increase housing opportunities within the community.

So we would like to see the transition of the landlord success pilot move out of that pilot phase and really go into an established program within our community, um, and then develop and facilitate community housing navigation training.

So we are working on a process for all housing housing case managers in the community to receive a standardized training.

That way everybody's operating the exact same through the three agencies that are providing the service.

Um, so I think that that will help also just make sure that it's very transparent across the board in the housing services that people are receiving.

Um we're going to improve our street outreach approach.

And so with within that program this year, we want to see the pace phase one of the street outreach pilot or the street medicine pilot to really begin.

Um, and I think we are on track to start that in April, which is great to start piloting something.

And then we want to formalize a peer support program that not only transfers from unsheltered, but follows individuals into shelter to help them be successful in staying sheltered.

And then once they get housed, how can we wrap that peer support to keep them housed and work through trade um conflict when they're in housing as well?

And then the final thing is targeting that prevention system.

Children experiencing homelessness was we had diversion funding that helped families that had lost housing immediately go into new housing and avoid the shelter system altogether.

That funding no longer exists in the community.

So finding ways with flexible funding to increase that or bring that back to the community is a goal.

Just helping train the coordinated entry team and any provider referring into the coordinated entry team on how to have those diversion conversations with people, not having emergency shelter be that first point of access anybody for anybody going through a housing crisis.

And then working with the school district on a process to identify those really high-risk families that are going to come into shelter and helping them stabilize with wraparound supports and care.

So those are ongoing conversations that have been having with the school district.

And so it's just how do we formalize some type of pilot program to see how that focuses on helping those kiddos move forward.

Yeah, and so with that, I just want to thank everybody for their continued support into the system.

We are excited for the upcoming unlocking solutions event that we'll be having downtown with the downtown partners.

Yeah, it takes us all to really move the needle forward, which we are doing.

So that's all.

Thank you so much.

Council.

Councilmore Overland.

Thank you, Mayor.

I think there's been tremendous progress that has been made since kind of reorganized and took the advice of the National Homeless Organization.

And I'd have to think that Cedar Rapids is being probably one of the most innovative, innovative cities in the country on how to tackle this problem.

And what stands out to me is is that you're really breaking it down to the individual needs of each person.

And I can imagine there's a lot of variation between this person and that person and so on.

And that's probably partly uh why things are improving significantly.

And I think also uh rolling out to uh getting the private sector to assist in uh housing part of this because that is obviously working, and uh see no reason why that shouldn't become a permanent part of the solution.

So I think you all are doing a great job, and I really for on behalf of Cedar Rapids, we're really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Counselor Meyer.

Thank you, Mayor.

Umgratulations on an outstanding 2025 to you and your partners, and the goals for 2026 are really exciting.

Uh, a couple of follow-up questions.

So the lockers that are currently at the winter shelter, were were those where will they be placed when the shelter is no longer open?

So those will stay at the winter weather shelter.

So we are talking about how can we potentially have access throughout the year to those and creating a system for that.

We also have talked to other community partners in the downtown area that are interested in placing lockers on their facility as well to increase access to those.

So that is our goal to bring more lockers and have those more accessible to people.

Great, thanks.

And then you had a slide that showed the partners for the winter shelter.

Why isn't Willis State part of one of the partners with the winter shelter?

Because I thought they did they operate it last year.

They did operate it last year.

Um, this year with staffing changes over there, it they didn't have capacity to be involved with the winter weather shelter this year, so that would be why.

Okay.

Um, and then you mentioned um the one of the goals of 2026 is the response time for the coordinated entry call center.

Is there funding in the Waypoints Capital campaign to improve the capabilities and functionality of that of that call center?

I am not sure.

I know we are talking, they have an RFP out right now for looking at increasing it to actual call center technology, but I don't know about their capital campaign.

Okay.

Um, and then you um talked about the case managers and the three partners or in it.

So it's Waypoint, Willis Daddy, and who's the third?

Is that Foundation Two?

PACAP.

ACAP, okay.

Um and then it was interesting about the the flexible funding sources no longer available to for for diversion program.

What was the source of that funding?

It was ERA, so emergency rental assistance that came through from the pandemic.

Okay.

Yeah.

Pandemic related.

Uh that's it.

Thanks again, and really exciting progress to to you.

And I know this is a uh uh a number of partners that are involved, but thank you for for the results and what you have planned going forward.

Thank you.

Thanks for the support.

Counselor Van Orney.

Yeah, thanks, Mayor.

Um Janae, thank you for the work that you and your teams are doing.

Um, I just wanted to speak to a couple of the points of conversation we discussed at the um housing trust fund for Lynn County um just the other week.

Um as I spoke there, um, you know that um homelessness and addressing uh long-term solutions is a continued council priority for us.

Um, and I just want to make sure that uh we include on some of the objectives some of those discussion points, um, including uh looking collaboratively with the city at some some more iterations of things like the heights that supportive housing.

So um we've brought that up a couple of times.

Um I think it's time to have a second, if not third, uh, for that.

We know that uh that partnership with HACAP is just working phenomenally and was very well received by the uh support services community.

Um, and then also um talking about since the lockers were such a success.

Um, I know that there's an opportunity to get uh they didn't quite meet all the needs that we need, that we still need more lockers when the uh winter shelter is open.

Um so looking for you know, potentially uh public-private partnerships with that um to get more support there.

Uh but then also I think just being diligent that like we have really, you know, we we've got the the top and bottom of the weather spectrum, right?

Really high highs and low lows, um, and really thinking methodically about like whether it's appropriate to have that be year-round, uh, because that does kind of contribute to some of the the uh intermediate um shelter uh as well as like where our people are supposed to store their things.

Um it's so disruptive, of course, if somebody's left their belongings and went to go do something and then they're gone or they're destroyed, or the weather's gotten to them.

Um, and so I think you know, as this continues to be a long-term uh priority for council, uh, just looking at how we can use those resources and and experts like yourself to support our community.

So thanks for all your help with this.

Thank you.

Councilmember Todd.

I'm gonna piggyback piggyback on council member Van Orney's comments.

Um and give council some credit.

Uh this has been about a five-year process, and uh there have been a lot of serious um conversations that Laura and Janae and Jennifer Pratt have had with including the mayor with uh many of our service providers and and uh in terms of trying to create that capacity upstream and projects like the heights and creating more capacity with HAP have certainly helped take some stress off the system, but uh we are being recognized nationwide in terms of what we're doing uh in terms of this front, and you you two deserve a lot of the credit for your leadership on this.

Still got a ways to go.

Uh we know where the pressure points are now, and I would suspect that we're gonna see some movement in those areas here, but uh I know it seems frustrating at times that like we might not be making headway, but we really are preventing people from from uh become becoming homeless.

So thanks for your help on this.

Thank you.

Um since I have you here and people are maybe listening or will listen and watch from home.

What do you say to people who walk past Green Square Park and say, these numbers look great?

I get that they're down.

Yeah.

And what's up with Green Square Park?

Yeah, I think there are two things, right?

Not everybody that's utilizing Green Square Park is experiencing homelessness.

So I think we have to keep that in mind as well.

Okay, so what does that look like?

If you could just dig a little bit into that.

Um I think we have to remember there are a lot of service agencies in the area.

So you have the library, you have Abbey Center, you have a lot of low-income housing around that area, and then you also have the meal site.

So sometimes Green Square Park is a congregate area where people go to just hang out in between going from one place to the other.

So I think we have to keep that in mind.

Um yeah, it's just a very centralized location where all of the services and supports are as well.

So that's the other part of it too, is it's just a central location.

But it is something we are planning on addressing this year.

We're already focusing on it with our lived experience advisory council of how do we really get ahead of things in Green Square Park?

Understanding it's a space for everybody to be able to utilize.

Um, however, it shouldn't be a sleeping space, right?

So, how do we work on that?

Thank you for your candor, appreciate that.

And it's just so clear we have the right people leading the charge on this.

And I'm just gonna echo what my council member colleagues have said.

Um, credit to this council for sticking with it.

Um, because we know this is of the long game.

So thank you for all you're doing.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

All right, we will move on to our public hearings.

So I'll remind everybody who wishes to speak today, whether it's during a public hearing or during the public comment or public input periods of a few matters to ensure we have an orderly meeting.

Remain at the lectern.

If you have documents, please give them to the officer.

She will get them to us.

Um, second, comments are limited to five minutes per speaker, so you'll see lights on the console.

When the light turns yellow, you have one minute.

When it turns red, we'll invite you to take your seat once again.

And be reminded that all comments must be directed to the matter of the public hearing and that abuse of loud, threatening, or irrelevant comments will not be allowed.

And finally, we need to hold an orally meeting.

So we ask for no applause, cheering, booing, or disruptive conduct from the audience.

So we thank you in advance.

Does the clerk have any written comments or um or objections in regard to any of the public hearings on our agenda?

Your Honor, there were no written comments or objections filed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Item number one is a public hearing to consider amending chapter 32 of the municipal code zoning to update zone district, use specific standards, development standards, review and approval procedures, violations and enforcement and definitions.

Haley Sevening is here along with Director Jennifer Pratt.

Ladies, I'll recognize you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

So, in terms of the annual amendment process, this is something staff does annually to make the code easier to read and understand, correct unintended errors or confusion, ensure consistency with adopted city policies and plans.

I'll throw in as well as state uh code, and then proactively respond to issues and trends.

And this is an iterative process, it takes time.

Um, so we try to do it annually, um, but working cross-departmentally just to make sure that we are presenting the best.

In terms of the process itself, it really starts with staff uh working with the zoning advisory group, which is an advisory volunteer board or commission of the city to prioritize and review proposed amendments.

Those are then previewed with the development committee, which in terms of this process happened in October of last year.

And then ultimately the formal process is a review and recommendation from the city planning commission and then a recommendation from the development committee.

Um, for this year's city planning commission did unanimously recommend adoption, and there was not a majority at development committee, so there was no recommendation from them at that time.

And I will just jump in um and give a little more context to what we heard at the development committee because there were some concerns um voiced specifically on the temporary signs in the right-of-way.

Um, and we just want to make it clear that none of that is in the proposed amendments that we're talking about now.

Um, however, we are taking that very seriously.

We have um an innovation team that is looking into that, and we have some ideas of how to move that forward.

Um, in addition, the review of the enforcement practices.

So, again, this is uh how are these issues identified and you know what are those processes to work it through the city?

So we will also be bringing that back to council, but again, none of those um are impacted with the the amendments that we have before you today, but just wanted to clarify that.

So, in terms of the amendments before you today, we generally like to categorize what's being proposed into two categories so cleanup and clarification and then updates.

The cleanup and clarification piece is exactly like it sounds.

Um, it's not really changing what our code says or the requirements of our code, but rather making it easier to use and read and understand.

In terms of the updates, those are more substantial changes that are changing our code requirements, and as a result, may impact the character form of how a site could develop or a use could occur within Cedar Rapids.

So, for the sake of the presentation today, I'm gonna really focus and dive down on those update items or those more substantial changes being proposed to the code.

The first is related to accessory dwelling units, and this is as a result of adopted state code language or Senate file 592, which in summary states that a city shall allow at least one ADU on the same lot as a single family residence, um, but more impactful to Cedar Rapids.

Was that any requirements for ADUs cannot be more restrictive than what we would require for a single family home?

So, in terms of our code requirements, there are three updates that are being proposed.

One is specific to the size limitations for an ADU to allow them up to a thousand square feet or 50% of the single family residence, whichever is larger.

Removal of the requirement for one additional parking space for the ADU specifically, as well as removing a standard that limited entrances to only one per street-facing facade.

And those are the minimum amendments necessary to bring us into compliance with state code.

The next topic is related to commercial service uses.

And these are accessory uses operated for the convenience of users of the building that has a different primary use.

An example of this that I like to use is a gift shop and a hospital.

So that gift shop would be considered that commercial service use or accessory to the hospital itself.

In terms of the amendments, we're really just looking to allow private market to dictate when that accessory use is appropriate.

You can see as the examples here in our code, we have some pretty high level of specificity in terms of when it can be done.

Again, using the hospital as an example containing at least 50 patient rooms.

So the amendment being proposed is to remove those use-specific standards.

The next topic is for vehicle service repair and maintenance.

These amendments are being proposed to align with current internal operations as well as address a conflict with home occupations, which was amended last year.

So looking to remove the registration requirement for folks that are doing this on their properties.

Also adding a prohibition of vehicle service and repair for compensation on residential properties.

So this is really home occupations, not the business side, but the home occupation residential piece.

And then as a result of that, some cleanup and clarification of when it's done on residential property, not for compensation in terms of what that looks like.

The next topic is for alcohol and tobacco uses.

And the proposed amendments here are really to improve enforceability by providing more objectivity for our zoning and enforcement staff.

And this is really as a result of any business owner, developer, interested party that comes in and wants to have an alcohol or tobacco use, has to self-select into one of these levels, level one, level two, or level three.

And at the front end of things, we kind of just have to take their word for it based on how they're describing their business.

And so to allow our staff a greater ability to be able to audit that post implementation, adding language around repeated calls for service, public nuisance violations, complaints of violation, and then reasonable suspicion of violation based on business marketing.

So again, just adding some specificity for our staff there.

This is largely in response to some encode enforcement that's been happening on larger lots where we're seeing fewer visual impacts or minimized impacts because of the size of those lots.

And so looking to permit recreational vehicles to be parked in a front yard, still on a hard surface, but if they're set back 140 feet from the lot line.

The 140 feet comes from a standard lot depth in the core of our community.

So it really is being targeted at those larger lots where we know the impacts to neighbors will be minimized.

The next topic is specific to tree preservation.

This is largely as a result of two years now of administering our new code requirements following the recommendations that came out of the relief cedar rapids plan.

And so most of this is cleanup, but there's a few changes that I wanted to highlight.

The first being a reduction in the minimum tree size from 1.5 inch caliper to one inch.

This is actually in an effort to minimize damage that we're seeing to trees and allow that smaller tree size more time to establish their roots.

We're seeing damage from weather, particularly wind and storm events.

In addition, looking to permit phase tree planting associated with phase development, and that would be required through execution of a tree replacement agreement, which would have some standards around the timing of each phase, the number of trees to be planted, as well as a final plant by date in the case that a third phase, for example, never happens.

Also looking to allow applicants to plant trees off-site when there's insufficient room on site, so just providing a little bit more flexibility for tree planting.

And then finally, also looking to update some of the graphics that depict some of our code requirements.

So the graphic that you see on the screen is actually one of those updated graphics, which is attempting to highlight our planting strips versus a planting island in our parking lots.

The last topic, which is one of the bigger ones, so I have a couple slides on this, is specific to signs.

These proposed amendments are in response to trends in community interests, but also part of our effort again to continue improving our code in terms of administration and enforceability.

So the first proposed amendment is uh related to the repeal of chapter 33E, which is not before you today, um, but this sort of sets the stage for future conversations.

Um, looking to combine that building code section with chapter 32 zoning, um, because right now we have two separate sections on signs.

Um, in some cases, they're contradictory, and our zoning staff is largely responsible for administering all of our signed code requirements.

Um, so looking to clean that up, make it easier to use and understand.

As part of that, also proposing uh to remove the testing requirements that we have for signed contractors and updating insurance requirements.

And then finally, um looking to add a requirement that provides a little bit more detail on what needs to be submitted for permit applications in terms of the sign types, the location, the copy, all of those details.

Continuing with signs, this next um these next two are related to class A signs, which are larger sign types, or roof sign, a freestanding sign, upper wall sign, really targeted at um drawing attention to an entire parcel rather than just a building itself.

Um so looking to permit up to 100 square feet of class A signage for lots with minimal or no street frontage.

Um this is because uh surface area allowances are based on lot frontage.

So in some cases, um we're seeing lots or parcels that have almost no signage allowed there.

And then also adding uh 20-foot height limit on roof signs.

And then finally, to wrap us up related to signs, um, also looking, or we also did a kind of comprehensive review of our temporary and portable sign requirements.

Um, these are specific to private property, as are all of our sign code requirements and zoning.

Um but in terms of temporary signs, looking to update our standards related to sign types permitted, um surface area allotments, uh duration, maximum permitted.

Um, so all these temporary signs would be permitted or require a permit for up to 90 days and two per parcel.

And then in terms of portable signs, um the big one here is uh looking to be permissive of feather signs, an example of which you see on the image on the screen.

Um, one per parcel, 16 square feet maximum, eight feet and height limit.

And we're seeing these around the community, and so looking to permit them in a way that we're still able to maintain enforceability and work with business owners who are interested in that sign type.

In terms of the timeline, um, as stated at the beginning of the presentation, we work with the zoning advisory group.

In this case, it was a number of times throughout 2025.

City Planning Commission in January, followed by development committee.

We are here today at City Council for the public hearing and first reading, and then anticipate a second and possible third reading later this month.

And with that, it's staff's recommendation to approve the ordinance to amend chapter 32 of the municipal code.

Thank you.

This is a time and a place for a public hearing on this matter.

Does anyone here wish to address council?

All right, let the record show a public hearing on this matter has been held with no objections for the record.

That brings us to council.

Councilman Van Orney.

Thanks, Mayor.

Uh, I just want to speak to some of the conversation at the development committee meeting.

Um, with regard to um uh servicing vehicles on property, I I may be uh the lone person here, and if so, that's okay.

Um, but I just know that uh traditionally my district has the lowest median income, uh, which means a lot of people are trying to do a lot of DIY and fixing things themselves.

And I feel really passionately about not further um uh regulating how many cars people can be working on because we already have that rule that says you can't uh fix cars for compensation in your in your property.

I just know that there's been absolutely times in my life where my car was under repair, my dad's car was under repair, and I don't want to hassle uh our residents who are trying to get by as much as possible.

I I just think what that does is it positions us to have neighbors or to create policies rather where neighbors are turning each other in instead of talking to neighbors.

Um, had a really great conversation with Al Pearson just this weekend, uh, and I was talking about exactly this.

And I said, you know, I'm just I'm not gonna turn my neighbors in.

I mean, nobody in in my neighborhood is doing anything so egregious that I feel like they deserve me turning them in for whatever it might be.

Uh, but there will be those neighbors who refuse to talk to one another, and then because this exists, we'll cause those problems that then end up falling back to council to be able to negotiate.

And I just don't want to create policies like that.

Um, I think we need to have a greater allowance.

I believe right now, correct me, Jennifer if I'm wrong.

I think it says one.

Uh, I would like it to say two to just give more flexibility there to be more realistic to what our households are likely going through.

Um, I think that's more compassionate for probably the the reality of what households uh in Cedar Rapids are, just us being a very working class um city.

Um secondly, with alcohol and tobacco sales, uh, really appreciate getting away from that self-select because I think that has been uh historically problematic where people are trying to skirt the rules.

Um, so really appreciate the team's uh ingenuity about changing how that can happen so that we hold people uh greater accountable for the correct category.

But we also spoke about uh the the unresolved issue is zoning about um having greater distance between school areas.

Uh we still have that unresolved.

Um the Cedar Valley um or or Taylor neighborhood um is a really great example of that.

Um, if you look around there, you know, kids are walking, most of them uh are walking themselves home.

Uh there are too many tobacco, too many alcohol uh stores available in their immediate vicinity.

And so we want to look at that.

Uh Kirkwood neighborhood is also a great example of uh what I'd like to improve upon because pretty much everywhere you're walking, there's just too many opportunities there.

And I don't want to put that kind of opportunity um in front of school children.

Um and then just to touch on the signs conversation that got quite passionate was really not on what we were talking about.

Um, but it was an ongoing issue that we sort of touched that same week or within the same week uh uh in public safety, and that's the enforcement of that.

We don't have a good way of actually enforcing the policies that we already have in terms of sign cleanup, and that is because it is that whole uh, you know, reporting.

Thankfully, the city's got bigger priorities in the fact that we are not going around and uh and taking signs out, we're not asking PD to do that, but we do have a problem with people not abiding by the current uh uh ordinances that we have.

And you've got some that are from how many campaigns ago?

Uh or you know, there is one painting company in town that has got them littered all over the city.

Uh, or you have you know, illegal uh puppy sellers that are throughout town that you've got it here, there, and everywhere around uh, you know, any of the roadways.

Um, when it's in that that space, we do have an issue of how do we actually kind of like we talk about with fireworks, how do we actually enforce the rules that we have?

And if we're not gonna do that, then why do we have them at all?

So just wanted to kind of touch on that.

Um, we uh we did not come to a resolution on that, and that's why there was a no vote uh in that, because that was just a lingering and we wanted to address in that moment uh for the purposes of this council meeting, we were not going to be able to solve it in that.

Um so I trust that we will bring this back up in development committee and other uh conversations, but that is why there was that one-to-one.

Councilmember Meyer.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, a couple of questions.

So um one uh is why is a municipal code addressing insurance requirements for contractors and private projects.

I think I was on the slide or um I can't necessarily speak to the history of it.

I might let Jennifer comment on that.

What I can say in terms of the update is that this was a recommendation from RISC to look at.

Um, and the amount was recommended from them.

We did actually have a stakeholder meeting with all of our sign contractors, and none of them batted an eye.

I think they knew that that $300,000 number was outdated.

Um, and last this section of the code had been updated was in the 90s.

So it's part of that update.

Okay.

Um and then can you go forward where you had a picture of the the uh the signs of the height and you had the the height of the signs?

Okay, so the current limit is 50 feet.

So the image that you see here was just depicting an example.

Um, right now for roof signs, the height limit is restricted based on the building height in the zone district.

Typically, that's not an issue where it can become problematic is in a downtown zone district, for example, there is no height restriction on buildings.

And so as a result, theoretically, there's no height limit on signs.

Um, and so just looking to address that issue before it becomes problematic.

Um, we did also take a look at all the roof signs downtown.

Okay.

Um to evaluate that, and that's kind of where that 20-foot number came from.

Okay, so you're you're you're adding clarification, you're not increasing limits.

Okay, correct.

Um, and then the temporary signs.

You know, I found that visual really helpful.

And I just I will follow up offline just to understand like what's changing on the temporary signs and what's required.

I mean, this is a pet peeve of mine.

Um, and so I just want to understand what's what's allowable, what's not.

Um, and then also curious what feedback, if any, you've had from stakeholders who um are very happy or very excited with the signs that they have.

But thank you.

Thanks for the update.

It was extremely helpful.

Yeah, thank you.

Anyone else?

All right, thanks so much.

If there's no further questions, the approval of this ordinance on its first reading has been moved by council member Todd, seconded by council member overland.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And the motion carries thank you, council.

Item number two is a public hearing to consider public comments regarding identification of community development needs, program funding for development of proposed activities and program performance for the community development block grant and home investment partnership programs prior to developing an annual action plan for the period of July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.

Laura Shaw, Crystal Cole, I'll recognize you.

Thank you, Mayor.

So the community development block grant and home annual action plan.

This is our first public hearing.

So the annual action plan identifies the budget allocations for the city for both the community development block grant, the CDBG, and the home funding programs.

It describes the specific activities that we are planning on, or that we will fund.

The projects right now must be consistent with our five-year consolidated plan.

So that allows for affordable housing, homeless services, and then public services, and those all have to focus or support activities for low to moderate um households, low to moderate income households.

So the annual funding is for FY26.

So July 1st of 26th through June 30th of 27.

Um the funding announcement we are expecting later on uh in the spring uh this year.

So we expect that they will be level funding from years past.

So what we're working with for FY25 um currently community development block grant, it has received about 1.1 million dollars or just over, and home has received just over 365,000.

Here you'll see the different categories for C D BG funding, including administrative and planning, public service and then housing and other eligible community needs.

These are all broken down by percentages of how much of the funding is expected to go to each category, including a maximum of 20% to admin planning and 15% to public service with 65% with that for housing and other community needs.

And here you will see the home breakdown, similar.

There is a 10% max for administrative and planning, and then a 15% minimum for CHODOS, which are community housing development organizations, and those are for housing projects.

Uh, and then 65% is remaining for other housing projects.

Now we'll take a look at some of the accomplishments over our last full program year.

Uh, here you will see we spent around 165,000 in public service, uh serving a variety of needs, including shelter and case management, healthcare services, youth programs, and transportation, legal, and other services.

And those uh all help with meeting the council goals of homelessness and housing options and affordability.

And then here you will see some of our affordable housing projects.

We did 22 rehabs or new construction projects, and then seven households receive direct home buyer assistance.

So in January, we held virtual pre-application workshops and sent out the um applications.

So uh today is the first of the two public hearings required.

Um, all applications are due on Friday to our office.

Um staff will then begin reviewing all of those applications for the eligibility.

Um, our next steps will be once the eligibility uh is determined, then we will have uh conduct our grants and program uh committee.

So the um committee will meet sometime in March.

Um, sometime late April, early May, we will have a draft plan that's made available for review and comment from the public.

And then in May or June, we'll have our second public hearing, and city council will be able to uh consider the annual action plan.

Um the timing, so just a little update.

Uh Congress has appropriated the funds.

So now we're just waiting to hear back from HUD to get the specifics on exactly how much we've been allocated.

So that's where we stand right now.

Thank you so much.

This is time to place for public hearing on this matter.

Does anyone wish to address council?

Let the record show a public hearing has been held with no um objections for the record.

That brings us to council.

All right, we have no vote on this, so we'll move on.

Thank you so much.

Uh public hearing now will be held to consider the proposed amendment number nine to the urban renewal plan for the consolidated I-380 corridor urban renewal area.

Scott Mather is here.

Scott, I'll recognize you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council, Scott Mather with the city manager's office.

Uh this is regarding uh consolidated I-380 corridor URA amendment number nine.

Uh so urban renewal plans are required to be updated to reflect specific activities to include infrastructure projects.

Uh consultation with taxing agencies are also required, which occurred on January 26th with no objections or comments.

So today we're here to consider the urban renewal amendment.

Okay, here's a map showing the black outline uh as the existing uh I 380 consolidated URA over here along uh that's in the red is uh area being added, which is 18th Street from Wright Brothers to Walford Road.

Uh that will also involve a project to uh redo the overlay, the asphalt overlay on 18th Street for that entire uh stretch between Wright Brothers and Walford.

Uh this star here along Walford is a about a three quarters of a mile uh improvement on the road from gravel to concrete.

And then this one here along the middle is uh an improvement for the road from Capitol Drive down to Walford Road, and then the one to the north is a planned roundabout.

So these are all these projects that are being included into the URA plan.

So we're here to recommend the approval of amendment number nine to the I-380 corridor URA plan.

Thanks, Scott.

This is the time and place for a public hearing on this.

Does anyone wish to address council?

Let the record show.

Public hearing has been held with no objections for the record.

Council.

All right, seeing nothing.

The adoption of this resolution has been moved by Van Orney, seconded by Overland.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, those opposed say no.

And the motion carries.

Number four is a public hearing to consider the proposed amendment number 10 to the urban renewal plan for the central consolidated urban renewal area.

Scott, I'll recognize you again.

Thank you, Mayor.

So I have uh request to combine uh items four through seven.

We have three development agreements and a URA plan amendment that's all related.

Yes, thank you.

So a little background on the three uh development agreements.

Uh the first one being March 21st of 2021, council accepted a proposal from Eric Gutschmidt for the disposition of city owned property for housing redevelopment along Ellis North Ellis Boulevard Northwest and 8th Street Northwest.

The second one involves uh January 23rd of 2024.

Council uh approved a proposal by Maud Williams, the developer for disposition of city owned land for a housing project at 1319 through 1333 Ellis.

And then the third one, April 23rd of 2024, council authorized local match city incentives in support of KN Properties 15 LLC, entity of Kevin Nike for workforce housing tax credits.

This project was awarded tax credits in 2024.

So as a result, urban renewal plans uh need to be updated to reflect these activities of new economic development projects.

Uh we also need to consult with taxing agencies occurred again on January 26th with no objections.

So today we're here to consider the urban renewal amendment and the three development agreements.

So summary of the first development agreement, uh, Ellis Revitalization Group, uh 3.25 million dollar investment.

It's a mix of 13 residential units involving two triplexes and a detached ADU.

These are all three bedroom, two and a half bath, two-stall attached garages, and then there'll be an additional two duplexes and two detached ADUs with each of the ADUs having a three-stall detached garage.

Uh these are a mix of two and three bedroom units.

Construction to commence later here, September of 26, complete by September of 28.

The standard incentive is a 10-year 100% rebate of increased taxes.

We estimate uh 450,000 in new taxes, of which 375,000 would be rebated.

Just a uh a map showing where this is located.

So we have Ellis Boulevard, I Avenue, and 8th Street Northwest.

And a rendering.

So these over here on the right side, uh, that's Ellis over here, and then I down here.

These are the tree the three plexes, and then over here the duplexes with the ADUs.

The next uh development agreements with Mods Enterprises, L C 1.5 million dollar capital investment, seven total townhouse units, four for rent, three for sale, three bedroom, two and a half bath, two stall garages, and alley paving adjacent to the redevelopment.

Construction would be here in May of 26, complete by May of 27.

Uh, this provides an 11-year 100% rebate of the taxes.

Um estimated 300,000 in total taxes over 11 years, of which 250,000 would be rebated.

Just to note that extra year is to help offset the cost of the alley improvements.

So again, a map showing this location.

We have L Avenue here to the south.

We have M to the north and Ellis.

And so rendering from the street view, and then from the rear.

Last but not least, KN properties 15 LLC is a four million dollar investment for the redevelopment of the former Black Stock Historic Commercial Building.

This would feature a main floor retail slash restaurant, uh, 13 market rate units.

They are in the process of seeking uh historic tax credits.

This would uh construction would begin here in March of 26, complete by the end of December by the end of 2028.

This provides a 10-year 100% rebate with the estimate uh generating about 480,000 in new taxes, of which 275 would be rebated.

Uh just showing a street level view uh as a reminder of this building uh due to the the nature of the historic uh nature with this, there will be very little done to the exterior.

Um I just drove by again today, and that that uh window in the upper left actually has been replaced, but there'll be very, very little done to the exterior.

So a summary of the four agenda items um here to uh recommend approval of the amendment number 10 to the uh central consolidated URA and then agenda items five through seven would be to recommend resolution approving each of those development agreements.

With that, I'll return it back for any questions.

All right, thanks so much.

We'll begin with item number four.

This is a time and a place for a public hearing on this.

Does anyone wish to address council?

Let the record show a public hearing has been held with no objections for the record.

Council.

Councilman Orney.

Uh Scott, can you please present the picture?

Um, I just want to we talk about this a lot on development committee, but uh I I've seen examples of the the white homes.

I I trust that they're going to be of similar quality, but some of the ones that the ADUs rather um don't really have a street front presence, and I know that that continues to be a conversation that is important in development committee.

And so whether it's you know, some people have been uh uh uh intuit, or I guess um inspiring enough to do murals or something like that.

But if there's something that can just help contribute to more of that street frontage right there, um I would just encourage the developers to take a look at that.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right.

If there's no further questions, he adopted this resolution, has been moved by Overlin, seconded by uh Olsen.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, those opposed say no.

And the motion carries now on a number five.

This is the public hearing for the development agreement with Ellis Revitalization Group.

This is a time and a place for a public hearing on this.

Does anyone wish to address council?

All right, let the record show.

Public hearing has been held with no objections for the record.

Council.

All right, seeing none, the adoption of this resolution has been moved by Olson, um, seconded by Hager.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And the motion carries.

Number six was the development agreement with mods enterprises.

This is a time and a place for a public hearing on this.

Does anyone wish to address council?

Let the record show a public hearing has been held with no objections.

Council.

Seeing none, the adoption of this resolution has been moved by Hager, seconded by Meyer.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And the motion carries.

Number seven is the public hearing for the development agreement with KN properties.

This is a time and a place for a public hearing on this.

Does anyone wish to address council?

Let the record show a public hearing has been held with no objections.

Council.

Oh, Councilman Van Ordy.

Thanks, Mayor.

Uh, you know, I think this is really exciting.

There's a lot of small little properties like this that have just been or underutilized for a long time.

Uh, obviously, this used to be the senior center, uh, when it did not become a council uh priority that we inherited.

Um, but I'm really excited that there's gonna be some life back down there, especially um you're saying that there's potential for the upstairs to be uh uh rentals.

Yes.

Great.

Again, this just aligns really well with our downtown vision planning of like getting more bodies down there and the mixed use is great because if you've got something you know down below, then you can utilize that and again just like breathe some of the vibrancy back into downtown, which we really need.

So thank you.

Thank you.

If there's no further questions on this, the adoption of this resolution has been moved by Meyer, seconded by Todd.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Thank you, Scott.

Item number eight is a public hearing to consider the proposed plan, specifications, form of contract, and estimated cost for the South Hoosier Lift Station and Force Main Improvements Project with an estimated cost of four million five hundred thousand dollars.

Ben Morrill is here.

Ben, I'll recognize you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Ben World, Public Works Department.

The South Hoosier lift station as a sanitary sewer pump station.

Uh the purpose of this project is to increase its capacity in order to continue to serve ongoing development on the south side of town.

Uh, you can see the lift station there is located off Walford Road with a force main that extends to the north.

Uh past Prairie High School.

There's also the North Hoosier lift station, which is located near the high school.

With this project, we're going to be bypassing that lift station.

And in doing that, we can actually alleviate capacity issues at both of those lift stations with one project.

Project's been coordinated with college community school district and other impacted property owners.

Engineers' opinion of probable cost is 4,500,000.

Bid letting is scheduled for March 4th.

Construction is expected April through October of next year.

And with minimal traffic impacts, uh, there will be impact to uh road on the west side of Prairie High School.

And so we're requiring the contractor to have that work wrapped up before school starts in the fall.

Public works department recommends approval of the resolution.

Thank you.

Thanks, Ben.

This is the time and a place for public hearing on this.

Does anyone wish to address council?

Let the record show.

Public hearing has been held with no objections.

Council.

Councilman Van Orney.

Ben, can you go back to the picture?

Um, it's so are you planning to access the the southern part of that through Benish Lane?

Yeah, there's a road easement there that's used for ongoing maintenance and operations.

Um, and we have a courtesy letter going out soon uh with notices for adjacent property owners, letting them know that this project is happening.

Yeah, so um I spoke with Jim Benish um this morning, and he said now that there's four different uses, two property owners, the uh Hoosier lift, and then I think there's a fourth one.

Um, and and there's something about specifically that uh gave some more ownership, I think, of the city of maintaining that Benish lane.

Um if that's the case, that their request would be to blacktop that just because with the additional heavy machinery in and out, um, it it does become um uh quite eroded pretty easily.

I know that there's been some treatments they appreciate that, but they are just asking if you can just blacktop it at this point in time.

Uh for reference, it would be probably 300 feet.

Um, so it's not long, but that lane uh does get a lot of traffic on it, just uh from the equipment that needs to access uh that's where the the station is is right at that square.

So uh if you can work with them on that, um I know that both Derek Benish and Jim Benish would appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right.

If there's no other questions, the adoption of this resolution has been moved by Todd, seconded by Van Orney.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And the motion carries.

Here in the city of Cedar Rapids, we have two public comment periods.

The first is a chance for the public to address the city council on any subject pertaining to council actions scheduled for today.

And we don't have anybody signed up to speak.

So we will close out that first public comment period.

City Manager Pomrance, are there any changes to the agenda?

No changes, Your Honor.

Do any council members need to recuse themselves on any agenda items or make changes to the agenda?

Councilmember Hager.

I need to recuse myself for item number 31, please.

All right.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else?

Councilman Rolson.

I'd like to move item 27b to the regular agenda from the consent agenda.

27b to the regular agenda.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right, that move brings us to a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

The approval of the agenda has been moved by Van Orney, seconded by Overland.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And the motion carries.

Thank you, Council.

That brings us to consent agenda.

The approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Overland, seconded by Meyer.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And the motion carries.

Thank you, Council.

We will begin with our regular agenda now, beginning with the polled item 27B.

Councilmember Olson.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I appreciate my uh council's allowing me to make a couple comments on item 27 B.

As everyone knows, it's a memorandum of understanding that the City of Marion has asked for to start a conversation about extending the life of the landfill.

And I just wanted to give some background on that, as well as talk a little bit about the letter that I distributed to you all ahead of the meeting, and that is included in the agenda packet for the Solid Waste Agencies meeting tomorrow to also consider this memorandum of understanding.

We know that controlling our own landfill option keys keeps costs about half lower than if we have to start transferring all of our waste out of the area.

You may have noticed uh some language at the beginning of the memorandum of understanding about operations or the historical operation of the agency and the agency board and the Cedar Rapids representatives on the agency board do not necessarily agree uh with those, which prompted uh the letter that I wrote outlining the facts of the operations of the agency over the past 20 plus years and its successes.

Um, over the last 20 plus years, agency staff has done a great job strengthening the region's waste management, um, particularly in the areas of diversion, um which allow us to preserve space um at the landfill, strategic planning, uh financial strength, um, and its operating um record and the regional partnerships um that it's developed with communities uh within Linn County um and also outside of Linn County.

A lot of detail is provided in the letter, and I'd encourage you to um review it when you have a chance.

Uh for example, space space space is really the the precious commodity.

Um for example, uh Lynn County is the second most populous county in the state, um, but we have uh the fourth highest volume um incoming that's accepted at the landfill.

Um so we're doing a much better job at diverting uh waste from the landfill and making sure that we're preserving um that precious commodity.

Uh the agency board fully supports the great team uh that we have there, um, and we look forward to this conversation uh that we're gonna have with um member cities as well as associate member cities to determine uh how we can best uh preserve the life uh of this precious asset.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you so much.

Uh anyone else on council?

Councilmember Van Orney?

Yeah, thanks, Mayor.

Uh I Councilmember Olson, I fully support um not only your leadership on this, but uh the direction that you've proposed and uh just reinforcing the uh you know attention to detail that you've put in over the years being on this committee.

Um I've seen some conversations about this with our partners saying like if we do this, um, and I don't really see it as as an option.

I think this is the only option is the direction that you have.

And um, so I know that I fully support it.

I I know that we uh there is a litany of uh environmental and um uh action plans that we've have a lot to be proud of here in Lynn County and in Cedar Rapids specifically.

Um so I uh thoroughly trust your leadership on this, and I hope that the rest of the board understands um how important this is uh for us to follow your direction.

Thank you.

Yeah, as a member of that commission with you, um, Councilmember Olson.

Thank you for your leadership on this.

And I just want to second uh my absolute um admiration and respect for Carmen McShane and her team at the Solid Waste Agency.

Um any criticism toward them, I believe is uh is incredibly misguided and maybe even uninformed um based on pure results.

So um I I proudly as well support this resolution and once again thanks, council for your leadership and councilmember Olson for your ongoing leadership there.

Um so we will go ahead.

If there are um any more, no more questions, we'll go ahead and uh have this adoption of the resolution by Councilmember Olson, seconded by Van Orney.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, those opposed say no, and the motion carries thank you.

believe is uh is incredibly misguided and maybe even uninformed um based on pure results so um i i proudly as well support this resolution and once again thanks council for your leadership and council member olson for your ongoing leadership there um so we will go ahead if there are um any more no more questions we'll go ahead and uh have this adoption of the resolution by council member olson seconded by Van Orney all those in favor say aye aye those opposed say no and the motion carries thank you item number 28 is a report on bids uh for the tree of five seasons park and first street northeast two-way conversion project this has an estimated cost of um two million seven hundred ninety thousand dollars rob Davis is here Rob I'll recognize you thank you honor good afternoon mayor city council Rob Davis with the public works department uh some key facts about the project I think the mayor said most of them in the title of it we titled it well uh the tree of five seasons park is being restored for public use after all the flood control system work uh is done uh this spring first street northeast will also be converted to two way from uh north of first avenue uh cost opinion 2.79 million about two thirds of that is coming out of flood control related to the park the project is scheduled to start in the spring and complete it they by the end of the construction season in 26 uh just refreshing a few uh photos here for people's memories this shows uh one lane in each direction with turn lanes at first avenue on first street northeast and then here is a rendering of the park with an overlook if you actually look outside the winter today you can see they're starting the uh form up the overlook over the river uh right now uh on february fourth we received three bids uh they ranged in the base bid from two million three hundred and ninety five thousand nine hundred and seventy seven dollars and forty cents to two million four hundred and sixty one thousand dollars and eight hundred eighty six dollars and eighty cents there were some alternative deducts between five thousand dollars and thirty six thousand three hundred dollars associated with each of those bids and uh staff is currently still reviewing these and we'll make a recommendation for future city council action on these thank you thank you Rob council questions all right no vote on this so we'll move on to item number 29 this is a report on bids for the Cedar Lake amenities playground equipment package this has an estimated cost of six hundred thousand dollars Ben Warrell is here Ben I'll recognize you thank you mayor this project will install a challenge course with playground equipment between Shaver Road and Cedar Lake includes synthetic uh turf surfacing with fall attenuation padding and drainage aggregate there's a separate project that's gonna be going on uh this year that includes the grading concrete work shelter parking lot uh the challenge course and playground will be designed for ADA compliance and the bidders are essentially providing providing proposals uh along with their bids with uh renderings of what the playground would look like a challenge course and uh city staff will then score those proposals based on play value which is a scoring system determined by our parks and community development department so here's a concept drawing of what the facility would look like the main feature here is the challenge course which is essentially an obstacle course that includes start and stop buttons and a timing board uh there's also gonna be a preschool tent climber and a play structure as well so we received bids on February 4th we received three bids uh the low bid was 5960 dollars and thirty five cents the next was five hundred and ninety seven thousand three hundred and sixty two dollars and zero cents and there was a third bidder that had errors in their submission um with a bit over 75 million so uh uh we're reviewing the proposals and again cost is a factor but we're not necessarily just going with the low bidder so we will return to council with the recommendation thank you thank you thanks Ben council any questions council member meyer thank you mayor um Ben so in situations where there is an error in the bid can you go back to them and can they submit can they revise their bid or not uh typically no in this case you know we looked for any obvious you know single error that could easily explain and uh that wasn't the case and so instead of trying to CSI it and figure out what their bid would have should have could have been um we just reject that that bid yeah all right uh we are no vote on this so we'll go ahead and move on thanks Ben okay item number thirty is a report on bids for the Westside Library F F and E project this has an estimated cost of 1,500 thousand dollars Jason Stancliffe is here Jason I will recognize you good afternoon thank you mayor and council members Jason Sank with facility maintenance services I'm here to report on bids for the Westside Library F F and E project the bids were issued on January 14th public hearing was held on the 27th the bids were received and opened on the 28th at 11 a.m estimated cost for the project was 1.5 million the project completion date is set for May 30th of this year there were seven bids received for multiple furniture packages no bids were received for packages 2526 and 27 um the library staff and their consultants are reviewing those packages to see how they want to move forward with those

The bids were issued on January 14th.

Public hearing was held on the 27th.

The bids were received and opened on the 28th at 11 a.m.

Estimated cost for the project was 1.5 million.

The project completion date is set for May 30th of this year.

There were seven bids received for multiple furniture packages.

No bids were received for packages 25, 26, and 27.

The library staff and their consultants are reviewing those packages to see how they want to move forward with those.

The following packages were accepted.

Library Furniture International in the amount of 466,203.60 cents for packages 10, 12, 14, 22, and 23.

Midwest Storage Solutions Incorporated in the amount of 82,8101 penny for packages 11, 17, and 21.

Office Express Office Products and the amount of 160,462.39 cents for packages 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9.

Paragon Interiors in the amount of 74,616 and 82 cents for packages 18 and partial 28.

Peugeot in the amount of 284,609.88 cents for packages 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 24, and another part of 28.

And workspace in the amount of 41,915.82 cents for packages two, six, and eight.

Total amount awarded is 1,110,000 eighteen dollars and fifty-two cents.

Facility maintenance services and the Cedar Rapids Library recommends awarding these packages to these bidders.

That is all.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thanks so much.

Council, any questions on this?

Okay, so we're gonna need to vote on each one of these uh resolutions individually.

So we'll begin with a resolution awarding the contract to um Library Furniture International.

The adoption of this resolution has been moved by Todd, seconded by Van Orney.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And the motion carries.

Next is the resolution awarding and approving the contract with Midwest Storage Solutions.

If there's no further questions, the adoption of this resolution has been moved by Van Orney, seconded by Overland.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Next is the resolution awarding the contract to Office Express Office Products.

Uh this resolution has been moved by Overland, seconded by Olson.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Next is the resolution awarding and approving the contract to Paragon Interiors.

This resolution has been moved by Olson, seconded by Hager.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

And the resolution awarding and approving the contract to Piggott.

Um this resolution has been moved by Hager, seconded by Meyer.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Next we have the approval and awarding of the contract of bond and insurance of workspace.

This resolution has been moved by Meyer, seconded by Todd.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Thank you, Council.

31 is a presentation and resolution authorizing city financial incentives under the historic preservation economic development program for housing redevelopment of the former Garfield Elementary School, which is at 1201 Maplewood Drive Northeast as proposed by Evolution LC, the entity of Steve Emerson.

Scott Mather is here.

Scott, I'll recognize you.

Thank you, Mayor.

We received a request for uh from Evolution LC, an entity of Steve Emerson for standard city incentives for the redevelopment of the former Garfield Elementary School.

The developer purchased the school, the former school in 2024, and is in the process of securing historic tax credits.

Uh they were also awarded Brownfield Grayfield in 2024.

Project qualifies under the historic preservation economic development program.

It is a $7 million capital investment for the mix of one and two bedroom market rate rental units for a total of 30 units.

Construction would begin ideally here later in spring of 26, complete by the end of 2026.

This comes with a standard incentive providing a tenure declining scale exemption of the increased value.

Uh project is expected to generate around 665,000 in total taxes over a 10-year period, of which 240,000 would be exempted.

So map showing the location.

We have Oakland Road here, uh J Avenue here, um, Maplewood Drive, and then on the left hand side to the west, I 380.

And just a street view of the former school.

So today we're here to consider the resolution of support.

If approved, then uh the next step would be to establish the urban revitalization area, providing the mechanism for the exemption.

That'll return back for any questions.

All right, Scott.

Thanks so much.

Council, any questions on this?

Councilman Orney.

Thanks, Mayor.

Uh I really appreciate this project.

Um, I know that I've heard from neighbors who are excited to see what becomes of it and uh are amenable to it becoming um housing.

But I also just want to uh thank Mr.

Emerson for allowing uh the building to be used for training purposes for Cedar Rapids Police Department.

Um I did was able to do some training myself through the uh Citizen uh Police Academy.

So just appreciate the partnership there while we're working on those tax credits.

So thank you.

Anything else?

All right.

If there are no further questions, the adoption of the adoption of this resolution has been moved by Todd, seconded by Van Orney.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

That now brings us to ordinances.

32 is an ordinance amending the Cedar Rapids Central Reinvestment District Plan.

The approval of this ordinance on its second reading has been moved by Van Orney, seconded by Overland.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Thank you, council.

Councilmember Todd.

I move that the rule requiring three readings on three different days be suspended and the ordinance be adopted on its third and final reading.

The adoption of this ordinance on his third and final reading has been moved by Todd, seconded by Van Orney.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

And that closes out our formal business today and brings us to our final public input period.

This is a chance for the public to address um, the residents, property owners, and business owners to address uh city council on any subject pertaining to um business of the council.

If you're not a resident property owner or business owner, you are not invited to speak.

But we do encourage you to email or call council members and staff with your questions and comments.

As with the earlier public comment period, we're here to listen as a counsel.

So I'll remind everybody to stay at the lectern.

Comments are limited to five minutes.

We ask for no abusive, obscene, loud, threatening personal uh comments.

If you've signed up to speak, approach the microphone when called upon.

We have one person set up to speak.

Uh Brittany Henry here to speak on the clock tower.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Um, I'm here to speak on the Czech clock tower, but at the beginning of this, I want to bring it back to the beginning.

Genesis 1 1.

In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth.

Elohim is the Hebrew word for God, the supreme sovereign God.

The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was founded in 1974 and is a Smithsonian affiliate.

It is the home of the Czech clock tower and is one of Cedar Rabbit's top tourist attractions.

In April of 2024, Cedar Rapids broke ground to renovate the clock.

It was reopened on September 27th, 2024, and it was renamed the Burish Immigration Clock Tower.

The astronomical clock tower displays time and information about the sun, moon, and constellations.

Some even showcase the movement of the planets.

And that was built in 1410 and is in Prague.

The Burrish immigration clock tower here in Czech Village is a replica of the Orloi, and it is the only astronomical clock tower in the U.S.

Astronomy is the study of everything in the universe beyond the Earth's atmosphere.

That includes the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars.

Astrology is the belief that the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies and stars can influence people and events.

It is based off the zodiacal placements of the constellations and the celestial bodies and the influence they can have on people and events.

It's divinatory worship.

At one point, I ignorantly and arrogantly worship these things, but Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

He came to set the captives free.

He came to pull us out of darkness and into his wonderful life.

Light.

He is the way, the truth, and the life, and the truth will set you free.

Deuteronomy 419 says, and when you look up at the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the heavenly array.

Do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshipping them, for the Lord your God has apportioned them to all nations under heaven.

In the Bible, there are many accounts of towers and altars of worship for idolatry called high places for false gods that contain the very same things displayed on the Czech clock tower, such as the astronomical astronomical components of the clock tower.

These high places were not only a place of worship, but of child sacrifice, unbridtled sexuality and jolt gender alteration.

Most of them were built for pagan worship to the false god Baal.

He's also affiliated with Ashira and the false god Moloch, who is the false god of child sacrifice.

These false gods are demonic entities which hold many other names in other parts of the world.

This is not worship of God.

And if you are not worshiping God, you are worshiping the devil.

As Bob Dylan said, you gotta serve somebody.

Many of you know the places where this is happening and are either contributing to the wickedness and are being blackmailed and extorted, or you are being coerced to turn a blind eye by bribery and or the fear of man.

All the while you condemn the innocent and acquit the guilty, but the Lord detests both, and he will not leave the guilty unpunished.

In June of 2024, the city of Cedar Rapids placed signs all around the town that said, Welcome is our language, communicating and displaying that this city openly welcomes lifestyles that go against the way God has called us to live, such as same-sex relations.

In the background of that sign is the clock tower.

I want to take a moment to state that there's nothing wrong about those who have chosen to live these lifestyles, because God made mankind in his image.

In him, his image, God made and created them, male and female.

But in our willful rebellion and selfish choices, we have made to live the lives we want, to worship the things we want to create the world we want that have caused us to live shameful lives before a holy God.

I once lived lifestyles similar to this.

But if anyone is in Christ Jesus, a new creation has come.

In the process of conforming to the patterns of this world, the publicly or the public, we have compromised the community and exposed our citizens to unfathomable levels of spiritual warfare and made ourselves deserving of God's wrath.

In ignorance or arrogance or possibly both.

Thank you.

God bless you.

And that will close out our second public input period.

City Manager Pomerance, do you have any communications today?

None today, Your Honor.

Thank you.

There's no further business to come before us.

Council Member Olson moves to adjourn, seconded by Councilmember Overland.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And the motion carries we are adjourned.