Hello All

This council meeting starts at 7:00. There are several items of interest on the agenda including:

• Item 30 -- Report on preserving Carr Pool for one year.   Several weeks ago the council directed city staff to report back to council on what the impact would be to delay demolition of Carr Pool (See Ames365.com story). The city staff recommends having Carr Pool ready for next summer (in case of construction delays on the Aquatics Center).
• Item 32 -- Intersection Improvements at 13th Street and Grand Avenue.  The council directed staff to go ahead on improvements to the 13th and Grand intersection. These improvements consisted mainly of replacing the stop lights. This new stop light technology improves the intersection's current worse case delay of about 210 seconds to a projected worse case delay of about 45 seconds (See comments of Sept. 11th 2007).  The city is purchasing easements on that intersection for the improvements. The question before council now is whether to purchase three of the properties at 13th and Grand in addition to the easements. The property owners are willing sellers at this time. The city owning these properties would make any future improvements easier. However, the city would need to manage the properties and find the funds to buy them.
• Item 40 -- Downtown Facade Grant Program (part1 and part2). The Facade Grant program gives downtown businesses up to $15,000 for front facade improvements. The proposal before council is to modify the guidelines to encourage greater compliance with the given city design parameters. The guidelines could also be modified to include some newer structures (built after 1950 or so).
• Item 41 -- Downtown Urban Revitalization Area (tax abatement). As part of the Downtown Facade Grant Program the city offers tax abatement on the value of the building improvement. This item proposes to expand the area eligible. The city has had an abatement request just outside the downtown area (the west end of main for Wheatsfield's new location). This expansion would address this request.
• Item 42 -- Update on Downtown Catalyst Project. The proposed catalyst project is the restoration of the Town Center Building. The city is negotiating with the developer. The developer is asking for up to two years of rent support. The city would use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) on the Town Center Building to off set some of the cost of a downtown parking ramp. The TIF would still likely leave a short fall in the range of  $1,500,000 to $2,200,000 that the city will need to cover for a ramp. This item would hire a consultant to get a more precise cost for the ramp. The crux of the developer negotiation is what is the 'catalyst' business that this project will attract to downtown.
• Item 43 -- Bus service to Iowa City .  Iowa City Hospitals are often the only location for some specialized medical services for the uninsured. This bus service is for day trips to Iowa City for the low/no income uninsured. This service is needed in our community.
• Item 44 -- Ridgeport Wind Project.  The city utility is moving forward in it's effort to purchase and/or have an equity stake in local wind energy.

Those are the expected highlights.

Jim Popken
City Council At Large

Disclaimer: My intent of this communication is to give you a heads up on items coming to the city council. I may state some of my impressions and leanings here. I will, however, try to avoid staking out a position on issues before the council meeting occurs. I feel that I should avoid committing to any positions until I have heard and considered all the public input at the council meeting before a vote.

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