City Council to Meet on April 26, 2022

Included in each City Council information packet is a memo from the City Administrator offering a summary and context of items appearing on the agenda. We will begin publishing these memos here in our news feed to make them more accessible. You can sign up to be notified of news items, agendas and more by email.

This meeting will be held in person and may be accessed live by the public in person or on the internet. 

This meeting may be accessed live by the public in person or on the internet at at northlibertyiowa.org/live, on Facebook at facebook.com/northliberty or on YouTube at youtube.com/ northliberty. Meetings are rebroadcast on cable and available on-demand on northlibertyiowa.org/meetings.

Consent Agenda

The following items are on the consent agenda and included in the packet:

• City Council Minutes (04/12/22)
• Claims
• March 2022 Revenues
• Pay Application # 1, Dubuque Street Phase 1 Project, All American Concrete, $120,576.47
• Pay Application # 12, Ranshaw Way, Phase 5 Project, Peterson Contractors, Inc., $132,457.13

Jones Boulevard Extension Project

Bids for the project were accepted on April 19. Four bids were received for the project. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $2,328,991.25. The low bid was $2,238,571.48 from Schrader Excavating and Grading. Previously, this contractor completed the Main Street Project for the City. Staff and Shive-Hattery recommend award of the contract to Schrader Excavating and Grading.

Community Center Roof Replacement Project

The City received nine bids on April 7 for the Community Center Roof Replacement Project. The low bidder was T & K Roofing with Base Bid 1 amount $274,600 and Base Bid 2 amount $264,000. This bid is below the engineer’s estimate for the project. There were several irregularities with several bids. With advisement from the City Attorney, the irregularities were deemed immaterial. Staff and Shive-Hattery recommend award of the contract to T & K Roofing.

Liberty Centre Easement

As part of the development of Penn Street Landing on Community Drive, a storm water drainage easement needs to be relocated to run between the buildings being erected. This agreement contemplates the granting of a new drainage easement to the City, and the transfer of the City’s existing easement back to the owner, dissolving it. Staff recommends approval.

Storm Water GIS Project

In October 2020, the City entered into a contract with SAM, LLC for GPS Mapping and GIS Development relating to the water and sewer utility systems. In the recently approved FY 2023 budget, the next phase of the GPS/GIS program was approved. SAM, LLC has offered a proposal for Storm Water GPS Mapping and GIS Development in the amount of $190,000. This will complete GIS mapping of existing infrastructure city wide. This project does not pertain to the City’s impervious surface mapping effort, which is a separate project. City staff has fully embraced the mapping already completed and uses it with much more convenience and ease.

The Preserve Part 2A

The developer for the Preserve Part 2A has requested a reduction in the size of developed area for this phase of the project. This reduction means that the acreage and costs for development have changed, which requires the execution of a different Developer’s Agreement. This Amended and Restated agreement will replace the existing agreement already approved by Council. Staff recommends approval.

The public improvements for The Preserve, Part 2A, which includes 11 single-unit zero lot line lots (22 units) adjacent to St. Andrews Drive, have been completed and inspected.

The final plat is consistent with the approved preliminary plat. Staff recommends approval of the final plat.

Liberty Villas Rezoning

Daniel & Rhonda Bernacki Revocable Trust is requesting a zoning map amendment from C-2-A Highway Commercial District and I-1 Light Industrial District to RS-6 Single-Unit Residence District (19.73 acres) and RM-12 PAD Multi-Unit Residence District Planned Area Development (5.91 acres) – east side of North Dubuque Street approximately 185’ south of Scales Bend Road – to facilitate development as a residential subdivision. The PAD is being sought is allow the townhomes within the multi-family portion of the development to construct individual curb cuts along a public street, which is not currently permitted in the Off-Street Parking Ordinance. It is staff’s opinion that residential development would be more compatible with the area due to the residential and school development that has occurred after Centro, Inc. since 1990. City staff is requesting that the Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use be amended from Commercial and Industrial to Residential so the requested zoning would achieve consistency with the Future Land Use Map. As the new Comprehensive Plan gets developed, the Industrial Future Land Use and industrial zoning west of Ranshaw Way will be more closely examined as well.

Two good neighbor meetings were held on February 14, 2022 and March 22, 2022. Several concerns were noted and are contained in the Planning Commission staff report. There is one verbal objection to the request. Staff is cognizant that “fitting the last piece of the puzzle” is important and the feedback received will need to be considered when the subdivision is designed. Staff is committed to maintaining an open dialog with surrounding property owners should the rezoning be approved. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the request at its April 5, 2022 meeting. Staff recommends approval as well.

Reprecincting Ordinance

The Office of the Secretary of State has final oversight concerning the drawing of municipal voting precincts, and has chosen to impose certain changes to the voting precinct plans established by several cities in Johnson County, including North Liberty. The changes to North Liberty’s precincts relate to the fact that a portion of the City west of Interstate 380 is situated in a different state legislative district than the rest of the City, and that several of the census blocks created by the Census Bureau did not properly account for annexations. The changes imposed will mean that certain voters situated in Johnson County will cast ballots for County offices at North Liberty voting precincts. The management of the ballots and precincts will continue to be handled by the County Auditor’s office. State law requires that the City enter into an agreement with the County to formalize this arrangement, and to enact the ordinance amendments imposed as quickly as is practicable. Staff accordingly recommends approval of the amendment and the agreement, including waiver of the standard requirement of two meetings before final action.

Zoning Ordinance Amendment, Second Reading

This minor amendment to the Zoning Code proposed by City staff addresses oversights and scrivener errors discovered after the most recent large Zoning Code update. Specifically, the amendments address overhead doors, residential garage size and corrects two code references. These mini-amendments are common with large updates and staff anticipates there will be subsequent requested changes. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the Ordinance at its April 5, 2022 meeting. Staff recommends approval as well.

Matnic Rezoning, Third and Final Reading

Matnic, LLC – located at the northeast corner of North Front Street and Jaro Way – is requesting a rezoning from RS-3 Single-Unit Residence District to RM-21 Multi-Unit Residence District. The applicant has indicated that the rezoning is to facilitate redevelopment of the property with two 12-unit multi-family buildings and a detached garage. There is RM-21 zoning to the north and west and RM-8 to the east and south. The RM-8 was recently approved by the City Council for the property to the east and south. The RM-8 zoned development contains 20 units on 4.10 acres. The applicant is part owner of this development and is not able to combine this and subject property due to the ownership structure. However, when analyzed from a density perspective, the density of the two developments would be 44 units on 5.58 acres or 7.89 units to the acre. There have been some concerns expressed of the demolition of the existing residence. This property is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Even if it were, the property owner would be entitled under Federal and City regulations to demolish the building. Staff has received one objection from the property owner located at 110 Jefferson Lane. The property owner expressed that he would like for the property to developed with single-unit residences. A good neighbor meeting was held on February 10, 2022. Two people attended the meeting and had general questions about the proposed development. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the request at 3/1/2022 meeting. Staff recommends approval as well.