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HomeMy WebLinkAboutA014 - Excerpts from September 26, 2017 Council Meeting Minutes a c0 - Council Member Gartin reiterated his concern that if the City were to"squeeze the balloon"in one part of town, it will diffuse that pressure to other neighborhoods. Council Member Betcher asked for the definition of a "pre-sale inspection form." Ms. VanMeeteren answered that if the buyer decides that there are too many things that needs to be fixed,they pay the fee,but don't have to follow through with the inspection. People use it almost as a home inspection to see how much it will cost to meet the Code requirements for rentals. Council Member Orazem pointed out that the average length of time that properties are actually on the market is not that long; Ames is one of the "hottest real estate market in the state." Council Member Betcher commented that if the City enacts a moratorium,she wants to make sure that it will have the impact that the Council has intended it to have. Moved by Nelson,seconded by Betcher,to establish a temporary moratorium on issuance of new Rental Letters of Compliance,but amend the proposed Ordinance by deletin thew - sale ins ection form" from Subsection (4) and making it only for the SCAN, Westside, Oak- Wood-Forest, College Cree es addle School, Old Edwards, and Oak Riverside neig or oods. Vote on Motion: 5-1. Voting aye:Beatty-Hansen,Betcher,Gartin,Nelson,Orazem. Voting nay: Corrieri. Motion declared carried. Moved by Nelson, seconded by Betcher, to add a restriction on enlarging rental properties by adding bedrooms to existing rental properties for the same six months,directing that staff take the wording from the Iowa City ordinance. Vote on Motion:5-1. Voting aye:Betcher,Corrieri,Gartin,Nelson,Orazem. Voting nay: Beatty- Hansen. Motion declared carried. Discussion ensued on Transitional Letters of Compliance,which would allow renting a property for up to one year. Council Member Orazem noted that the moratorium would only be for six months. He believes that that time period will give the Ci Mr. Oraze ere wou e a lot of people applying "just in case." Moved by Nelson, seconded by Betcher, to pass on first reading an ordinance establish7six- month moratorium on new Rental Occupancy Permits for single- and two-family ho amended. Roll Call Vote: 5-1. Voting aye: Beatty-Hansen,Betcher, Gartin,Nelson, Orazem. Voting nay: Corrieri. Motion declared carried. erim City Attorney Lambert noted that since amendments had been made to the proposed ordinance,the Council needed to bring the amended Ordinance back for second and third readings. The meeting recessed at 7:53 p.m. and reconvened at 8:03 p.m. PARKING ON KINGSBURY AVENUE:Moved by Corrieri, seconded by Betcher,to pass on second reading an ordinance to allow parking along west side of Kingsbury Avenue. Roll Call Vote: 6-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. HEARING PERTAINING TO THE SALE OF A PORTION OF 1125 MAXWELL 9 7, 2017, as the bid due date and November 14, 2017, as the date of public hearing. Roll Call Vote: 6-0. Motions/Resolutions declared carried/adopted unanimously, signed by the Mayor, and hereby made a portion of these Minutes. PUBLIC FORUM: Merlin Pfannkuch, 1424 Kellogg Avenue,Ames, spoke requesting Council to develop a new policy regarding the City's tax abatement incentives for industries. Mr. Pfannkuch requested the adoption of a policy that would state that no company seeking industrial tax abatement incentives could be offered more than the standard industrial tax abatement of five years unless the company discusses the project with the Council and public first. No one else requested to speak, and the Mayor closed public forum. ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH SIX-MONTH MORATORIUM ON NEW RENTAL OCCUPANCY PERMITS FOR SINGLE AND TWO-FAMILY HOMES:Interim City Attorney Mark Lambert gave background information on the establishment of a moratorium on new Rental Occupancy Permits for single- and two-family homes. Mr. Lambert stated that two motions were adopted the last time this had been discussed. There was an amendment of an ordinance to change the area for a moratorium from the entire City of Ames to certain neighborhoods near the University and to add language to prohibit the issuance of Building Permits within those areas. Within the memo that Mr.Lambert provided for the Mayor and Council,he stated that it would be problematic to describe all streets and boundaries of those neighborhoods. Planning had wanted to do maps,but there is no real way to put a map into the Municipal Code. It was decided to reference a URL and have the maps on the Website.He noted that this had been done at the state level. Mr.Lambert also noted that there is an option of making a motion to add the Colonial Village Neighborhood to the moratorium on the second reading. 7Call atty-Hansen, seconded by Betcher, to amend the moratorium to add the Colonial", Vborhood. R : 6-0. Motion declared carried unanimously.orney—I,am e ayor an Council about the time limit on the / moratorium. He noted that the length of time it has taken to pass the moratorium has already gone into part of the initial six months. If a motion is made to extend until April 30, that will give the Council more time to deliberate ideas. The six months will start once the Ordinance ' s ed. Moved by Gartin, seconded by Betcher,to make April 30, 2017, the date of the termination of the moratorium. Roll Call Vote: 6-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. Moved by Betcher, seconded by Gartin, to pass on second reading the moratorium on new Rental Occupancy Permits for single- and two-family homes, as amended twice. Roll Call Vote: 6-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. 3 _3 Corrieri. Motion carried. Council Member Beatty-Hansen inquired about a house becoming a rental if elderly parents come to live with their children. Ms.VanMeeteren stated that if there was not an exchange of money, it would not be a rental, but if the parents paid the children money, it would be considered a rental. Council Member Beatty-Hansen asked about restrictions on the addition of bedrooms. Council Member Orazem stated that,right now, it is set based on what the house looks like as of January 1, 20 Moved by Beatty-Hansen,seconded by Gartin, to direct for staff to bring back to Council over the period of the moratorium options for limiting the addition of bedrooms. Council Member Corrieri commented that the Council needs to be careful about discouraging people from reinvesting in their property. Vote on Motion: 5-1. Voting Aye:Beatty-Hansen,Betcher,Gartin,Orazem,Nelson. Voting Nay: ,Corrieri. Motion carried. Moved by Betcher, seconded by Gartin, directing staff to prepare a report on options regarding penalties for code violations, the situation of airbnb in relation to rentals and unregistered rental properties and how the City will know about them. Vote on Motion 6-0. Motion carried unanimously. ayor Campbell called a recess at 8:01 p.m. Mayor Campbell reconvened at 8:11 p.m. AQUATIC FACILITIES: Mayor Campbell stated that she received a phone call from the President of the School Board stating that the high school would not be able to legally participate in the Healthy Life Center because it would be off of school property. There is a possibility of having to look at a bond issue. The school did say if the City's bond issue did not pass the school would preserve land for a recreational pool on school property. Keith Abraham,Director of Parks and Recreation,informed the Council of what would be included in the Healthy Life Center as far as aquatics in Option A as listed in the Council Action Form. These will be preliminary numbers but will come back to Council when the planning study is done and final report from RDG is in. Option A- Recreation and wellness pools,with 6 lap lanes,wellness pool and no competitive pool: This option provides a warm water recreation pool that can be used as both a program pool and recreation pool. Some of the uses would be for low level therapy,swim lessons,play structure, and exercise. This pool will not support competitive swimming or diving or true lab swimmers. 10