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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - CCC Minutes 09/25/17MI NUTE S CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY COMMISSION Conference Room 135 City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue Monday, September 25, 2017 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:02 p.m. by Chair Karin Chitty. Members present were Eric Abrams, Cody Smith, Robert Bingham, and Tom Lindsley. Pete Englin, Warren Madden, and Evelyn Beavers were not present. Staff member Brian Phillips was also present. Member of the public Kody Olson was present. Approval of Minutes from August 28, 2017 Meeting It was moved by Eric, seconded by Rob, to approve the minutes from the August 28, 2017, Commission meeting. Motion carried unanimously. Commission Members Warren Madden and Evelyn Beavers arrived at 6:06 p.m. Public Forum No one was present for Public Forum. City Council Meeting Follow-up and Preparation of Action Plans: a. Campustown Plaza: Brian provided a document to aid the Commission in framing out the issue. Karin asked whether there was agreement to address this issue by the Commission, not through a task force. Rob suggested that feedback should be gathered from City staff regarding utilities in that space for starters. A task force might be useful later on. Cody agreed. Tom suggested it might be useful later on to create one, but with clear guidance. Warren stated the first question is to decide what is it we want to do. Maybe there are other locations that fit those activities better. Evelyn suggested that knowing some of the future plans for Campustown are helpful to understand, too. Rob asked if the discussion should be limited to properties currently owned by the City. Eric asked if there had been a needs assessment for a space in Campustown. Tom mentioned he was aware of a Design class that had looked at a project to modify a portion of Chamberlain Avenue. Warren noted there has been a variety of planning studies and documents prepared over the years that envision these kinds of things. Cody offered three questions: 1) What do we want from the space? ISU Student Government has started a town hall project that could gather some feedback from students. 2) Where is the space? 3) What is the timeline? Karin suggested that there is enough support for a space. The Commission does not need to prove the need for the space. She suggested the Commission should brainstorm what the key components are, then go to groups and ask for further suggestions and feedback. Rob suggested the Commission go back and discuss with various constituency groups what the desires are, then consolidate them together and evaluate them. Cody said he wanted to know what each Commission member’s constituent group wants to see. For example, he suggested Campustown for students is a place to get lunch, to live, to have ownership in the community. Highlighting the campus and community relationship is important there. He suggested looking at what students can use that are also of interest to others in the area. He had asked some students what they would like, and they suggested ideas such as seating areas or a grilling area. Eric asked what the “wish” was for the number of people to put in this space. Brian provided some background on how the City viewed neighborhood and community park service areas, as a comparison. Kody asked what kind time of day the activities in the space would take place. Warren stated he felt like it could be used for day or night, and all seasons of the year. Cody said he envisioned this as a space similar to Tom Evans Plaza. Eric asked if there need to be restrooms as a part of the open space, too. Rob asked what pending developments might affect the project. Cody asked if a map of City properties in the Campustown area could be provided. He also suggested holding a listening session to gather feedback, perhaps in the Council Chambers. Karin recommended getting feedback first from City staff. Brian suggested staff advice regarding safety, electric infrastructure, planning, and a map of City-owned properties would be helpful at the next meeting. Eric left the meeting at 7:13 p.m. Warren felt that there should first be a list of the kind of activities that should be evaluated. Karin said she wanted an event space. Rob stated he wanted green space with trees, to allow activities that take place in the natural areas of campus to migrate off campus, such as hammocking. Cody suggested grilling spaces would be cool. He also pointed out that permanent hammocks could be an option. He also suggested concert space. Tom asked if there were features that could appeal to non- student community members as well, such as a splash pad for kids. Rob pointed out that at 2:00 a.m., the clientele would be different than in the early afternoon. Karin suggested some active space that could be used for multiple purposes would be desirable. Tom asked whether spaces could exist for food vendors to set up. Rob noted that all of the things he wanted in a space would be ideally located in the space formerly occupied by Battles Barbecue. Evelyn noted that one of the things yet to be crystallized is the size of the space. Is it a space for 100 or a space for 1,000? Cody left the meeting at 7:33 p.m. Commissioner Comments Tom noted that it might be valuable to timebox the agenda items, since several commissioners had other commitments that caused them to leave early. He proposed an hour and a half limit to the meeting. Rob noted the tenant/landlord relations issue brought up before the Council. He wanted to make further inroads into that. Adjournment Cody moved the meeting be adjourned. The meeting adjourned at 7:37 p.m.