HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - March 7, 2024, Special Meeting of the Ames City Council1.Citywide Urban Revitalization Area Plan Notification
a. Resolution approving property owner notices and waiving occupant notification for a April
9, 2024 Public Hearing Date
b. Resolution approving authorization of $8,500 from Council Contingency to pay for
notification costs
AGENDA
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL
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MARCH 7, 2024
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CALL TO ORDER: 3:00 p.m.
PLANNING AND HOUSING:
DISPOSITION OF COMMUNICATIONS TO COUNCIL:
COUNCIL COMMENTS:
ADJOURNMENT:
Please note that this agenda may be changed up to 24 hours before the meeting time as provided
by Section 21.4(2), Code of Iowa.
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ITEM #:1
DATE:03-07-24
DEPT:P & H
SUBJECT:CITY-WIDE URBAN REVITALIZATION AREA PLAN NOTIFICATION
COUNCIL ACTION FORM
BACKGROUND:
City Council directed staff on February 27th to proceed with establishing a Urban Revitalization Area
(URA) Plan to encourage construction of additional housing within the City of Ames by offering a five-
year partial property tax abatement incentive for owner-occupied residential housing units. At this
meeting, the City Council ask staff to establish in the URA for the entire City if it is feasible under the
requirements of Iowa Code 404. At that time, staff noted that April 9th would be the planned public
hearing date. Staff has continued to review the public hearing requirements and findings required to
approve a URA and believe the City can meet a finding in support creating additional housing city-wide
rather than on in individual development area basis.
State law requires setting a date of public hearing for approval of a proposed URA Plan and includes
prescribed notification requirements. Defining the URA as the entire City does not change the
notification requirements. The City must publish notice 30 days before the hearing in the Ames
Tribune and it must provide mailed notification to all property owners within the proposed
boundary of the URA 30 days prior to the hearing. Additionally, a URA requires mailed
notification of occupants, but allows for City Council to waiver this requirement in some
circumstances.
City staff has created a property owner mailing list using Assessor records. After removing duplicate
ownership records, there are just under 13,000 individual property owners of residential, commercial,
and industrial properties in the City. The notification costs for a public hearing notice postcard mailed
to these properties is estimated at up to $8,500. Creating an occupant mailing list is more
challenging than an owner notification, because there is not a single database of commercial,
industrial, residential tenants and occupants. Just based upon rental registration of properties,
approximately 16,000 occupant notices plus commercial properties would be required. Staff
believes that without a city-wide database of occupant information, that it is impracticable to
provide mailed notice to each property occupant in the City. If the program was more targeted to
specific areas, occupancy notification would be easier to verify and complete as has been
traditionally done when establishing URAs.
Staff requests that City Council approve waiving the mailed notice requirement under 404.2(3)
due to an incomplete notification list. Additionally, the proposed URA Plan does not plan for
displacement of tenants and has no measures for relocation where advanced notice would be
beneficial at this time.
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ALTERNATIVES:
1. Set the date of Public Hearing as April 9th for the city-wide Urban Renewal Area Plan, waive mailed
public hearing notification requirements for occupants, and designate funding for the URA Plan in the
amount of up to $8,500 from City Council Contingency.
2. Set a date for a public hearing of April 24th or later, direct staff to investigate further how to create a
reliable occupant notification mailing lists, and proceed with notification for a later date.
CITY MANAGER'S RECOMMENDED ACTION:
With City Council's direction from February 27th to establish the URA on a city-wide basis, staff has
already committed to printing the property owner notifications as well as publishing notice in the
newspaper. By holding the public hearing on the proposed plan as early as possible, the property tax
incentive program will be in place for owner-occupied residential dwellings completed after approval of
the plan. In order to take advantage of the houses currently being constructed, staff will be asking the
City Council to approve on three reading the proposed Urban Revitalization Area and Plan on April 9th.
Staff believes continuing to work on notification of occupants in addition to property owners is not
warranted at this time and desires to proceed with the planned published notice and owner mailed
notices for a hearing on April 9th. Notification must be provided no later than March 9th to meet the
minimum 30-day requirements of Iowa Code. Therefore, it is the recommendation of the City Manager
that the City Council approve Alternative 1, thereby setting the date of Public Hearing as April 9th for
the city-wide Urban Renewal Area Plan, waiving mailed public hearing notification requirements for
occupants, and designating funding for the URA Plan in the amount of up to $8,500 from City Council
Contingency.
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