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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Special Meeting of the Ames City Council 03/17/1992MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL AMES, IOWA MARCH 17, 1992 The Ames City Council met in special session at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, 1992, in the City Council Chambers of the City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue, pursuant to law with Mayor Pro Tem Parks presiding and the following Council Members present: Campbell, Hertz, Hoffman, and Wirth. Mayor Curtis and Council Member Brown were absent. LIQUOR LICENSE FOR THAT PLACE: Moved by Hoffman, seconded by Campbell, to approve an application for a new Class C Liquor License for That Place, 203 Main Street. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. GREEK WEEK: Moved by Campbell, seconded by Hoffman, to approve a request from Greek Week to allow underage people on the premises of The Coliseum and People's Bar and Grill while alcohol is being served on March 25, 1992, from 7:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. LINCOLN WAY AND DAYTON AVENUE INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS: Moved by Hoffman, seconded by Campbell, to adopt RESOLUTION NO. 92-83 amending the bid due date and hearing date for the Lincoln Way and Dayton Avenue Intersection Improvements and Signalization Project and setting them for April 8, 1992, and April 14, 1992, respectively. Roll Call Vote: 5-0. Resolution declared adopted unanimously, signed by the Mayor, and hereby made a portion of these minutes. AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAM: Moved by Wirth, seconded by Hertz, to adopt RESOLUTION NO. 92-84 requesting an extension of the contract with the Iowa Finance Authority in connection with the City's Affordable Housing Program along Ken Maril Road. Roll Call Vote: 5-0. Resolution declared adopted unanimously, signed by the Mayor, and hereby made a portion of these minutes. PUBLIC ART POLICY AND ACQUISITION COMMITTEE: Moved by Campbell, seconded by Hoffman, to approve use of the City Hall on May 3, 1992, by the Public Art Policy and Acquisition Committee for a fund raising event and open house. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. SOFTFORCE, INC.: The item involving SoftForce, Inc. was pulled from the agenda. CONSTRUCTION CODE WORKSHOP: Bob Kindred, Assistant City Manager, introduced the topic of the Building Code for this workshop and reminded those present that the proposal discussed at this meeting represented three years of work on the part of Staff and local Homebuilders and members of the construction trades. Don Newbrough, attorney for the Homebuilders, suggested the following changes for specific sections of the Building Code. Section 5.102(c) - Exclude the word "legal" from this section. Section 5.104(1) - Delete the statement that the Fire Chief or his designee may be present at Board of Appeals meetings if the Fire Code is involved. Section 5.104(5) - Include statement that Board of Appeals shall conduct its hearings so that all interested parties will be given a reasonable opportunity to present his or her views. Section 5.105 - Delete the requirement for contractors to register due to cost and staff time needed. Include requirement for contractors to provide proof of registration with the State and insurance. Section 5.106(2) - Opposed the use of a form provided by the City for permits. Section 5.106(4)(a) - Retain practice of issuing two building permits before public improvements are constructed in subdivisions. Mr. Kindred and Staff addressed these issues. It was determined that the Home Builders would be willing to include the wording pertaining to potential hazard in Section 5.102(c) as well as the mention of a continued use not being dangerous to life. Those present decided to send the wording for this section back to Staff and the Homebuilders to be finalized. Council Member Parks stated his belief that more protection is provided for the homebuilder if the word "legal" is included in this section since without it the definition of what constitutes a hazard could change every time the Building Official changes. Also, homeowners who have a permit for past changes to their homes could lose the protection those permits afford them. Chief Parks indicated his desire to retain the wording in Section 5.104(1) pertaining to the attendance of the Fire Chief or his designee at Board of Appeals meetings because of their specific expertise concerning the Fire Code. Council Member Campbell said that the suggested wording by the Homebuilders for Section 5.104(5), pertaining to a reasonable opportunity being provided to people to speak at meetings is not needed in the Code. Concerning Section 5.104(6)(a), Mr. Kindred said that he would like to retain the wording suggested by Staff because it is taken from the Uniform Building Code. Council Member Parks suggested that the wording about a "reasonable fee" be left out of that section. In Section 5.104(7)(1) the word "administrative" was discussed as part of the Staff proposal. Everyone agreed that the word "administrative" could be retained as long as it meant "procedural". Mr. Kindred stated his desire to adopt procedures for local registration of general contractors in Section 5.105 to be able to control what goes on in Ames. He said that no protection is offered locally by State provisions. Don Jackson, Building Official, stressed the need for a change from the current bonding requirements to a requirement for insurance. He said that there are no plans to charge a fee for contractor registrations. Mr. Kindred concluded that the Staff will work on a proposed form for registration and discuss it with the Homebuilders. In a discussion of Section 5.106(4)(a) Mr. Kindred and Mr. Jackson defended the Staff recommended requirement for public improvements to be in place before any building permits are issued, unless specifically approved by the Municipal Engineer, for safety reasons. They pointed out that this requirement is necessary to allow emergency vehicles to reach structures under construction which is important since that is the most dangerous time for a structure. Mr. Newbrough asked why the present system allowing issuance of two building permits before completion of public improvements should be changed since there haven't been any problems. Hershel Graham, from Midland Homes, spoke in favor of keeping the two permit system for financial reasons. He said that he had no problem with being the person who would have to inform homeowners that they could not move into a completed home until the public improvements were in place. Mr. Kindred suggested that this topic be considered further when the Fire Code is discussed. During a discussion of the validity of permits once issued in Section 5.106(5), Council Member Parks suggested that no change be made in the wording as proposed by Staff since it has worked up to now. The builders in the audience indicated that they believed that if a mistake in a plan was found after a permit had been issued they would have to correct it. They said that there had never been a problem with this matter. COMMENTS: Moved by Hoffman, seconded by Campbell, to set the next Construction Code Workshop for April 7, 1992, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared adopted unanimously. Moved by Campbell, seconded by Wirth, to set May 19, 1992, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. as the date and time for a Construction Code workshop. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared adopted unanimously. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. __________________________________ ______________________________________ Nancy Dionigi, City Clerk Larry R. Curtis, Mayor