City Council Work Session

This past Tuesday night, June 25, the University Heights City Council held a work session and we discussed our Vision of the future of the town, and how the development of the St. Andrew property fits into our vision. I had suggested we have this meeting and laid out some questions, which are in a previous blog post, to begin the discussion.

I offered principles about my vision of the development at the beginning of the meeting and they are:

1. The development should provide the residents a place to gather and interact with each other. I feel it needs to be a place where all residents feel welcome and can have a sense of community togetherness. 
2. The development should be profitable and be a place that most residents feel proud it is part of our community. 
3. The St. Andrew property needs to be included in the tax base of the City of University Heights. It is my firm conviction that this property not be controlled by the University of Iowa 
4. Development at this site should provide diversification of housing for our community. It must not compete with Grandview Condos in terms of price range. 
5. I strongly believe that a community center with limited commercial space is needed to draw more folks into our community as resident owners and provide a city center for all our residents. 

There was lively discussion among councilors about these principles and items that other councilors felt strongly about. Public input was given at the end of the discussion and there were good ideas suggested on several issues. The objective of the meeting was to discuss issues and to gain a better understanding of where each of us as councilors stood on issues. We did not try to reach any binding decisions or even consensus and I do think we all came away with a better understanding and appreciation of each other’s views.

Hopefully this type of meaningful discussion will carry over into our monthly council meetings, so that we can achieve the best result for all the Residents of University Heights. I encourage each of you to come to future council meetings to better understand the issues and provide your input in whatever way you are comfortable.