May/June Events!

May and June are busy months in U-Heights, here are some upcoming events:

Graduation Weekend May 13-15 

• With UI commencement and end of term Melrose Ave. westbound will be be open this weekend

Bike to Work Week May 15-20

•  U-Heights Bike to Work Breakfast will be WED. MAY 18 6:30 to 8:30 AM at City Office
• Full BWW activities can be found here: Think Bicycles! BWW 2016

U-Heights Concert/ Dance Party  

• SAT. May 21, 1 to 3 PM 200 block of Koser Ave.

 

City-Wide GARAGE SALE June 4, 8 AM to Noon 

• How does this work?
  This is just like a conventional garage sale or yard sale. You can put your items for sale in your garage, porch, driveway, or in your yard. You run your sale independently. Having many University Heights garage sales all on one day will drive more traffic to your sale and give you an opportunity to check out your neighbors' sales at the same time.
• Do I need to pay anything?
  No. The City of University Heights will advertise the city-wide garage sale and put out large signs before the sale. All you have to do be ready on Saturday, June 4th at 8:00 a.m.

Farmer's Market June 7, 4 PM to 7 PM

• New location: University Club parking lot
  New times 4-7 PM
  
  
   
  
  

January Council Meeting Summary

Dear fellow U-Heights citizens,

City Council held their first meeting of 2015 Tuesday night, below are some highlights, for more information check the Jan. 13 Agenda & attachments.

New St. Andrew Site concept design presented

Developer Jeff Maxwell presented a revised concept design for One University Place with a 3 story commercial/residential building in front building and five story residential back building. Major changes presented included asking for an increase of residential units from 85 to 120, but staying within earlier building sizes, so that units will be smaller, and for more surface parking for the commercial property. Total commercial space would be reduced 5,00 square feet. The changes noted above would require a zoning change which would require a public hearing . I will write more about this on the blog later this week.

 One University Place info

Sidewalk Repairs Scheduled

The sidewalks east of Sunset and south of Melrose were inspected last fall. Homeowners needing to make repairs will be notified by letter later this month. After much discussion last month and this, the city will help to coordinate repairs for any homeowners not wishing to engage their own contractor. Information will also be posted on the city website. Repairs will need to be completed by July 20, 2015.

Mark Your Calendars!

Major events are quickly approaching.

• Affordable Housing City Council Work Session Jan 19th 6 PM City Office, 1004 Melrose
• Tower Court Park Renovation Meeting Jan. 24 10 AM Oaknoll
• Zoning Study City Council Work Session Feb. 2nd 6 PM City Office, 1004 Melrose
• City Council Regular Meeting Feb. 10th 7 PM Place to be determined
• Annual Spring Clean Up Day SATURDAY APRIL 25th 9-noon
• Arbor Day Tree Planting Ceremony SUNDAY APRIL 26th
• City-Wide Garage Sale SATURDAY JUNE 6th throughout town
• Farmer's Market starts TUESDAY JUNE 2nd

September Council Meeting Summary

9/10/13
Council held their regular September meeting tonight. Here are some highlights:

• There will be pavement panel replacement on Oakcrest near the Sunset intersection on Tuesday and Wednesday Sept. 17-18 School  buses will be re-routed and please expect detours.
• Jim Lane shared budget history and trends for city finances. We are showing a trend of city expenses growing at a faster rate than city revenues over the past 6 years. That information will be posted on the city website next week
• Please look below for information about a Focus Group meeting next WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

Community Focus Meeting 9/18/13 7:00 PM
University Club 1360 Melrose

A meeting will be held to gather community reaction to three proposed scenarios for future development at St. Andrew Church site. All are invited
Childcare will be available onsite, please RSVP with number of children and their ages to virginia.graham.miller@gmail.com

From Mayor Louise From:

Candidate Forum: If members of the community would like to sponsor a City Council Candidate’s Forum, I would be happy to assist in finding a location for it to be held. Let me know if you want my assistance.
louise-from@university-heights.org

 

Sunset Wide Sidewalk

The weather has remained hot and dry, so installation of sod has been pushed back to at least the beginning of next week. The other planned change is to move up the tree planting date by about 2 weeks to coincide with the laying of the sod. This will allow the contractor to plant/mulch the trees first and then sod around them, and also allows them

to complete their tree and sod watering together during each watering visit.

Farmer's Market

LAST MARKET OF THE SEASON: OCTOBER 1st  from 5:00 to 7:00 PM

Fresh produces, home made baked goods, brick oven pizza and more. St. Andrew Church parking lot at the corner of Melrose and Sunset. Come by and enjoy the fun.

It is a great pleasure to serve as your city councilor, if you have questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me.

-Mike Haverkamp
 315 Golfview Ave.

Walkability from the Other End of the Age Spectrum Too!

 Last week I looked at the importance of walk-ability for senior citizens. Here's yet another blogpost from the SMART GROWTH America blog feed that looks at why the millennials value walk-ability as well:

Why Young Adults are Returning to the City

The final four paragraphs really hit home with me:

This generation looked around their home towns and saw something missing. They found that something in neglected historic urban centers. After 2000, when the Millennials began to leave home, cities had hit bottom and were on the way up. Crime had peaked in the early 1990s and was dramatically falling off in many cities.

 

Moreover, the Echo Boomers went to college. Millennials are the most educated generation in history. As Christopher Leinberger has reported, Washington DC has the most educated populace in the nation, and the highest demand for walkable urban centers. The higher the education level, the greater the demand for urban living, he says.

 

Millennials grew up in far suburbs in the 1980s and 1990s, and then lived in walkable college neighborhoods for four years. Along with a taste for urban living, they also had acquired the highest levels of student debt in history, which puts a damper on their appetite for car and house loans.

 

But the biggest incentive may be their peers. They want to go to walkable places, because that’s where their friends are. The tide has shifted and it’s carrying 80 million people inward. This generation doesn’t want to go back to the ‘burbs.

Robert Steuteville is editor and publisher of Better! Cities & Towns. This article appears in the August print issue.

The two points I highlighted above are very pertinent. University Heights has the highest level of education attainment in Johnson County, we are seeing more younger citizens move into our town, and with them come a greater desire for walkable amenities. I was struck at last Tuesday's Farmer's Market how many young people where present and how many of them stayed beyond shopping to socialize and have dinner. It seemed to me that many had walked or biked to the market.

Farmer's Market a Smashing Success!

I'll admit I was nervous this morning about the Farmer's Market. In an email I sent to city residents, I tried to lower expectations, saying there won't be much produce. Another local area market last week only had 5 vendors.  A brand new market could not hope to have more success than that, could it?

I couldn't have been more wrong. 13 vendors showed up tonight, and not only that, so did our community, in numbers not seen since the University Heights Diamond Jubilee parade in 2010.

The pizza vendor sold out. Both pie vendors sold out. The egg lady sold out of 25 dozen eggs. The cookie vendors sold out. Every vendor was happy, the customers were happy. It couldn't have been better. (Well maybe it could have, if it were less damp, but it never really rained between 5:00 and 7:00)

People came early and stayed late. It was an event. I watched our neighbors stop and visit with each other. I couldn't have been prouder. The tables and chairs were always full with people eating and talking. Young and old listened to live music. Kudos to Mayor Louise From for her tireless organizational efforts. Additional kudos to Pastor Matt Paul and the St. Andrew Session for agreeing to let the city host the market on their property.

I saw people enjoying themselves tonight who have been opposed to re-developing the St. Andrew Church site. Much of their opposition has been to a mixed use commercial and residential development. Maybe tonight was a gentle persuader of what could happen for our town if we had a small commercial center...

St; Andrew was not the first choice for the market location. Since the University Club is closed Mondays, Mayor From went to the University of Iowa first to ask if the market could be there. The University politely declined, citing liability risks that they didn't want to incur. I hope that people consider this as we move forward in looking at this property. If it is developed privately we will control how it develops, AND the city would reap the tax benefits of private property. If the University ends up owning the parcel we lose all control and potential revenue.

NEXT MARKET JULY 2nd! Come be a part of great event!

May City Council Meeting Summary

From: Mike Haverkamp <mikehaverkamp1960@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, May 15, 2013 at 12:08 AM
Subject: U-Heights May Council Meeting Summary
To: Mike Haverkamp <mikehaverkamp1960@gmail.com>

Dear Fellow U-Heights Residents,

Council met tonight for our regular May  meeting. Here are some highlights:

Farmer's Market

Council approved ordinances and resolutions paving the way for a monthly Farmer's Market on first Tuesdays from June- October. The market will be from 5-7 PM at the St. Andrew Church front parking lot. Look here for more information Farmer's Market. Kudos to Mayor Louise From for her hard work to get this going!

Sunset Wide Sidewalk

Council got an update regarding the Sunset Wide Sidewalk project. Preliminary work has begun and will continue for 45 working days. Issues with visibility at intersections and sidewalks being blocked by signage have been identified and addressed. See the latest information here: Sidewalk Update #2. These updates will be occurring weekly and are posted on the U-Heights homepage on Sunday night/Monday morning. A PDF of the entire project can be found as well.

One University Place

Developer Jeff Maxwell came to council and requested to renew negotiations for the mixed commercial/residential  development on the current St. Andrew Church Site. This project is known as One University Place. I think it would be fair to say that public input regarding this was heated. The developer will present a timeline of the proposal to date at the June council meeting. That information will be posted to the U-Heights homepage a week prior to the meeting. Remember that webstreaming (look under "government" tab) and video on demand versions of this council meetings will be available in the next week to 10 days or so. This might be a good meeting to watch. I will be soliciting citizens' thoughts on this project as it progresses.

For even more U-Heights related information visit UH Forward. This is a spot where I post articles that are meant to be thought provoking and interesting. Take a look and consider subscribing to this as well. Your comments there are encouraged and appreciated.

As you plan charitable gifts please consider the University Heights Community Foundation

It is a great honor to serve as your city councilor, if you have any questions or comments I look forward to hearing from you.

-Mike Haverkamp

 315 Golfview Ave.