Lights in the Heights!

LIGHTS IN THE HEIGHTS 

The City of University Heights is sponsoring their FIRST New Year’s Eve luminary walk: “Lights In The Heights.” The wide sidewalks on Melrose Ave and Sunset St will be lit with luminary candles. Neighbors and friends are encouraged to walk this aisle of lights and welcome in the New Year in style!

Volunteers are also needed to help set up the lights, if interested please see below.

TIME: set-up at 2 pm; 5 pm-12 pm lights on; about 1,400 luminaries involved

GOAL: Lights on both sides of SUNSET AND MELROSE

NEEDED: Sponsors & LOTS OF VOLUNTEERS to set-up kiddo-friendly volunteer tasks

COORDINATORS:

Louise From (354-1433) & Silvia Quezada (354-3854)

louise@university-heights.org 

silvia@university-heights.org

 
VOLUNTEERS PARTY: hot cocoa and goodies at Louise’s (207 Monroe St)

December Council Meeting Summary

Dear fellow U-Heights citizens,

City Council held their regular December meeting tonight. Here are some highlights:

Potential Development Information
Jim Lane reported an update on One University Place/ St. Andrew site that the developer and the church are still negotiating over purchase details. When that is completed it would be expected that council would then be able to evaluate a PUD (Planned Unit Development) agreement and determine if the city would participate in possible financing (TIF or bonding or something else?) It was also reported that no one on council has heard anything from the GG Land Group since their October public meeting. It appears they may no longer be interested in pursuing a development.
 

Sidewalk Issues Discussed
Council approved Resolution 14-34 regarding sidewalk repairs. Much discussion ensued about how to make this easier for owners. This fall sidewalks east of Sunset and south of Melrose were inspected. Homeowners needing to make repairs will be notified by letter in January. Information will also be posted on the city website. Repairs will need to be completed by July 15, 2015. Also since snow will be coming again, it's a good idea to take a look at Virginia Miller's Winter Sidewalk Reminders.
 

Zoning Commission Work Continues
The Zoning Commission has met 8 times since council implemented the building moratorium in September. Chair Pat Yeggy talked about a possible change to limit the size of new construction and additions via a lot coverage method, such as is used in Iowa City and Coralville. Please look at the Zoning Commission Page. Agendas and minutes so far are listed there. If you have comments or questions, contact Pat at the above link. Zoning Commission will next meet 12/10/14 at 7 PM in the City Office, 1004 Melrose Ave.
 

New Year's Eve Luminary Event
Mayor Louise From and Councilor Silvia Quezada are working on "Lights in the Heights" on New Year's Eve by putting out candle luminaries along Sunset Ave and Melrose sidewalks. If you would like to volunteer to help with this contact silvia@university-heights.org.

For more information about tonight's meeting read Dec. 9th Agenda and attachments

Upcoming Events:
Dec. 10th– Zoning Commission 7:00 PM City Office
Dec 31st– 1st Annual U-Heights Light the Heights Walk Sunset and Melrose's lighted sidewalks!
Jan. 6th – Christmas Tree Pick Up 7:00 AM with regular garbage pick up.
Jan. 13th – Christmas Tree Pick Up 7:00 AM with regular garbage pick up.
Jan. 13th – City Council Meeting 7:00 PM Location yet determined

Please accept my warmest wishes for this holiday season, and for a wonderful 2015!

 

Follow University Heights on Twitter
Consider contributing to the University Heights Community Fund
I also write a blog covering U-H and other timely topics, with my opinions expressed UHForward.blogspot.com

As always it is a pleasure to serve as your city councilor. 

 

-Mike

Keeping an Eye on IC

As has been reported in the Press Citizen this week, the City of Iowa City will be exploring the possibility of a Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) vote. This has major implications for U-Heights. to find what I've said about this before, find "LOST" from the topic list at the right.

The P-C story is here: Iowa City officials talk adding local option sales tax

When all of Johnson County voted on LOST in 2009, University Heights passed their measure with 80% support. As stated on the ballot at the time, money would be used for wide sidewalk projects and other purposes. Both the Melrose and Sunset wide sidewalks were constructed with 20% of funding coming from LOST money. The other 80% of those projects were funded by Federal dollars.

The 2009 LOST had a sunset date of July 2013. We received our last payment in September, and then got another one in October. From 2009-14 our share of LOST revenues averaged $10,000 dollars per month. It had been the equivalent of 10% of our annual revenues from 2009-2013.

Unlike Iowa City we *probably* won't be as hurt by property tax changes as they will. However as a small landlocked community our budgets are extremely tight.

I contacted the county auditor's office on Tuesday and asked the following questions. Their answers are in RED

Is it still true that LOST has to be voted on county-wide? 

YES

Does each municipality in the county get to hold a LOST vote if they desire?

YES

Would all taxes collected among LOST approving communities be pooled and re-allocated as they were in 2009?
YES, it would go through the Department of Revenue and then dispersed to each of the LOST approving communities.

I will say this as plainly as I can: If Iowa City decides to hold a LOST referendum it is imperative that we decide to put up a ballot initiative and to pass it. We will have to pay the tax in any community that passes an initiative and because food and medical services are exempt, we won't be collecting any tax in University Heights.

December Council Meeting Summary

 City Council held their final meeting of 2013 last night, here are some highlights:

Outgoing Councilors Recognized

With last night being the final council meeting of their terms, Rosanne Hopson, Jan Leff and Brennan McGrath were recognized with plaques commemorating their service and cake. I hope you will extend your thanks to each of them for their efforts on behalf of our community.

 

Severson Charity Challenge

University Heights is working to retain possession of the Severson Cup, awarded to the Johnson County municipality with the highest per capita donations to local charities. For more information on the contest, and how you can participate, please check Mayor Louise From's December 2013 Report

 

Winter Weather Reminders

Please remember that according to City Ordinance 82:
No owner, tenant, or other person in possession or control of property shall allow natural accumulations of snow or ice to remain upon abutting sidewalks for more than twenty-four (24) hours.  U-Heights Snow removal information/regulations

To read more about last night's meeting here is the agenda and attached documents.

Also some other good news to pass along:
 
Councilor Elect Zadok Nampala, and his wife, Erin Schmidt, welcomed their daughter, Zada Elizabeth Nampala, born November 26th. She joins older brother and sister Tai and Amaya.

October City Council Meeting Summary

City Council met for their regular October meeting Tuesday night. Here are some highlights.

• MPOjc Reported on Community Focus Meeting and the Online Feedback results. See full story below.
• Developer Jeff Maxwell announced that Jim Mondonaro is very interested in putting a Bread Garden type facility in a potential mixed use development.
• Sunset wide side is completed except for several more trees plantings.

Community Focus Group Report

A summary report from the Sept. 18th Community Focus Group meeting regarding three possible re-development proposals at St. Andrew property was presented by the MPOjc (Municipal Planning Organization of Johnson County). The report includes each table group summary from those attending the meeting. Also presented were the results of the online feedback form.
MPOjc highlighted the  online question that asked if participants preferred one of the three concepts submitted by the developer or if they preferred something else.
50% of respondents prefer the 5+/3 concept
17% prefer the 5+/Park concept
10% prefer the 4+/2 concept
23% prefer something other than what was shown in the proposed concepts.
Over 100 people attended the meeting and 125 gave online feedback. There were 40 people who attended and gave online feedback. So roughly 185 people participated in the process.
Read the Summary Report HERE

Candidate Forum

Monday October 14th 7:00 PM
St. Andrew Church Fellowship Hall
1300 Melrose Ave.
Candidates for the office of City Councilor will participate in a forum at St. Andrew Fellowship Hall. The public is invited to attend this event. See questions candidates will answer HERE.

 

Trunk or Treat

Sunday, Oct. 27th from 3:00 -4:30 in the parking lot of St. Andrew Church. UHeights kids will 'trunk or treat' from car to car. People (most likely those of us beyond the trick or treating years) will decorate our trunks and hand out treats. If  anyone is interested in decorating their car contact Rosanne Hopson. There will be a prize for the best decorated trunk - if that entices you at all! Refreshments will be served and there will be an area where the kids can have their photos taken.

Leaf Raking

Tippie College of Business students are available to rake lawns to earn money for the house they build for Habitat for Humanity. You give a donation for the work - whatever you want to give. The students did an outstanding job last year. The date is Sunday, Nov. 3rd from noon to 5:00 so if you are interested, please email Rosanne Hopson. ( The vacuum pick up date is Thursday, Nov. 7th). 

I'm Mike Haverkamp, for the past 3 years I've provided city council meeting summaries to all interested citizens. It is a privilege to serve as your city councilor.  If you have a question or concern please don't hesitate to contact me. My email is mikehaverkamp1960@gmail.com

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.

August Council Meeting Summary

View August City Council Meeting Web Stream

There were quite a few important items on our August agenda. Below is a quick rundown of a few items. The above link is to the entire meeting.

City council held their regular August meeting Tuesday night. Here are a few highlights:

Sunset Street Wide Sidewalk Project

City Engineer Josiah Bilskemper reported that all the paving is done for the project, there will be some grading yet to be completed this week and removal of equipment. The last two portions of the project won't happen until later this fall. Sodding will take place in September, and new tree planting will occur in October. I had the pleasure of walking along the sidewalk with Josiah tonight before the council meeting and enjoyed it greatly.

Financial History

Zoning commission chair Pat Bauer reported again regarding city finances over the past 10 years. Originally Pat had met with Councilor Jim Lane, finance chair, and city accountant Steve Kuhl to go over historical data. Bauer presented those statistics to council last month and came back this month to correct erroneous information. I expressed my displeasure with his presenting  derived information, presented on his own, that turned out to be quite inaccurate, and that he did it during committee time rather than as an individual citizen during open comment.

Community Forum Meeting

Councilor Jan Leff and I met with MPOjc staff and developer Jeff Maxwell and his architect, Kevin Monson to plan for a community forum meeting to react to possible development proposals for the St. Andrew Church site. We will have three alternatives to present to the community, and will ask for specific feedback on each. That meeting is TENTATIVELY set for September 18th.

City Election 2013 Information

All 5 city council seats and the mayor's seat are up for election in 2013

Nomination information can be found here:

University Heights Election 2013

Deadline for application forms is August 29th at 5:00 PM in the city office.

For more information about the entire meeting, view the PDF of the Agenda and attached materials.

Remember council meetings are also broadcast every Thursday at 9:00 PM on Iowa City cable channel 4.

I also post more interesting articles and observations here:  UHForward.

Please consider contributing to the University Heights Community Fund.

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.