Organ Donation

An interesting article today in the Press Citizen about the Clapp Recital Hall Cassavant pipe organ being donated to St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. This organ will be installed by the church in their new building. My father in law was an extremely talented musician who played and wrote music for the organ. I came to appreciate fine musical instruments and it is great that this one will be rebuilt and retooled for the church.

While I was happy to see the organ being preserved, it also was another strong sign that St. Andrew Church is moving , which will be a sad moment for University Heights. Hopefully in some way we can develop this property to continue the mission of St. Andrew in serving our community. 

UI pipe organ finds a new local home

Building Common Ground

As many of you know by now, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church is moving to a site on Camp Cardinal Road. This presents a unique opportunity for the residents of University Heights to help decide, with several proposals from the developer, on what type of structure(s) we want on that site. The City Council has determined that a focus group meeting to discuss various options and gather citizens’ input would be advantageous in making that decision. We have tentatively scheduled this focus group meeting to be held on September 18 at the University Club with time yet to be determined. I encourage all residents to attend this meeting and make their desires and concerns known. Your input will help us move forward with this opportunity and build common ground together.

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.

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.

Walkability for Seniors

Yesterday I got a link from my SMART GROWTH America blog feed about the Illinois Prairie Path celebrating its 50th anniversary.

 The article they referenced was from the AARP Blog about one of the very first rails to trails projects ever built. The article talked about how this provides a safe and convenient way for senior citizens to easily get to nearby destinations without having to drive. I was struck by this because U-Heights still has the oldest average aged population in the county (despite our average age dropping dramatically from 2000 census to 2010 census). While we don't have rails to trails nearby, our wide sidewalk projects provide greater access for more citizens of all ages to easily get to our own local destinations (Stella, University Club, City Office, dental office, Horn Elementary) as well as connect to mass transit stops and Iowa City destinations.

Why Might UI be interested in the St. Andrew Site?

Jim Lane, in his post last week, talked about financial reasons why the city of University Heights should be interested in the future PRIVATE ownership of the St. Andrew church site. He also mentioned that it would likely NOT be in the city's best interest to see that parcel of land be acquired by the University of Iowa. That got me looking into WHY the UI might be interested?

This is a very rough look at how the St. Andrew property lines up with it's neighbors. Immediately to the north and west of the church is property owned by UI. Then you can see how much the UI owns west of the Iowa River. From the Sunset/Melrose corner UI owns everything west to Kennedy Parkway and north to Highway 6, except, St. Andrew, Birkdale and the few homes along the golf course. I don't think it is much of a stretch to consider that UI would be interested in purchasing this property if they were offered the rights to it.

Securing the Financial Future of University Heights

Since 2009, when the possibility for St. Andrew Church to move arose, our city has been wrestling with the dilemma of what to do with that property.  Initially we faced three possibilities:

• The development of that property by a private developer 
• The potential for the University of Iowa to purchase that property
•  The church not moving, in which case the other two possibilities would become moot.

Throughout all of these years and discussions, it has been one of my principles that we as a city take this potential opportunity to expand our tax base.  Now that the church has made the decision to definitively move, we are faced with two very real possibilities:

 The private developer, who has a purchase agreement with the church, works with the City of University Heights on developing that property;

OR

the City Council refuses to come to an agreement with the developer regarding a development.  

At that point the developer would walk away, and the University of Iowa will have the opportunity to buy this property for their own purpose.

During my research about expanding the tax base, I sought input from City administrators in five different municipalities in Eastern Iowa and the Des Moines area (Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, West Liberty, and Windsor Heights.)  and the Johnson County Supervisors.  I talked to these individuals because they are city management professionals, which we do not have in University Heights.  EACH of them said that in any budgeting process it is fiscally prudent and responsible to find ways to protect and expand a city's tax base, simply because the budgeting future cannot be predicted more than a few years out.  This information was so helpful and significant that I encouraged my fellow councilors to also call officials in other local government entities and seek their opinions.

Another of my principles is to ensure the financial viability of University Heights.  We are a small landlocked community, with limited ability to significantly expand our tax base.  The possibility of a private development on the St. Andrew property offers us a rare opportunity to positively impact our long-term city budgets.

The possibility of the University of Iowa being allowed to buy this property causes me concern.  We would lose this rare opportunity of increasing our tax revenues, and we would not be able to control what is developed by the University on that property.  Supporting this possibility is, in my opinion, short-sighted, and does nothing for our city's long-term financial future.

I am constantly seeking input from my fellow citizens, and I value all opinions.  As your representative I appreciate knowing your concerns, and especially want to know how you feel about this issue.  Please don't hesitate to comment.