Minutes_Resilient Community Advisory Commission 04.06.23City of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
Consent Items # 01.
Copyrighted
April 17, 2023
ITEM TITLE: Minutes and Reports Submitted
SUMMARY: Building Code Advisory and Appeals Board of 3/2/23; City Council
Proceedings of 4/3/23; Resilient Community Advisory Commission of
4/6/23; Parks and Recreation Commission of 3/21/23; Zoning Board of
Adjustment of 3/23/23; Zoning Advisory Commission of 04/05/23; Proof
of Publication for City Council Proceedings of 3/20/23, 3/21/23, 3/22/23,
and 3/23/23.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
Building Code Advisory and Appeals Board of 3/2/23 Supporting Documentation
City Council Proceedings of 4/3/23 Supporting Documentation
Parks and Recreation Commission of 3/21/23 Supporting Documentation
Resilient Community Advisory Commission of 4/6/23
Zoning Board of Adjustment of 3/23/23
Zoning Advisory Commission of 04-05-2023
Proof of Publication for City Council Proceedings of
3/20/23
Proof of Publication for City Council Proceedings of
3/21/23
Proof of Publication for City Council Proceedings of
3/22/23
Proof of Publication for City Council Proceedings of
3/23/23
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
CITY OF DUBUQUE - COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
GOVERNMENTAL BODY: Resilient Community Advisory Commission (RCAC)
DATE: April 6, 2023
TIME: 5:00 pm
LOCATION: Jule Operations and Training Center (JOTC) Circle Conference Room, 949 Kerper Blvd.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dean Boles, Josh Chamberland, Sandra Evans, Jake Kohlhaas, Katharine Connolly, Lalith
Jayawickrama, Adam Hoffman
MEMBERS ABSENT: Steven Drahozal, Robin Kennicker (for first half of meeting)
STAFF PRESENT: Amanda Lewis
Chair Kohlhaas called the meeting to order at 5:02 pm.
TEST AGENDA
MINUTES APPROVAL: Boles motioned to approve the March minutes. Evans seconded. Motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
NEW BUSINESS
a) Grant Recommendation to City Council for March 2030 Sustainable Dubuque Grant
a. Chamberland and Connolly discussed grant recommendation — decision to fund all grant application
partially except for the for profit applicant. Modified awards for Nova Elite Basketball to fund scholarship
for students. Modified award for St. Mark Youth Enrichment to fund enrichment activities. Modified
award for Centrally Rooted to fund some music equipment. Motion to approve by Hoffman, seconded by
Boles. Motion carried.
b) Nikki Rosemeyer- City's GIS Coordinator — Dubuque Tree canopy
a. Rosemeyer gave presentation that involved looking and discussing many different styles of maps. GIS
(Geographic Information Systems) maps location and information to provide analysis. The City of
Dubuque has been using GIS since 1990s. Rosemeyer showed maps containing Emerald Ash Borer trees
on City property. There is no data available for trees that are in residents' yards or private property.
Another map showed where ash trees have been removed and where sidewalks have either been
impacted or not. Many City departments have access to GIS and are able to update what happens with
ash trees. Rosemeyer created a new application for tree planting. ESRI (the overseeing licensing partner
of GIS) has a tree management solution and is the goal to have Leisure Services use this application
moving forward to monitor tree management, noting that there are currently only three employees in
Leisure Services that do this kind of work and have many other responsibilities. Currently, there is not a
number indicating how many trees are in Dubuque. Using other data information, maps can be created
to show a topographical map. Maps can also be made using 3D models and can color code height, width,
and density of trees. Tree canopy inventory is not yet completed, but it has been started (Rosemeyer
showed example of Bunker Hill). Through using GIS, maps will be made only showing data points that
have height. This map will be used to compare existing trees (data is collected every 10 years because it is
done for the entire state) and where have trees been removed. The final result will have all buildings
removed and each pixilated point will show the density of points and consistency of heights to
demonstrate The City of Dubuque and Dubuque Trees Forever are planting trees. If someone plants a
tree in their yard, they can also enter their own data. By collecting minimal information about the tree
(example, tree type), GIS can make projections about how large the tree will be and how large the
canopy cover will be. Entire tree canopy will probably be completed in the next month. Species diversity
is also very important.
Question: For what purpose is the topographical map used for?
Answer: For consultants to get the most amount of information possible. Can be used for understanding crop areass, land cover,
topography, etc.
Question: Is it possible to do a thermal graph to see differences in temperature?
Answer: it might be possible with a drone, but haven't looked into it.
Concern: Downtown Dubuque does not have many trees and Main Street used to have trees, but berry trees were
planted instead, which has not gone over well due to the fruit dropping.
Response: One additional concern was related to equity and where trees are planted to create more tree canopy
coverage (we currently do not have that measurement yet) because we know that there are connections between
having good tree canopy and good neighborhoods.
Question: Is data available online?
Answer: Yes, there are some public facing data sites available. Rosemeyer will try to make her information public (maybe
via a story map), but she is an office of one person and it might take a while.
Question: If we want more tree canopy, what needs to be measured? Is a comparison able to be made for 2008 and
2018?
Answer: Area and density are the most useful things to measure. Yes, we can compare the information as well as a
projection of City tree growth.
Discussion: Share Boles information about tree canopy company with Rosemeyer and she can look and see if that is
something her department would be interested in.
c) Mary Rose Corrigan — Public Health Specialist- Discussion of written response
- The response didn't clarify much, but Kohlhaas suggested moving forward with submitting clarification to
Ben Pothoff.
- Is Iowa law silent on these issues? Kohlhaas said he didn't think there was any Iowa law.
- A lot of the ordinances seem to be up to interpretation, and it was suggested to create a living document
that can be changed.
- What would next steps be?
o Subcommittee to come up with final draft of language to bring to RCAC for approval and then
submit to Pothoff.
- What does to run at large mean? Assumption is that the animals escape from yard.
- Recommended to include proposing safe enclosures for animals.
d) Grass/Weeds/Noxious Weeds and Overspray— Subcommittee creation
- Evans, Chamberland, Connolly
- Suggestion to focus on City owned property with expansive lawns
OLD BUSINESS
Policy Work - Review ordinances and policies as they relate to Climate Action Plan and determine subcommittees and
where to focus plant height, urban agriculture, and tree canopy.
HOW DID I SHOW UP? COMMISSIONER REPORTS:
Kohlhaas — Community Garden at Valentine Park is at capacity for garden plots. School district owns some of the
property and City owns some of the property (the community garden is on the City owned property)
Boles — From Community Development Advisory Commission: discussed budget, which included first time
homeowner grants, homeowners getting grants to improve their houses, grants for LMI residents for recreational
programs or do other things like rent gazeboes. Also discussed Lincoln School receiving a grant to improve their
playground.
Chamberland — Hosting community wide action festival at the Loras Campus on April 18 from 5-8pm. Food trucks
will be there. Theme is sustainability and local agriculture. Noticed lack of recycling facilities at Five Flags and
suggested City puts recycling in a contract for the next management company of Five Flags.
Kennicker — From Parks and Rec Commission — Many plans, including refurbishing restrooms at Eagle Point Park,
more handicap accessibility, name change for Pyatigorsk Park meeting to hear residents' suggestions.
NEXT MEETING: The next commission meeting will occur on May 4, 2023, at 5 pm at the Jule Operations and Training
Center (JOTC) in the Circle Conference Room, 949 Kerper Blvd.
ADJOURNMENT: The Commission adjourned at 6:25 pm.
Minutes approved by:
Jacob Kohlhaas, Commission Chair
Prepared by:
Gina Bell, Sustainable Community Coordinator