Minutes_Long Range Planning Advisory Commission 9 21 11THE CITY OF
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MINUTES
CITY OF DUBUQUE LONG RANGE PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION
REGULAR SESSION
5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
City Council Chamber, Historic Federal Building
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Commissioners Present: Chairperson Jim Prochaska; Commissioners Alan Vincent,
Richard Van Iten, John Pregler, and Charles Winterwood.
Commissioners Excused: Commissioner Chad Darter.
Staff Members Present: Laura Carstens, David Johnson and Cori Burbach.
CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Prochaska at 5:30
p.m.
CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE: Staff presented an Affidavit of Compliance verifying
that the meeting was being held in compliance with the Iowa Open Meetings Law.
MINUTES: Motion by Vincent, seconded by Van Iten, to approve the minutes of August
17, 2011, as submitted. Motion carried by the following vote: Aye- Vincent, Prochaska,
Van Iten, Pregler and Winterwood; Nay — None.
ITEMS FROM STAFF:
Presentation on Sustainable Dubuque: Sustainability Coordinator Cori Burbach presented
the Sustainable Dubuque Plan. She explained she has been working with the Planning
Services Department on the format of the Comprehensive Plan. She reviewed how
Sustainable Dubuque began as well as the public input that went into developing the plan.
She explained the Sustainable Dubuque Task Force and their role. She noted
sustainability has been a top City Council priority for a number of years. She stated the
Sustainable Dubuque Task Force has promoted sustainability initiatives and helped
sustainability take root within the community. She explained the Task Force has collected
feedback to make the Sustainability vision representative of the community. She stated
that vision was developed into a vision statement and the three pillars of sustainability. She
explained Sustainable Dubuque is the framework for which many public documents and
initiatives are based.
Staff Member Burbach reviewed the Sustainability Principles. She explained some of the
sustainability initiatives, noting the Petal Project, Project Hope and Green Vision Education.
She noted Sustainable Dubuque is the brand for the city. She reviewed the University of
Iowa Partnership. She described the University of Iowa's involvement in the Green and
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September 21, 2011
Page 2
Healthy Homes Project, poverty analysis, Sustainable Dubuque Performance Metrix
Project, Sustainable Mapping Project, and the Healthy Foods Project.
The Commission thanked Staff Member Burbach for attending the meeting and the
thorough presentation. Commissioner Pregler suggested the Sustainable Dubuque Plan
address infrastructure in greater detail. He questioned the potential negative impacts of
Sustainability in the future and noted the water meter project as an example. He explained
the new water meters alone do not make the water system more sustainable; rather, we
need sustainable infrastructure to increase efficiency and offset potential loss. He noted
an unexpected consequence is that variable use fees may go down so much that price
increases may be needed for fixed fees. He reviewed the many sustainable and financial
benefits of infrastructure investment. He questioned what is being done when
sustainability affects revenue investment.
Staff Member Burbach discussed the Green and Healthy Homes Initiatives as an example.
She noted the initiative can make homes more efficient but has the potential to increase
staff demands and needs. She explained that the resulting increase in technology and
efficiencies in the programs will lessen the need for staff over time.
Commissioner Van Iten noted that Dubuque is a community that values education but
education is an issue that is consistently missing from many public discussions and
documents, including the Sustainable Dubuque Plan. Staff Member Burbach noted
education is a large component of the Sustainable Dubuque Initiative, and explained she
has worked with staff within the Dubuque Community School District as well as Dubuque
colleges in developing partnerships and input. She also noted much of the business
community was consulted in developing the Sustainable Dubuque Plan.
Commissioner Van Iten noted a need for a universal communication system throughout the
community. He explained outreach and engagement methods need to be developed that
affords the entire community an opportunity to participate in public discussions regardless
of their access and ability to use technology. He stated he believes the Sustainable
Dubuque Plan needs to address communication. Staff Member Burbach agreed and noted
that even those with access to computers may not be able to effectively navigate websites
and documents. The Commission noted that community education needs to be a
continuous outreach effort. The Commission stated that education is also a responsibility of
the entire community. Commissioner Van Iten noted that education is undervalued and
misunderstood within the Dubuque Community. He stated public documents need to
reinforce the values and benefits of education, and City Council needs to more strongly
support education and promote involvement within the community.
ACTION ITEMS
Smart Planning Consortium: Staff Member Carstens updated the Commission on the
Smart Planning Consortium efforts. She reviewed the Land Use Goals and Objectives as
well as the Community Population Projections. She noted that the Smart Planning
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September 21, 2011
Page 3
Consortium has reviewed and approved the Land Use Goals and Objectives. She
explained that as part of the Community Data chapter, population projections were
developed. She noted those projections are for Dubuque County and the seven
communities in the Smart Planning Consortium. She noted the Commission should review
and comment on the Land Use Goals and Objectives as well as the Community Population
Projections.
The Commission discussed the population projections. The Commission expressed
concern that the projections are far too optimistic and could consequently contribute to
urban sprawl issues. The Commission noted the employment forecasting also seems to
be overly optimistic.
The Commission questioned whether any organizations currently work with developers
regarding neighborhood concepts. Staff Member Carstens noted the City of Dubuque
regularly works with the Developers Roundtable, but there are no such organizations that
work with developers on a regional basis.
The Commission discussed the benefits of clarifying what is meant by "neighborhood ", in
terms of its design, function, and sense of place. The Commission questioned whether
there would be a benefit to defining neighborhood in the Regional Smart Plan and City of
Dubuque Comprehensive Plan. The Commission noted it is an inviting but elusive concept
to work with in planning. Planning Services staff stated that attempting to define
"neighborhood" would be difficult and perhaps best if not done. Staff noted the numerous
economic, social, cultural and geographic variables that go into the make -up of a
neighborhood. Staff explained the concept of a neighborhood is different for many people,
regardless of where you live.
Update of Dubuque's 2008 Comprehensive Plan: Staff Member Johnson explained the
Commission has been discussing the format for the next Comprehensive Plan update. He
noted the City Manager had recommended an approach that would use the Sustainable
Dubuque Plan as the outline for the Comprehensive Plan update. He noted the
Sustainable Dubuque format would replace the three environments of the Dubuque
Comprehensive Plan with the three pillars of sustainability of the Sustainable Dubuque
Plan. He explained the 14 elements of the Dubuque Comprehensive Plan would be
replaced with Dubuque's 11 Sustainability Principles. He noted the City Manager's interest
in infusing the goals and objectives of the Dubuque Comprehensive Plan as well as the 10
Smart Planning Principles into the Sustainable Dubuque format. Staff Member Johnson
explained the recommendation was brought to the Commission at their August meeting.
He noted that the Commission had expressed concerns that important goals and objectives
of the Comprehensive Plan could not be incorporated into a plan based on Dubuque's
Sustainability Plan and 11 Sustainability Principles. He stated the Commission was
concerned that too many important elements, goals and objectives of the current
Comprehensive Plan would be omitted because it could not correlate to one of the
Dubuque Sustainability Principles. He explained the Commission directed Planning
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September 21, 2011
Page 4
Services staff to investigate the ability to build the Comprehensive Plan Update around the
three pillars of sustainability and 11 Sustainability Principles of the Sustainable Dubuque
Plan.
Staff Member Johnson explained he performed a three -part analysis of the City Manager's
recommendation to incorporate the City of Dubuque Comprehensive plan into the
Sustainable Dubuque format. He noted the first analysis is a Concept Plan analysis which
depicts what the City of Dubuque Comprehensive Plan update would look like in a
Sustainable Dubuque format. He explained goals of the Comprehensive Plan were not
taken into consideration in an effort to maximize the number of objectives of the
Comprehensive Plan that could possibly relate to a sustainability principle. He noted the
exercise gives the Commission a sense of how the plan would come together and how well
the Comprehensive Plan goals can work together with the Sustainability Principles.
He noted the second analysis was the Comprehensive Plan analysis. He noted that staff
again reviewed every objective of the Comprehensive Plan and highlighted those
objectives that could be included and those that would have to be omitted. He noted this
analysis was intended to clearly depict which specific objectives of the Comprehensive
Plan can be incorporated and those that could not.
The third analysis was the Iowa Smart Planning legislation analysis. Staff Member
Johnson explained this analysis was developed to show which Iowa Smart Planning
principles can be incorporated into the Sustainability Plan format, and those that would
need to be omitted.
Staff Member Johnson explained that some issues immediately became apparent when
undertaking the analysis. He stated the Sustainable Dubuque Plan was never anticipated
to be a Comprehensive Plan for the community. He noted both documents are community
documents; however, a community's comprehensive plan is designed to address a broad
scope of issues, whereas the Sustainable Dubuque Plan was developed to address more
specific issues. He noted when undertaking the analysis, it seemed the effort to infuse
Comprehensive Plan objectives, regardless of how liberally the objectives were interpreted,
into the Sustainable Dubuque Plan format detracted from the intent and effectiveness of
both documents. Staff Member Johnson also explained that many of the Sustainability
Principles have few, if any, correlating objectives from the Comprehensive Plan. He noted
the Healthy Local Food Sustainability Principle does not have any existing goals of the
Comprehensive Plan that related. The Commission discussed that there would be an
opportunity to expand on these concepts into the Comprehensive Plan update; however,
some Sustainability Principles would be too narrow in scope to warrant consideration as a
separate element of a community comprehensive plan.
Staff Member Johnson explained another challenge was numerous objectives cannot be
incorporated into the Dubuque Sustainability Plan format. He explained there were many
goals from the Public Safety, Infrastructure, City Fiscal, Health, and Human Services
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September 21, 2011
Page 5
Elements that would be omitted. He noted many of these objectives are important issues
identified by the community and that needs to be a consideration. He explained the
Efficiency, Transparency, and the Consistency Smart Planning Principles cannot be
incorporated into the Dubuque Sustainability Plan format either. He noted the importance
of sustainability to the community of Dubuque as it is the framework for many of the City
initiatives.
Staff Member Johnson explained that given the challenges, Planning Services Staff has
prepared a concept for the 2008 City of Dubuque Comprehensive Plan Update that shows
relevant Sustainability Principles after each objective. He noted an approach similar to this
could be considered and it would stress the importance of sustainability within the
community without developing a new format that would omit many goals the community
has already identified as important. He explained the proposed concept is being presented
to the Commission for their consideration. He noted the Commission is being asked to
review the analysis and make a recommendation to the City Manager on the Commission's
suggested outline for the Dubuque Comprehensive Plan update.
The Commission discussed the analysis. Commissioner Van Iten discussed the
importance of involving the medical community and medical practitioners and professionals
in the Dubuque Comprehensive Planning process. Staff Member Carstens reviewed the
previous involvement of the health care community in the planning process as reflected in
the current Comprehensive Plan. The Commission explained that the three environments
of the current Dubuque Comprehensive Plan could be replaced with the three pillars of
sustainability of the Sustainable Dubuque Plan; however, it does not appear that the goals
and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan can be incorporated into the 11 Sustainability
Principles without compromising too many important issues as well as the effectiveness of
the document.
The Commission discussed the broader context of the Comprehensive Plan versus the
narrower context of the Sustainable Dubuque Plan, and how the two could potentially work
together. Staff Member Carstens noted in the future, changes to the Sustainable Dubuque
Plan may be justified in order to incorporate some of the public safety and infrastructure
issues that appear in the Comprehensive Plan but not in the Sustainable Dubuque Plan.
The Commission noted the 11 Sustainability Principles were not designed to be a
comprehensive plan. Rather, they were designed to make the city more sustainable. The
Commission noted they were not surprised to see that the goals of the community could
not be incorporated into the Sustainable Dubuque model. Staff Member Carstens noted
the Sustainable Dubuque Plan is a strategic plan and the Comprehensive Plan is not
designed to be a strategic plan.
The Commission noted regardless of the format, one beneficial outcome of the analysis is
a number of sustainability principles and concepts were identified that could be included in
the Comprehensive Plan; however, it would be much more appropriate to incorporate those
concepts into the community's Comprehensive Plan. Staff Member Carstens noted issues
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September 21, 2011
Page 6
in the Sustainability Plan, such as Smart Water, Smart Energy and Healthy Local Foods,
can be addressed in the Comprehensive Plan Update.
Motion by Pregler, seconded by Winterwood, to recommend keeping the Sustainable
Dubuque Plan and City of Dubuque Comprehensive Plan separate while drawing
relationships between the two documents showing where there's consistency, and keep
the Comprehensive Plan in its current format and use Sustainability Principle icons at the
end of each goal and objective that applies.
The Commission discussed the motion. Commissioner Van Iten supported the motion,
noting that the Dubuque community is very close, if not already at the point of overworking
the concept of sustainability in its public speech. He noted everything is discussed within
the framework of sustainability and before long, sustainability will become a very vacuous
concept that people will become tired of hearing. He noted the concept of sustainability is
very important and needs to be kept intact as best as the City can by showing those
connections between the two documents. He noted an approach where sustainability
principle icons are provided at the end of each goal and objective for which it relates to
would be an effective way of showing a correlation between the two documents while also
not omitting or constraining other important issues within the community by having it within
a sustainability framework.
Motion carried by the following vote: Aye- Vincent, Prochaska, Van Iten, Pregler and
Winterwood; Nay — None.
LIAISON /SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
Enterprise Zone Commission: No report.
ITEMS FROM PUBLIC: None.
ITEMS FROM COMMISSION:
Commissioner Vacancy: Chairperson Prochaska noted that Dubuque Community School
Board Member Craig Beytien was in the audience observing the meeting. Staff Member
Carstens noted Mr. Beytien applied to serve on the Long Range Planning Advisory
Commission and she recommended he attend a meeting prior to his application going to
City Council in order to gain an understanding of the Commission and its duties.
Bee Branch: Commissioner Winterwood noted he attended the City work session on the
Phase 2 of the Bee Branch Project, which goes from Garfield to 24tri Street. He noted he
was very impressed by all of the public amenities proposed in the plan. He noted the
Heritage Trail will be a waterfall feature where the storm sewer daylights into the Bee
Branch Creek. He reviewed other public amenities and sustainable best management
practices that will be used in the project.
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September 21, 2011
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The Commission discussed the positive impacts the project will have on property values
and liability in the area. The Commission expressed concern that once the Bee Branch
project is complete, the improvements will encourage new development that will change
the character and socioeconomic values in the area.
Bicycle Friendly Status: Commissioner Winterwood noted that Staff Member Carstens
applied for bicycle friendly status for the City of Dubuque. He noted that the City was not
awarded the recognition; however, Dubuque was given honorable mention.
The Commission noted the new hike /bike trail signs are greatly improved from the previous
signs, noting they are much more visible.
Telegraph Herald Publication: Chairperson Prochaska noted that the Telegraph Herald
appeared to not include the agenda for the meeting in the public meetings section. Staff
Member Carstens noted agendas for each meeting are mailed one week in advance to the
media, including the Telegraph Herald. She stated she does not know why the Telegraph
Herald does not include the Commission's agendas. The Commission noted it will be an
important issue once the Comprehensive Plan update process and engagement begins.
Staff Member Carstens noted she has requested funding in the Planning Services
Department budget to facilitate public engagement.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Carstens, Planning Services Manager Adopted
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