Iowa City could see development of parking spots downtown after the council voted to hire a consulting service.
By Jacob Senstad
The Iowa City City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday in favor of hiring the form-based consultant Opticos Design, Inc. for a 2017 city project.
The company will provide form-based code consulting services for the South District and North Side areas as well as a parking-impact study for the near-downtown neighborhoods.
According to the city’s website, the job will include: “Mapping and analysis of existing conditions in the two subject areas, meetings with area stakeholders and city staff, public workshops, development of 3-D development models, and a final project direction report outlining the opportunities, obstacles, and recommended direction for implementing a form-based code in the subject areas.”
The five-month project will cost the city up to $162,145, but councilors seem to like it.
Councilor John Thomas said he thinks a really important element is Iowa City’s land use.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing this move forward and where it goes,” Thomas said.
According to the city’s website, the company will “meet with property owners, builders, City Council, city manager, and other stakeholders identified by the city in general interest or particular areas such as bicyclists, environmental, housing, sustainability: up to three four-hour interview sessions arranged by the city.”
Councilor Rockne Cole said he supports it.
“I think it’s back to the future, in a sense that you look at our historic neighborhoods and you see the contextual design and all the different housing types that we’ve integrated into a healthy neighborhood,” he said. “I mean, that’s what were really trying to explore is essentially using those traditional principles and bringing them into the modern code.”
Iowa City has a diverse downtown with more than 70 locally owned stores. The study will encompass neighborhoods in the city and neighborhoods close to downtown but will not venture into the downtown.
City Manager Geoff Fruin said the parking study focuses on the neighborhoods themselves, so it doesn’t involve downtown parking policy.
“The thought is that once the council has a better understanding of the dynamics of the neighborhood parking issues, [Opticos Design Inc.] develops any solutions that it deems necessary that we’ll then be able to turn our eye to the downtown parking policy and look at things like required developer contributions and other similar parking regulations,” he said.
Iowa City is the fifth largest city in Iowa with more than 71,000 residents. With the large population of college students looking for parking, this could have a positive effect on the community.
“I think people will be really excited about this,” Cole said. “Parking is one of the biggest variables that we face, how we handle in the neighborhoods. It will help us grasp our minds around different variables so were deciding our parking policy as a whole, instead of incrementally.”