Iowa City considering consultant for downtown work

IOWA CITY – The city of Iowa City wants some help as it re-envisions its downtown and the Riverfront Crossings neighborhood to the south.

Staff wants to hire a consultant, HDR Engineering Inc., to develop plans for the two districts, primarily to address zoning issues. The firm, which is headquartered in Omaha and has a Cedar Rapids office, also would be asked to provide a market assessment to identify housing and office possibilities for the areas.

The work would cost $164,440, with $50,000 coming from a state grant.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on a contract with HDR at its July 5 meeting.

If approved, the work would be the latest in a string of efforts related to a changing downtown and the neighborhood south of Burlington Street known as Riverfront Crossings. Those include the 21-only bar law, a proposed special tax district downtown and ongoing planning for Riverfront Crossings.

Riverfront Crossings is to be a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood that complements downtown. Council members and city staff have said they want a downtown with more mixed-use buildings with retail stores, offices and owner-occupied housing, and fewer bars and student housing.

City Manager Tom Markus said the goal is to have zoning regulations in place to foster those ideas.

Outside of streetscaping, the physical plan for downtown hasn't been updated since urban renewal brought major changes in the mid-1970s, said Bob Miklo, the city's senior planner.

“Given some of the recent developments downtown, some of the things we want to achieve downtown, we feel that we need to re-examine the zoning ordinances downtown and do it comprehensively,” he said.

He didn't say what changes there might be, saying that's what the HDR project would tell them.

Markus has previously said things that could be addressed through zoning is building lot line to lot line rather than having the narrow alleys downtown Iowa City has and zoning for certain kinds of uses, like first-floor retail.

The work needed in Riverfront Crossings is different because it is facing a potentially major redevelopment.

Officials would like a mixed-use zoning code that allows for more development in the area, Miklo said. For example, there could be more flexibility in terms of density and building heights, he said.

HDR would be asked to develop a “form-based zoning code” for Riverfront Crossings. Traditionally, zoning codes regulate land use -- saying certain land can be used for residential but not industrial, for example

Form-based zoning provides guidance for the physical form of a building while allowing for flexibility of land use, Miklo said. So there could be some light manufacturing near homes, but the character of the buildings would be such that they're compatible, he said.

The housing and market assessment portion of HDR's work would identify the types of development downtown and Riverfront Crossings could support.

The council earlier this month agreed to hire a consultant to study the retail possibilities downtown, with the city and the UI splitting the $55,000 cost.

Regarding the new proposal, Markus said consultants have experience with zoning codes nationwide that city staff does not, making a consultant a better option.