New city manager bringing downtown experience to Iowa City

When a mall opened in a neighboring community in the mid-1990s, officials in Birmingham, Mich., knew their downtown needed to adapt to survive.

Sound familiar, Iowa City? Coral Ridge Mall brought big changes to the retail landscape when it opened in Coralville in 1998, and city and business leaders have been contemplating the scope of downtown Iowa City since then.

New City Manager Tom Markus might be able to help with that when he starts Dec. 1.

Markus, 59, has been city manager in Birmingham since 1989. The town of 19,000 residents sits outside Detroit but considers itself more urban than suburban, in large part because of a pedestrian-friendly downtown that is a regional draw.

Iowa City Council members stressed economic development, both downtown and citywide, during the city manager search, and Markus cited it as a strength.

“I think we would like to develop some targets for what type of economic growth we really want in Iowa City,” he said in a telephone interview from Birmingham. “Not just growth for growth's sake.”

An example of growth for growth's sake is big-box retail, Markus said. Adding quality, he said, could be setting certain architectural and streetscape standards, making sure a development fits with the surrounding area and attracting quality jobs.

In response to the nearby mall, the city of Birmingham let developers construct taller buildings downtown than would otherwise be allowed in exchange for using more attractive materials, like limestone and brick. The city also OK'd more mixed-use buildings, and it's seen more entertainment and commercial tenants in recent years to go with the retail.

Birmingham also played a leading role in getting Michigan's state government to revamp a law for something known as a principal shopping district.

This is a defined area that in Birmingham covers the downtown. The PSD, as it is often abbreviated, is a special tax district where property owners in its boundary pay a special assessment to fund the PSD's activities. It is run by a board of directors, which Markus sits on, and an executive director.

It was formed primarily to help market downtown Birmingham, but in the past 10 years has increasingly played a role in maintenance and beautification work, like the addition of big floral displays, said John Heiney, the district's executive director.

The PSD has encouraged cooperation by getting downtown business owners to think and work collaboratively on improving the area, Heiney said.

“They used to joke that whenever they had a special event or had to do an advertising campaign, they had to go store to store and pass the hat,” he said.

Iowa City has considered something similar.

A 2007 study recommended downtown Iowa City get professional management to help with development and marketing. That included forming a special tax district to fund the effort.

In 2004, a proposal for a special tax district was narrowly rejected by downtown land owners. There has been no indication publicly that the issue has been reconsidered in light of the 2007 study.

That study noted that downtown Iowa City was no longer the retail hub it was 20 years ago but found it had the potential over the next decade to attract 283,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space, 3,640 housing and rental units and 354,000 square feet of office space.

Markus said he'd invite anyone from Iowa City to attend one of the Birmingham PSD meetings and tour the town to see its value. He believes engaging everyone, from large land owners to small shop keepers, on a regular basis leads to a consensus on how to best make improvements.

Markus' experiences in Birmingham will help Iowa City as the downtown here faces similar challenges, said Connie Champion, a member of the City Council in Iowa City and a downtown business owner.

“They have dealt with the same thing and yet it's a really vibrant downtown,” she said of Birmingham.

Another shared interest between Birmingham and Iowa City that Markus has experience in is redeveloping existing neighborhoods.

In Iowa City's case, that includes Towncrest on the east side and the larger area south of downtown now called Riverfront Crossings.

The goal with Riverfront Crossings is to have a dense, walkable neighborhood with a mix of housing, recreational, commercial and employment opportunities. Planning has been underway for the past year, and it will be a long-term project undertaken, and funded, by the private and public sectors.

That's similar to what's been done in Birmingham's Rail District, an old industrial area that now has high-end lofts, restaurants and studios to go along with more blue-collar businesses like auto body shops, Markus said.

The city sought the opinions of the business community, designers and the public, he said.

“The vision has to be realistic and has to be acceptable, and you have to test it and see if the development market is interested in doing those things,” Markus said.

Markus acknowledged the recession slowed some of the progress, but he said the Rail District is still being invested in and downtown's redevelopment has been a success.

Terry Dickens, an Iowa City Council member and a downtown business owner, said what impressed him most about Markus was Markus' experience in redeveloping existing areas.

“He wants to build the city from the inside out, instead of urban sprawl, which a lot of the towns around us are doing,” he said.

Joe Bauman, president of the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce, said Markus is seen as an advocate for the business community. As an example, he said the city has streamlined its permit process to shorten the length of time it takes for a business to open. The central business district also is a designated historical district, so there are lots of rules and regulations, but Markus helped make the process more efficient there and throughout the city, he said.

“Clearly, he understands that a thriving business district makes for a thriving community and helps keep the city coffers full,” Bauman said.

Birmingham has been recognized nationally for being a “walkable” city. Markus said this was a conscious effort on the city's part, although he admitted this sort of new urbanism was not something he bought into at first.

Now, he thinks it makes a lot of sense, and it's been applied citywide.

The street width has been reduced in certain neighborhoods so that if a car is parked on the street and vehicles are driving in each direction, one will have to yield to the other. This reduces the amount of pavement – and maintenance costs and water runoff – and provides a wider right of way with more grass and room for pedestrians.

Also, storefronts have been moved up in commercial areas, allowing pedestrians to look in windows and more easily interact with one another, instead of the typical suburban model with large parking lots in front of every building.

The town's efforts might be aided by its relatively small size. Birmingham is about five times smaller than Iowa City in terms of square miles.

Another big difference between the two communities is the wealth of its residents. Birmingham is an affluent community and had a median family income of $110,627, compared with $57,568 for Iowa City, according to the 2000 census. The national median was $50,046.

Markus said he's not worried about the step up in terms of size or the different social characteristics of Iowa City, saying the job will still be matching resources to needs.

Southeast Michigan has been rocked by the recession, but Markus and other officials said Birmingham has suffered less the surrounding communities. Still, property valuations are expected to drop about 15 percent over three years and the city has had to tighten its budget.

About 50 full-time positions have been cut in the past several years, most of them through attrition, Markus said. He said not filling positions was the better way to go because layoffs hurt employee morale and put taxpayers on the hook for unemployment compensation and other related issues, he said.

Markus said the recession showed how important it is to do long-range planning and good financial forecasting.

“It doesn't have to be pinpointing, but you have to look for the trends and you have to get ahead of them,” he said.

Mayor Rackeline Hoff said Markus' ability to see ahead and not fill open positions in recent years has been a tremendous help to the city's budget. Another strength of his has been “keeping the peace” while dealing with a citizenry that is very involved and opinionated, she said.

“He is just so highly respected,” Hoff said. “He will be remembered very, very well.”

Bauman, from the chamber of commerce, echoed that.

“Tom's been here a long time,” he said. “I'll tell you, you'd be hard pressed to find somebody who would say something unflattering about him. You guys are lucky.”