City Council - Regular Meeting

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Please do roll call. Mayor Clark.

Here.

Councilmember Anderson. Here. Thank you. Councilmember Crone.

Here.

Councilmember Grove.

Here.

Council Member Lyon. Here. Council Member Pierce. Here.

Agenda item D is open forum. Open forum is the time for anyone here tonight to address the council on any subject over which the council has the authority to act or on any item on the agenda other than a public hearing. Does anyone here tonight either in the council chambers or on Zoom wish to address the council at this time? If so, please approach the podium or raise your hand. If you are participating via Zoom, please click on the raise hand icon located under the reactions controls. And if you're participating via phone, please raise your hand by hitting star nine. After you are recognized to speak, you will need to state your name clearly, name and address for the record, and comments are limited to three minutes. All right.

Go ahead. Veronica Lack. I was elected in 2018 by Dallas County residents to be one of the soil and water conservation commissioners. My agenda was to get access to the equipment necessary for the Des Moines Water Works to be able to test for the PFAS and PFOS chemicals that are contaminating our water. Unfortunately, even though Biden's infrastructure bill had $10 billion set aside for this, our governor at the time was of the opinion that we didn't need to know what was in our water, and she refused the option of getting the funds to be able to test for the levels of PFAS and PFOS chemicals. But then I ran my second election to try again to get these since I had won the suit against the USDA NRCS for the PFAS and PFOS chemicals in a different watershed in Iowa, the Cedar Valley Group aquifers. I had won the results and the state of Iowa had agreed they were going to put up a 3D GIS web mapping system for the whole state so we could know what had already tested positive in our tap water. And so this last April, I paid for the pitas and other chemicals tests to be done. And you have to send yet today out of state to do these tests. I sent them to South Bend, Indiana. And they came back 22 herbicide and pesticide ingredients. The worst one for me is our President Trump's family profits from Trump card, which is a herbicide in the middle of Iowa State University's chart. And that herbicide's ingredients are 2,4-D-choline and glyphosate. And this test result shows to 4-D choline at the top, way over the maximum contaminant level set by the EPA. Veronica? And down at the bottom, the glyphosate.

Veronica, you're almost to your three minutes, or you're at your three minutes, so can you get to what you would like from us, the Waukee City Council?

We need to know, everyone here needs to know what's in their water, and we have a local company that says they can that Adele Colligan company is saying they can do 99% removal of these chemicals. I got a bid on that today for that filter system to get installed in my house along with a whole house herbicide and pesticide honest filter that did not remove the PFAS that I installed in September of 2025. But that new filter removed the E. coli and coliform bacterias that were causing so many of our kids to end up with bacterial lung infections and even bacterial bone infections.

Veronica, you're at your time.

Yeah. We do need to know what's in our water. Thank you.

And we need to have tests done to prove.

These are mandatory tests that are supposed to be done each year that the city and the state have not done.

No, it's your turn. Go ahead. My name's Charles Jeffrey Williams. I live at 680 Southeast Booth Avenue. I've lived here for about four years. And on reason I'm here, I'm here to ask in the spring and in the fall, I see the notices in the walkie living magazine about your grass and yard gets eight inches too tall. You're going to get a citation. If you don't shovel your snow off your sidewalk within 24 hours, you're going to get a citation. I've gone on to the city website. I can't see any records of those citations. I'm just one like to know, where I can find them.

I don't. So we're not allowed to speak about topics that are not on our agenda. If you would like to stick around until after the meeting, we can maybe answer that question or Andy could answer it. Although generally we don't post citations, but Andy, our head of community development can answer that question. If you would like to not wait until the end of the meeting. Is there anything else you wanted to address?

No. Okay. Yeah. I got to wait until the meeting's over.

If you want to speak to one of us, if you'd like, he can step out with you now and talk. Thank you. Yep. Yep. Thank you. Okay.

My name is Jonathan Auberg. I'm a constituent of Des Moines, Iowa, and I was here to talk about the city's agreement with the Corporation Block Safety. I would like to request an extension to my time to five minutes for parity with procedures at West Des Moines City Council to talk about our civil liberties some more.

We limit to three minutes, particularly in multiple, but please go ahead and you can always wait after the meeting and speak with us more.

Sure. So I conducted an investigation of the city of West Des Moines and their use of surveillance technology through a lot of Chapter 22 requests. And during the way, there were a lot of interesting findings. I actually have 40-plus findings in the media in Iowa. None of them have ever even asked to see the evidence I received from the government. which I thought was kind of dubious. And so I think more people need to hear about it. I started a website to try and get my findings out there, dsmcentinel.org. And so I actually filed a complaint with the attorney general last week about that company, Flock Group, doing business as Flock Safety. And also there are other parties involved. It's really not just about them. And I'm not an attorney. I can't say if anything was lawful or unlawful. It's not my place. But a lot of civil liberties groups who thank me, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa thanks me for my investigations. I do into these kinds of $8 billion surveillance corporations. And this is something that really concerns me, this level of surveillance, all these automated license plate readers that use artificial intelligence to catalog our vehicles. To me, this just doesn't really feel like something that's congruent with the Constitution, with our Fourth Amendment, with our rights, with our civil liberties. And that's why I'm here to talk about this. And, you know, I wish I could get an extension in my time for that because I think our rights and our civil liberties are very important. Looks like I have about a minute left. So some of my findings, in the state of Iowa, you need certain licensure and permits and things like this to do operations in our state. And when I, a citizen investigator who's a college dropout started looking into this, I filed two complaints with Dial. I feel like they rolled my two complaints into one complaint instead of addressing both of them, but I'm not an attorney. Maybe that's the SOP over there. I'm not sure. So I'm trying to find electrical permits and licenses for this company. I might not be going in the right place. Sometimes you go in one database online. Sometimes there's probably a different procedure there, but I'm really kind of struggling. And I'm curious, is the city, are you checking the licensure of the vendors that you're placing inside of consent agendas, which are usually for mundane and routine things like liquor license renewals? Sir. What's that?

I'd like for you to speak to us and not to the camera, please. This is a city council meeting.

Gotcha.

Yep. But your time is just about up.

It is. You're right. Thank you. Thank you, council.

You are always welcome to stay after and talk to us more.

Okay.

Okay. Anyone else for open forum? There are no hands raised in Zoom. Okay.

All right. Item E is agenda approval. Can I get a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Please vote.

Council Member Crone?

Yes. Council Member Lyon? Yes.

Council Member Pierce?

Yes.

Council Member Grove? Yes. Council Member Anderson?

Yes. Agenda item, we have none of those. So agenda item I1, consent agenda.

Move to approve. Second.

Any discussion?

Please vote. Councilmember Pierce? Yes. Councilmember Grove?

Yes.

Councilmember Crone? Yes. Councilmember Lyon? Yes. Councilmember Anderson?

Yes. Agenda item I2, mayor's appointment and resolution, consideration of appointment or consideration of approval of a resolution approving appointment of a citizen member to the Parks and Recreation Board for an unexpired term ending January 31st, 2029. I plan to appoint Roger Claxton. Can I get a motion?

Move to approve.

Second.

Any discussion?

Please vote. Council member Crone.

Yes.

Council member Grove. Yes. Council member Lyon.

Yes.

Council member Pierce.

Yes.

Council member Anderson.

Yes. Item I3, consideration of approval of an ordinance to amend Chapter 26, park regulations by amending Section 26.12, dogs restricted to rename Section 21.12 as dogs and to include dog park rules and regulations. Sorry, guys. I blame the heat. It's been a long day. To include dog park rules and regulations. This is an introduction and a first reading.

I introduce the ordinance and move to approve the first reading entitled only.

Second.

Matt. Good evening, Mayor and Council. This is kind of, it's basically a cleanup item. What we found is back when we opened the dog park, we passed all the rules and regulations via resolution, but they're not in our park regulations ordinance. So in order to seek assistance from the police department as it relates to hours of operation and those types of things, we did add this section to include the park regulations. dog park rules and regulations under the park regulation ordinance. So I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you. Any questions?

Please vote. Council Member Lyon? Yes. Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Pierce?

Yes.

Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Anderson?

Yes. Item I-4, consideration of approval of an ordinance to amend Chapter 169 Zoning Ordinance, City of Waukee, Iowa, by rezoning certain property from KMFSM to KMFSM-PD1, a property to be known as the Wren. This is the second reading. Move to approve the second reading of the ordinance, in title only.

Second. Andy?

Andy?

All right. Good evening, Mayor Clark and council members. Before you tonight is consideration of the second reading for the Wren rezoning. This property, just a reminder, is located generally north of Southeast Ashworth Road and east of Grand Prairie Parkway. It's approximately 5.78 acres in area. And simply this is to... The existing underlying zoning is, of course, already allows for the multifamily development. The plan development overlay would simply allow them to add one more story to the building for this multifamily project that would be a total of 80 units targeted for active adult living. The proposed rezoning is consistent with the Kettlestone master plan and staff recommends approval of the second consideration of the rezoning. I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you. Are there any questions?

Please vote. Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Grove? Yes. Council Member Pierce? Yes. Council Member Lyon?

Yes.

Council Member Anderson?

Yes. Item I-5, consideration of approval of an ordinance from in Chapter 76, Waukee Municipal Code bicycle regulations to rename Chapter 76 as personal transportation device regulations to update the ordinance and include the regulation of personal transportation devices and upon the effective date, repealing Chapter 77, Waukee Municipal Code skateboards. This is the third and final reading.

I move to approve the third reading of the ordinance in title only and place it on final passage. Second.

Chief. Good evening, Mayor and Council. We're here. First of all, thanks to Steve for putting up with a year's worth of working through this. And also thanks to Heather, who is up until I left the station to come up here currently working on the education component of this. But as you heard us talk before, this has been a long process to get to this point. We're excited to have the ordinance hopefully passed. And that provides us the framework that's necessary for the direct messaging related to our education campaign. Because up until this point, it's been primarily please be responsible, please be respectful. With this ordinance passage, that gives us the actual solid framework to provide that messaging that's more directed on this is what is acceptable, this is what's not by city code. And then further down the line, if we do run into continuous problems and it does create an enforcement mechanism. But again, as I've said all along, none of us want to write a child a ticket. That's not the goal of this. The goal is to put those boundaries in place and make sure that everybody's enjoying our outdoor space in a safe manner. So I'm happy to answer any questions. There have been no changes since the second reading. So and I've had no other feedback since the second reading.

I only have one question, Chief. Is there an easy way to identify whether the e-motos are 750 watts or above?

Easy is in the eye of the beholder. Not particularly. What I will say is that another component of the definitions for low-speed electric bicycle, which are legal, the class 1, 2, and 3, a component of those is operable pedals. And so if our team or if a parent were to look at something and say, is this a low speed electric bicycle or is this an Emoto? One of the telltale signs will be, is there operable pedals? And if the answer to that question is no, then it's an Emoto and it shouldn't be out and about. So that's a quick and easy way kind of to delineate that for the public. Heather has done a great job putting together some quick fact sheets and a card that we can hand out that shows what is and what isn't based on the different characteristics. We've been working on some website edits where people will be able to go in and click on my device is this wattage and it has operable pedals and it's this. And so all of that's coming together. And then the next piece of that will be our education component. Once this passes, I should say, if you pass it tonight, then one of the things that we're planning is, is standing up a couple of officers along the trail in different places on a at different times to help with that education component, and then looking at what else we can do to get the word out. But it is complex. It's not easy.

I have a question just to kind of go along with that. So if it's under $750 and it does not have pedals, then it can't?

if it's under 750 by our code, it depends on what it is. By our code, for instance, the electric scooter is under 750. It does not have pedals and they can operate that. But it would depend on the exact characteristics that fit within that. But typically what our community should rely on as a kind of a guideline is 750 and above and then operable pedals.

I think it's also important to note that While we can pass this tonight, while it's possible to do that, it's also possible that the state may introduce some sort of legislation along the way next year that could change things one way or another. And so people just need to be aware that for now, this is what we have.

That is, yes, so I appreciate that point. It is possible the state will take this up in the 2027 legislative session. At this point, though, our officers need a way to enforce this, and so I'm very grateful for your work in continuing to push forward on this and appreciate that. I think the educational component will be incredibly important, and I appreciate all of our staff's work on that effort because it's huge and it's very needed. So, Any other questions?

No, I was just going to, there's a brief comment. I know I talk on this every time. There's a brief comment. As long as this process has been, especially for you, over the last year plus, I thank you greatly for starting it when you did because there are certainly our counterparts in the Metro that are just getting started or just figuring out that they have a problem. And so to be ahead of it, is what is going to save people from getting hurt. And so I appreciate you doing that and taking the initiative. I know it was a begrudging process at some point, but it was necessary. And we had to work through some of the things we had to work through to get where we are. And there may be additional things we have to work through in a year from now. But, I mean, to have that initiative, I think, is huge. And I think a lot of people are going to use that as an example, too. So here we go. Perfect. Council Member Anderson has her hand raised.

Caleb? Yes, Chief. I just had some quick clarification. If we were to pass this this evening, when exactly does this take effect?

So it has to be published upon approval of the council, which, Becky, I think that's typically a week-ish.

It'll be next Thursday. It'll be published in the Dallas County News, or a summary of it will be published in the Dallas County News.

So that has to happen before any enforcement mechanisms can take place. However, that does not stop us from going forward with the education piece of that. And I know Heather's been working with her team on a news release and getting the website updated and all of that. And that stuff can happen ahead of that publication. But the publication is the official notice that it's been passed.

And then like for an example, if if one of your team were to give like a warning to somebody writing something that is no longer appropriate. Do we have kind of like a plan of how that's handled in the beginning while this education is getting out to notify, like, let's say a parent, for example, or how do you handle that if you just run across a minor along a trail or a sidewalk?

Yeah, so it really falls in line with anything else that our team does involving juveniles and depending on a multitude of factors. But, you know, if the juvenile is receptive and they're close to home and we say, hey, take the thing home, you can't be riding on it, then that may be the end of it. If it's a continuous thing with the same kid over and over. then we'll reach out to parents. If the juvenile is not receptive, we'll reach out to parents. If it's a safety issue, then we can reach out to parents. But it truly revolves around the officer's discretion of the time based on what they think is most appropriate. you've all heard me say it before, but we have an amazing team. They use common sense and discretion every single day in everything they do, and rarely are they out of line or out of step with what I expect of them, and so I'm sure that they'll handle it appropriately, but it is up to the officer's discretion based on the facts of the time.

Thank you. We know that there are certain areas of town where we have more More action than other areas of town. Will we be posting anything like a laminated poster that describes what is...

It's not really very easy to post those things. We can put signs at, for example, parks and on trails, but on a street corner, they're not going to see it, and it's not really... But I think... You've spoken about, you know, being able to not just have the educational component, but having officers through that educational period posting at some of these areas where we have more issues and speaking directly with kids who are, for lack of a better term, violating and moving forward from there. Any additional comments?

No, I would echo that. That would be part of our focus on the educational piece where we put people out along the trails. Maybe we put them out in an area where there's a lot of activity and explain to the children why this decision was made and what needs to happen next. You know, our team is pretty good about explaining the why behind what we're doing rather than just saying you can't be here. And I fully expect that to be part of that education campaign. And then, of course, as we go back to school, we worked with the school district last year on this topic. We made a video with the school district on this topic. They're willing to send out information for us. And I have no doubt that relationship will continue and we'll continue to work with them on that. on making everybody safe. And ultimately, to Counselor Pierce's point, we don't want to see somebody seriously injured or killed on one of these. And we want to get some guardrails in place before that happens. And we need parents to help us do that. But this provides that framework.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, please vote. Council member Lyon. Yes. Council member Pierce.

Yes.

Council member Crone.

Yes.

Council member Grove.

Yes.

Council member Anderson.

Yes. Item I6, consideration of approval of an ordinance for the division of revenues under section 403.19 code of Iowa for the Waukee consolidated urban renewal area, 2026 ordinance parcels. This is also a third and final reading.

I move to approve the third reading in the ordinance in title only and place it on final passage.

Second.

Nick?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This is a change to our existing urban renewal TIF ordinance for the consolidated area. It covers 2026 additions, as well as projects that we know are coming in the near term. Those projects are highlighted in yellow. And this is the there's been no changes since the previous two readings, but happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Any questions?

All right, please vote. Council Member Grove.

Yes.

Council Member Crone.

Yes.

Council Member Lyon. Yes. Council Member Pierce.

Yes.

Council Member Anderson.

Yes. Item I-7, the crossing at Alice's Road, Platte 6, Hy-Vee-Waukee expansion at 1,500. East Hickman Road. Item I-7A, consideration of approval of a resolution approving final plat.

Can I get a motion?

Move to approve. I can't. Melissa. Good evening, Mayor and Council, and I'm going to go ahead and present on both the final plat and site plan at the same time. The owner and applicant is Hy-Vee, Inc. The property is located west of Northeast Alice's Road and north of Hickman Road. It contains 12.84 acres in area. It is zoned C-1B, large-scale commercial district. The existing grocery store building was constructed in 2013, and then in 2019, they added the aisles on line structure within that parking lot just north of Northeast Venture Drive, the private street. A previous site plan was approved for the expansion of Hy-Vee, but nothing has been built since that was approved. The current project includes an addition to the existing grocery store building to the next slide there so you can kind of see what they're doing on there. So the addition will include an aisles online and pharmacy pickup just to the west of the building and then also additional loading docks at the northwest corner of the building. The proposed addition is just under 5,000 square feet in area. And then the existing aisles on line structure will be removed from the site. And that area will be returned to standard parking stalls. The new loading dock area will include separate driveway access for trucks along the west side of the site. They will also add landscaping just to provide screening along both the west and the north sides of the site there. The final plat includes combining, there's an unplatted parcel that part of that parking lot exists on right now. You kind of see the line on there. So it'll just plat that whole lot that exists where the Hy-Vee store is on today. And then the unplatted parcel into one large lot. And that again, that's 12.84 acres. No changes are proposed to the existing access points into the site. Those will all remain. The proposed site plan will add a total of 24 parking spaces. Parking requirements are being met. Landscaping requirements are also being met, including those landscape buffers that I talked about. The building elevations, they're proposed to match what is existing. They're to be constructed mostly of brick, precast concrete panels, ephus, and glazing. Staff recommends approval of both the final plot and site plan, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Are there questions? My only question is, can you speak a little bit more about traffic flow and vetting of that process, given that there have been issues with that in the past on this site?

Yes. So the traffic, as far as... Are you talking mostly for the trucks or just in general? Both. Okay. So the trucks will access the... So let me go here. So this area at the northwest corner, that's the additional loading docks. They have some existing ones right here. So that'll still remain over there on the northeast corner. This will be only for truck traffic right here. And of course, emergency vehicles, if they need to access it, are able to access it as well. They can go in off of the access off of Alice's Road through here, or I believe potentially off of this drive. There's aisles right there. Then the parking lot that is, so that existing Isles Online building is right here, approximately. They're just returning those all to drive. So you'll be able to drive all the way through those drive aisles and then just returning them to normal parking stalls.

And they'll likely have their truck Area marked truck entrance or something. Yes, it is only for truck access only. Right.

Yeah. And then the access. So right now, like the front of the building has that drive aisle for like the pharmacy. That is going away and they're putting like parking. There's some parking spaces and whatnot. So only these to the west of the building will be the drive aisles for both the pharmacy and for the aisles on line pickup. same access for both there's different lanes but so there's two going into it and one will be the aisles online and one will be the pharmacy okay and then once you pull through there's it'll be marked which one you're supposed to be in for each and there's I believe they exit the same way and then they exit out the same way on the south side okay other questions

Thank you.

That'll be nice for those employees that have to do that in the bad weather.

All right, please vote. Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Pierce?

Yes.

Council Member Lyon?

Yes.

Council Member Grove? Yes. Council Member Anderson?

Yes. Item I7B, consideration of approval of a resolution approving site plan. Can I get a motion? Move to approve.

Second.

Is there anything further? I have nothing further to add. Thank you. Any other questions?

Please vote. Council Member Pierce? Yes. Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Lyon? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Jen and MJ's reports. Nick?

No report.

Please.

No report.

No report. Another hot but very successful arts festival last weekend. That was fun. Otherwise, no. Rob?

No report.

No report.

I welcome the cooler weather.

Okay, and I was just going to say that I was excited to see a good turnout at the Arts Festival as well.

Perfect.

With that, I will take a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Have a good week, everybody.