Reimagining Our Community: Navigating Indianola's Development With Charlie Dissell & Emily Rizvić

Season 1, Episode 2: Deputy City Manager - Chief of Development & Operations Charlie Dissell and Associate Planner Emily Rizvić joins "Indy Unplugged" for a meaningful conversation that highlights the department’s successes from its 2023 annual report and the community vision its following, updates on the Downtown Façade Grant Program and CDBG Grant Program for improvements in the Indianola Downtown Square, discussions on the various planned unit developments and how that process works, the Housing Study & Needs Assessment currently underway and how the community can get involved, plus so much more.

Fast-forward to a specific topic covered:

• 00:00-00:41: Intro
• 00:42-02:52: Welcome & Guest Backgrounds
• 02:53-22:22: 2023 Community Development Annual Report Highlights, Updates & Plan/Vision
• 22:23-34:55: Downtown Façade Grant Program/CDBG Grant Program & Downtown Indianola Square
• 34:56-40:33: Planned Unit Developments: What They Are & Process 
• 40:34-42:39: Staying in the Loop with Project Updates
• 42:40-46:35: Housing Study & Needs Assessment: Community Involvement
• 46:36-50:30: Selling Points for Indianola
• 50:31-55:10: How Do You Navigate All These Moving Parts?
• 55:11-56:58: Closing

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
[Music]

(00:11):
Welcome to Indy Unplugged,
the podcast that's your front-row seatto the real talk of Indianola.
I'm Aaron Young, yourfriendly neighborhood host,
and we're diving deep intounfiltered stories, candid chats
and the nitty-gritty of our vibrant city.
Think of this as a crash course in all things Indianola.
No fancy jargon, just real conversations.

(00:32):
So get comfy, hit that play button
and let's explore the heart and soul of our community together
on Indy Unplugged.
Alright. We are back for another episode of Indy Unplugged,
the City of Indianola podcast,
and we are going to have a great conversation today with two of our leaders from the Community Development Department:

(00:55):
Charlie Dissell and Emily Rizvić.
Charlie, let's just start off with when we went through our
restructure you have probably one of the coolest titles now and when I say coolest I mean in the
sense of every time I put it in a communication or if I'm updating a document or doing anything
digitally I always do different versions of what your title actually is so why don't we just start

(01:20):
off with what your new role is for the City and just your story.
My position since I've been here it's always been one of those things where if you have a character limit when you're entering it in
it's always been really tough because it previously was Community and Economic Development Director
it is now Deputy City Manager - Chief of Development and Operations. So previously it was just in

(01:44):
charge of the Community Development Department which obviously includes Emily, our building
official code enforcement officer, but now it is stretched to be in charge of Community Development
and also the Public Works function so I'm essentially the go between the city manager and
our department leaders in both the wastewater treatment facility department there and the

(02:05):
public works department so streets department. AP is in charge of those two functions there and
reports up to me and and I just make sure I'm that go between that department and the city manager.
And then Emily how about you? Tell us a little bit more about your role and kind of your involvement with the City.
Yeah so I'm the Associate Planner for the City so a lot of what I do is application

(02:27):
intake for site development, subdivisions of land – all of that – and then just making sure that
all those applications are fully submitted and then taking them from staff review through the
development review team and then taking them to the planning and zoning and presenting those cases
and staff's recommendation. Then Charlie takes it on from there to City Council. a couple

(02:52):
A couple of weeks ago both of you presented the 2023 annual report for the Community Development Department.
What a great year Indianola had in 2023 with so many things that we collectively were able to
accomplish as well as so many things in motion as we look forward to 2024 and the months and years ahead.

(03:15):
Just tell us a little bit more about the highlights of how far Indianola has come in
2023 and what the future looks like for the city.
I think overall the year it started out a little
bit slower than what I've been used to in the five years that I've been here, and really up

(03:36):
until right about the end of summer was trending to be somewhat of a down year. Towards the end
of the year that last quarter of 2023 we had a lot of development proposals that started trickling in
um which really kind of helped and then we had a lot of uh homes being built as well on top of
which was able to get our number back up to where we're kind of more comfortable with on the

(03:58):
building permit side of of things you know our total number of permits have traditionally been
trending down over the last couple years that's not necessarily a surprise just with you know
where the economy been has been, where the interest rates have been for people who are developing
within the community. But the one thing we really like is when that total valuation of

(04:19):
those projects that are coming in is trending up. So we have continued to see that number trend
up over the five years that I've been here and I think last year we just went north of $40 million
in total valuation on projects that are coming in. In comparison to some of other peers in
the metro that number might not seem as high, but for Indianola, that number is pretty high so

(04:41):
that's been good. When we look at code enforcement for example that's a big thing that we handle. I
think our numbers in 2023 were similar to where they were in 2022 as far as code cases that we
had started. I think our big one is always tall grass and weeds and we're getting into that time
of year where that becomes a thing. But that was similar to what what it was last year I think

(05:05):
the one difference we saw last year as opposed to previous years was the total number of sheer
complaints we were getting in so our total number of complaints they nearly doubled maybe tripled
from 2022 to 2023. One thing that we deal with from time to time is we will have

(05:26):
one code enforcements case that we handle and the person who we are handling that with
will take some liberties to then turn in everybody else who is doing the same exact thing within
the city and sometimes that draws our numbers up. We are complaint-based, we don't actively
necessarily go out and look for violations. We will do that occasionally on some of our higher

(05:50):
travel corridors especially on the two highways in town. We try to keep track of those and maybe be
a little bit more proactive in those areas. But we're not driving through neighborhoods
day in and day out looking for violations. We're really relying on the citizens of the community
to give us that information and then we'll go out and verify it. So I say that again we really
started dealing with a a few of those complaints that we had that then would what we call kind of

(06:16):
"retaliatory complaints" coming in and just a few of them that had a sheer number of hundreds that
they were submitting. Thankfully I have a really good staff; Emily of is no exception to that. We
are able to then go and look through each one of those cases that gets put in and verify them
and a lot of times they're not valid complaints that we're getting in so we're closing those out

(06:40):
but we just did have a pretty heavy number of those here back in 2023. And then looking at
rentals that's something that we just had a rental code that was adopted in 2021. It was at the
end of 2020 early 2021 I believe. And really we had to do that because state code mandated that we
did it. State code says when you surpass a population of 15,000 that you have to have a

(07:04):
rental inspection program within your city and in 2010 I think the census we were just under that
I think we were just around 14,800 in 2010 and then in 2020 we got to 15,900. So at that point
we had to do a rental inspection program. We went through the whole process of doing that and we
are just now going to the tail end of the first two-year cycle of that rental inspection program

(07:30):
so we have what is it 2200 rentals roughly in the City of Indianola. We are doing our process
over this last year and a half and the first cycle will be over within June 30th of this year,
but inspecting all of those rental units within the city and assuring just that the
basic life safety measures of those units are being realized.

(07:54):
Of those 2200 of those rental properties
and knowing that right now we're still in the middle of approaching the Wards 2 and 4
for their deadlines of that 2200 percentage wise for where we're at right now for those who have
properly registered who are following the process is the community doing their part to ensure that

(08:15):
they're meeting the deadlines? Or what's kind of that status update that you can you can provide?
Mostly yes. I've actually been very pleasantly surprised at the compliance that we're getting
on this. It seems when we so we broke it down the first eight-month cycle that we had was
Ward 1 and then the second one was Ward 3 and then the third one was Wards 2 and 4. The

(08:41):
first one I think we had to adjudicate one or two of them in total, and then we're in the same one
in in Ward 3 right now is just adjudicating a couple of those properties that are out there
so again when you're dealing with 2200 properties and in and we might have to adjudicate 5 to 10 of

(09:02):
them in total I think that's a really good success rate. What about some of the other highlights from
2023 in terms of what you've compiled in that annual report? I mean there were just so many
pages of just so many you know x's that were marked off or things that are ongoing that you
know Indianola is on the cusp for so many new and emerging opportunities.

(09:24):
One other thing I think I want to really look at is our comprehensive plan. So our comprehensive
plan was adopted in May of 2020 and we've tried to kind of keep up on some of the implementation
measures that were in that comprehensive plan. In total we had 162 implementation measures within
that comprehensive plan. We were able to report in at the end of 2023 that we had started at least

(09:50):
some process of implementing at least half ofthose at this point in time so in four years
we've gotten about 80 I think that we have started implementation on. That's really good I mean
comprehensive plans typically look out 20 years or so. So if we're able to get half of
those done in the first four years, that's pretty good. I think some of the outstanding ones that
we still have left to do are bigger ones that are going to take a lot of time to get done and a lot

(10:15):
of resources to get done. But still I think our staff has done a really, really good job of making
sure we are ensuring that the community's vision from 2020 is being realized. Going back to
2020 we had a great deal of public engagement and thankfully we got most of it in before

(10:35):
the COVIC pandemic hit so you know we talk survey responses in that one in particular we had nearly
1500 survey responses on that comprehensive plan process so we really did get a good snapshot of
what the community wants to see Indianola as in the future so again by following that
implementation plan we are making sure that the community's vision is being realized.

(10:58):
Has that vision shifted at all? I mean you talk about kind of getting those responses pre-COVID and then now you
know even though COVID's still around I'm going to say post-COVID or post-pandemic, how do
you kind of navigate any shifting priorities that come from the community and those demands
or those those visions that they want to see this the City take advantage of?

(11:22):
It's an evolving plan it's always going to be an evolving plan and it's one of those things if you
aren't looking at it constantly and you aren't aren't making little changes here and there
you know you're not keeping up with the times. And we've done that you know some of the the
development plans that we've had out there have required comprehensive plan amendments that's been
good. We continue at the staff level to look at some of our growth areas and make sure that

(11:46):
what was visioned in 2020 still makes sensefor the future. You know as far as the pandemic
and how that really related to things you know for Indianola I don't want to say
it's a "bedroom community" necessarily, but when you look at that term somewhat that does apply
to Indianola. Knowing that I think if anything we've maybe just seeing a daytime population

(12:09):
increase from where it was in 2020 with a lot of people working from home but when we
look at the comprehensive plan and and one thing that Indianola really should be proud of is our
fiber utility that Indianola Municipal Utilities has and it's it's an awesome utility it's a
great thing that we can put out there and and show people who are moving to the community that

(12:30):
we have it and that has only helped us. I think through that in making sure people do have the
ability to work from home if that is what their job is requiring them to do. With utilities and
infrastructure there could be that perception for those who are not from Indianola that Indianola is an
aging community in terms of its population, in terms of its infrastructure. But it seems like and

(12:57):
I when I glean from the annual report and being a new employee to the City now 5-6 months in,
that's totally far from the truth like we are on the up and up of ensuring that while there are
things that are outdated we are updating things for the sense of being able to provide that
that quality of life and be able to provide optimal services for residents for visitors

(13:21):
for businesses to thrive in their daily life. That's an accurate statement right? Oh yeah
yeah definitely. We I think we've done a really good job of making sure that our infrastructure
is being updated and there's a plan out there to update some of our older infrastructure all

(13:42):
you have to do is walk outside and take a walk around the square to realize that um you know
our Square when you know I go back five years ago when when I started here um at the time the city
manager Ryan Waller uh even before I had started was sending me inform information um on uh Hey

(14:02):
the Warren County Justice Center is going to be changing we need to be taking a look at what we
do in our Square so even before I started here I was starting to kind of review some rfps that
we had to do a planning process on a master plan for the downtown Square um I bring that up just
because I have been working on that ever since I have been here and today it continues um but

(14:26):
through that process you know we were looking at what can we do to create better pedestrian
amenities around our Square to complement the new courthouse that was coming um and it was realized
through that process that hey guys we need to take a look at our infrastructure we have sewer
lines in the ground that are 120 years old in some spaces water lines that were 120 year old
in some places um we had water lines that were uh undersized I mean at the time they were put

(14:52):
in 4in water Ms made a lot of sense um in modern day era when we have to deal with fire suppression
systems and and things like that um it doesn't make much sense anymore so we had to take a look
at a lot of that stuff and make sure that um when we were updating our square if we were going to be
putting New Roads new sidewalks and stuff in well hey when that lid is off the ground let's take a

(15:13):
look at the infrastructure that's in the ground and that project went from you know initially
a $4.5 million project to nearly a $10 million project because we knew we needed to take care of
that infrastructure uh in the square and and the square is obviously the heartbeat of our community
um and it was a good investment and you know it took a little bit of time to get it done we're

(15:33):
still working on it now uh but um you know I think moving forward for the future um it's going to pay
off immensely and what are those conversations like with community members in terms of when you
talked about you know that project going from $4 million to $10 million again I wasn't here um to
even be part of the the conversations and and have an understanding of what the dialogue was

(15:57):
like but I feel like probably from the sense of a lot of our community they're probably you know I
that's more than I have to pay what just what was it like for you and for Community Development to
kind of navigate those discussions gosh it was it was something else because timing was everything
on this one too so um you know I think once we started looking at things and we started realizing

(16:18):
the infrastructure component to that project it started making a lot of sense and people kind
of bought in and said yeah you know Now's the Time to do this because we don't want to be coming back
in 10 years and doing this again uh we knew that we were going to have a pretty big disruption on
the Square between the Justice Center and between the downtown project um for about a 4-year period
and we were able to sell that especially to the stakeholders in the downtown um just you know it's

(16:42):
going to be one of those things we we're going to have a little bit of painful time here um but
we'll get through it and and uh they bought in on that portion of it um but then Co happen and then
we saw Rising infrastructure costs uh pricings and all of that stuff and that's where it really
started accelerating into a bigger project you know if that project if we would have started two

(17:03):
years sooner for example um that project probably is 25% cheaper uh something like that I would say
it's just it was the time that it got bit out and how much it ended up costing but um you
know in the end it was it was a great experience because we got the single bid back for the project
you know we would have hoped that we would have gotten more bids on that um but it is what it is

(17:25):
we had one single bid on it and you know I I from my standpoint um I don't remember the date that
we opened the bid but it was midweek and we were taking to councel the next Monday and there was a
good 3 to 4 day period where I really questioned if the project was even going to happen because
I didn't know what we were going to do to make up these cost and it was since I've been here in five

(17:50):
years maybe one of the low points in my career just because it's one of those gut-wrenching
feelings that you have it's something that you've worked on so hard and you just have
to to question if it's going to happen and what the implications are if it does not happen and
eventually we started talking to the chamber we started talking to the downtown business owners
and they started encouraging us even more is hey this project needs to happen we have to

(18:12):
find a way to get these costs so um you know we started having these meetings on a Thursday or a
Friday and the entire weekend um we were working with the again the city manager of the time Ryan
Waller our previous Finance director Andy lent and we're trying to find buckets of money that we can
use for this project and trying to get creative on how we can come up with funding and you know

(18:34):
ultimately we found ways forward for the project um the council was on board with doing that um the
square business owners mostly were on board with doing that uh we did get some push back from the
community in general that's typically going to happen with a project um that is this expensive
but I think ultimately um you you look outside in the Square I know some people don't like it but I

(18:56):
think a lot of people do like it and again like I said before I think it's going to pay off uh just
dividends in the future and for the square we're in kind of the final phases of the construction
and everything should be completed I think I got an email from you the other day Charlie about
hey you know in the next Community update let's share this status update because uh IMU will be

(19:17):
back over there in that west alley um beginning uh here next week so how cool is it and when you look
back in just that journey of how far you and the City have come to get to the point where
we're at soon to then kind of wrap it up and be able to celebrate and have the square be fully um
utilized for any and all purposes yes so um we're in this weird portion of weather right now here in

(19:45):
February where I don't think we had too many days under freezing so everybody's we're looking at it
we're excited it's like hey can we get started right now on these projects but at the same time
everybody's like hold on it's Iowa like we're going to have another winter event of some sort
like it's just it statistics will tell you what's going to happen uh at some point here in the next
month or so so let's just be a little cautious on this so we've we've been talking about this

(20:09):
we have development review meetings uh bi-weekly um with uh our uh kind of development review team
uh within the city and you know every meeting that we have we're progressively getting closer
to that point of yeah I think we're going to start moving forward with this so 100% what's happening
here um soon at the the beginning of March is that IMU still has a little bit of work in our

(20:32):
west alley to do so this this Project's been a great collaboration between the city and IMU um
you know if you go in the alleys of the square we've got overhead electrical lines all over the
place and IMU has had a goal of undergrounding electrical lines for some time so we were able
to work with them knowing that we were going to be redoing some of these alleys and get those
lines underground so step one for them is they put conduit in the ground um so then we can put

(20:59):
again the alley the paving back on top of it uh and they've got a little bit of work left to do
in the west alley so for the next couple months they're going to be kind of finishing up their
portion of that so then when they're ready to pull electrical lines Underground through that conduit
um they're ready to go uh once they're completed then our contractor will get back in there and
actually at this point really all we have left to do is to um pave the parking lot and pave the

(21:23):
alley and we'll be done so we're kind of hopeful that the project should be wrapped up by the end
into this fiscal year for City that's June 30th um so by July 1 we're pretty much done with this
project we were hopeful when the project started that we would have been done uh by last fall um
but you know every project has its delays we're we're working with so many different entities on

(21:45):
this project it's not just the city it's the city it's IMU it's every franchise utility that's in
the alley you know in American on gas centry link on fiber or media com and all that stuff so many
moving oh my God it it and you can't keep up with it sometime and you know and again when you're
when you're in an square that is just as old as the square you know you take off the concrete and

(22:06):
all of a sudden you start finding things that if you had x-ray vision you'd be seeing them uh but
until you take that lid off the ground you don't know a lot of things that are down there and it's
just a fact finding Mission and trying to figure out who owns these things who's responsible for
these things um and that overall will cause delays kind of Switching gears here be talk about you
know with how historic our downtown square is a lot of work has been happening as of late in

(22:31):
terms of the downtown facade grant program um just tell us a little bit more about that program and
that first round and to where um kind of the the phase that we're currently at and then just the
impact that that program has provided to uh the square collectively and for the business owners
who've been able to take advantage of it so we started um looking at facade Improvement grant

(22:54):
opportunities for uh the downtown businesses and property owners um I guess that would have
been 2022 we just started out with um just interviewing business owners and seeing what
areas of concerns that they did have with their buildings they had concerns with their Windows
their doors um accessibility into the building Parts falling off so we were able to uh look at

(23:18):
those concerns that they had and then formulate a grant opportunity that really fit what the need
was in the community we did a series of visual sessions with the downtown Square commission just
looking at what their priorities were in terms of the athetics in the downtown area too and um that

(23:39):
with the input from uh downtown businesses we created the downtown facad and interior
Improvement program um and we just pushed that out um and allowed businesses to apply for them based
off of their needs um whether that was interior or um on the outside facade area when we did do
those interviews we did recognize that there was a bigger need than what we would be able to offer

(24:06):
from the city so we did also look at um applying for the uh cdbg uh downtown revitalization Grant
too but yeah it's been great we've gotten good response responses from the downtown businesses
so far um I think when we had uh put out the first grant we had around 20 uh down Town businesses

(24:29):
Property Owners apply for it so it was good and for some of those businesses who were fortunate
to have been approved um for that first round of the uh of the grant program the majority of
them are now all completed with their Renovations except with maybe one or two is that correct yeah

(24:49):
we had six total recipients on that um and I think four of them have been completed one is going to
be completed here in the spring when well when weather allows I think we're there but hopefully
here pretty soon and then one of them is no longer going to happen on that initial round just because
it is kind of being wrapped into one of the bigger projects on that cdbg Grant so I think in total

(25:14):
we had um was it uh we we F Well we had $125,000 worth of funding that we were going to hand out I
think in the end we're going to hand out 110,000 of that but I believe that triggered about 250,00
000 worth of reinvestment into the square so you know the city was about what about a 45% uh
stake in that reinvestment which was really good now when we look at the cdbg grant um that one's

(25:40):
much bigger so that's going to have about a $1.3 million mark on the Square so $1.3 Million worth
of reinvestment in the square in the city is only responsible uh for funding $345,000 worth of that
so that's about 25% of the total things so what's really good about that cdbg Grant is we actually

(26:01):
get 50% of federal dollars coming in and then the city puts up 25% and the property owners
put up 25% to get that total so um it's a really good opportunity for us um we did apply for that
back in November I think it was right before Thanksgiving um we initially did get feedback
that our application had some deficiencies that we had to work through so we' been given

(26:24):
an extension on that deadline uh to fix some of those deficiencies but I think our team um we're
we're using an architect Curtis architect and then we're using the mid Iowa planning Alliance
uh to help us through that process so it's a good team effort that we have going there but
our team um the other team members have worked on these projects in the past and they're pretty
confident that ours is going to be a successful application with these revisions that we do um

(26:48):
and then we're just probably going to continue to see more reinvestment in the Square yet again this
year on some buildings I think in total the cdbg one has five different buildings it impacts so the
CBG is a little bit different it looks at facade sides I think in total we have about seven or
eight different facades that we're working on but um for the lay person it's about five properties

(27:11):
that are going to see some transformation that project's really focused on the Southeast side
of the square mainly uh but the good thing is this application cycle um the way it works it's a 2year
application cycle from the time you apply to the time you get funding and the projects happen um
I think intention from staff standpoint as long as we continue to get funding for it would be to

(27:32):
work around the square and give everybody an opportunity who wants to do it because
like Emily said that first round of applications we had 20 people who were interested 20 people
who submitted applications um and with this cdbg round uh we have even more people who are really
really chomping at the bit uh to get some facade improvements down so going back to the downtown

(27:54):
project and the courthouse that was one thing that we always visioned when we were doing this this
was the courthouse was going to go in brand new courthouse the city was going to take care of our
streets and kind of improve the area around there we were always hopeful eventually the business
owners then would take care of their properties and that was part of the reason that we did the
2023 grant program um thankfully we found uh a grant program through the state uh using Federal

(28:17):
funding that can help with that even more but you know it's something that I think in 10 years um
if for anybody who uh for anybody who hasn't been in Indianola if you came today and then you came
back again in 10 years you're just going to see a a great transformation on our Square oh for sure
and you talk about too in terms of um you know the percentage of money that's come from the city

(28:38):
from uh from federal government from business owners you know when I talked with at least one
business owner who took advantage of that of that first program if it weren't for this program they
wouldn't have been able to update their building so you talk about that collaborative effort
to change a business and change a area change a community I mean what a phenomenal way to make an

(29:02):
immediate and longterm impact I know when we were doing this we had council members asking for this
information was because the city had previously done facade Grant programs they were a little
bit different than than how we did them this time around and I know Emily you did some pretty good
research on just those properties that the city did invest in how the taxable value increased

(29:23):
on those properties compared to properties that didn't do any uh investment in there so you know
we were able to show the council that hey if if you do invest and you do put the monies into this
you know it's not going to pay off tomorrow but in 10 years 15 years from now um you'll have a return
on your investment when you've done research do you look at other downtown squares and how they

(29:45):
are kind of improving their buildings or what kind of research Emily did you do to bring that that
back to Indianola I would say that the first part of the research was just seeing with our downtown
businesses and Property Owners what their needs were um but then on the other half yet looking
at what other downtowns um within Iowa were doing so Knoxville um they've actually gone through a

(30:09):
couple cdbg Grant programs um so that's where we kind of both looked at that and said well we we
could work around the square then in that instance and have that investment really maximize the um
impact on City investment and private property um um owner Investments as well um but no when we're

(30:31):
looking at the research I think uh we had seen like a 40% increase on uh taxable value for Wow
uh the downtown properties that we did invest so when you talk about uh peeling like layers
away from buildings I mean there's and with how historic our downtown square is there's

(30:54):
some still original brick there's still a lot of of like I'm going to call it rich Traditions
that are still intact in the majority of these buildings how cool is that to still and with
one of the facades that are hopefully still part of this second round with the cbdgrandma10.com

(31:27):
[Music][Music]
transform something but still honor your roots I mean even like the Harrison's building for example
right now which is what I was referring to but I want you guys to say it I mean they have I guess
the brick facade that's kind of considered as a slip cover right so um that whole facade is
actually covering a existing facade that's still intact um I guess emitting the lower level but

(31:52):
on the upper level level they still have um the original windows and the glasses maintained um
and you can see the old uh rooms that were inside on the upper level too so it's interesting to see
how even though it's been like 100 years or so that it's still there and it's still existing
so we'll wait till we dulge into more information into how because we have to wait till we get uh

(32:17):
approved for that it's going to be really cool for the community to see how this program and how it
will still honor the tradition that this building that is kind of a an icon in indola not just a
square but in indola to still kind of Honor that Legacy but very cool and that one in particular
has been really really fun for us I said this when we presented those renderings to council it's it's

(32:41):
one of the most exciting uh Concepts I've ever been a part of um but you know the the funny thing
is is I will take that concept to people who have not seen it yet and I'll show them I say hey what
building do you think this is on the Square and just try to get them to guess and nobody
can guess what it is and then when you tell them they're like oh wow that would be great um but you
know the other thing it does too is is these these projects are going to hopefully help us also get

(33:08):
some kind of that upper story uh activity taking place I don't want to say upper story housing
because it doesn't have to be limited to Upper story housing but some activities in some of these
upper stories I mean I I can go around the square right now and I can think of probably four or five
buildings where the upper story um has absolutely nothing going on in it's just storage of some sort

(33:28):
or you know there's there's just old boxes up there and things like that and and that's one
good thing about our square is you know we want to kind of create it as that activity center and
if you can activate those spaces up there if you can put you know a reception type venue up there
or you can put three or four apartment buildings up there well that's now three or four people
who are living on the Square and are shopping around the square eating on the Square visiting

(33:52):
the square spending their time on the Square if you're able to put some sort of reception venue
up there well on a Friday and Saturday night you know that's potentially hundreds of people
who are coming down to the square and and when that reception's over they're going to go out
and they're going to do things around the square so it's just a great opportunity um and uh you
know unfortunately for me Aaron you you grew up here um so you maybe understand it a little bit

(34:14):
better than I do but you know I've been here for 5 years and I've seen more activity in the square
in that five years I don't know what it was like in the past or anything like that um and it's not
really fair for me to judge either because when I came here there was no the the courthouse was
still the Old Courthouse was still standing in the middle of the square but it was not operational so
that level of activity was not taking place there so you know that's probably played into me seeing

(34:37):
that increase of activity but um historically I don't know where we've been but I just I think
um we have a great Square we have a wonderful opportunity and we have great business great
business owners um and everybody wants the same thing for the square some people have different
ways to get there but in the end we all get to the same place yeah it's almost like reim Imaging the
future and this is the perfect kind of Mantra I don't know if you guys you can you can use that

(35:02):
in your own department now CU When I'm going to now is those plane unit developments uh this is
around the time when I came on board the city when we're talking about Emerald Bay and Deer Run and
Kentucky Ridge and there's probably a handful of others that I'm leaving out but um we were all
part of the 5 hourong planing zoning commission meeting unfortunately but you talk about um taking

(35:26):
the next steps to to reimagine Inola and these pling developments are kind of that in a nutshell
just provide a little bit of context into what a PUD is and the process that it has to go through
from a city standpoint really with a PUD it's it's an opportunity for a developer to create a
master plan um that ultimately would provide some flexibility of land use development densities and

(35:50):
building locations that other traditional zoning districts probably would not allow for example
you know we have our straight residential our straight commercial and our straight industrial
zoning districts and in some of these instan and I'll use both Emerald Bay and gun for example we
have a mix coming in here we're going to have some commercial we're going to have some multif
family we're going to have some duplexes some Town Homes some single famili same thing with

(36:15):
Emerald Bay and you know you could get to the nuts and bolts of okay well let's identify what those
areas are and we'll put the R1 zoning District on this area the R2 zoning District on this area the
R3 three on this area the C2 on this area um and it gets really complex and it's just a you know
a broad array of colors that show up on a zoning map and or you could just do these puds and and

(36:39):
it allows for kind of these mixes of uses under certain scenarios and that's really where I think
we've used it um pretty well um and let's let's develop a master plan for these areas what we
want them to look like how we want them to operate um you know how we're going to get amenities in
there parks things like that um let's have those reviewed and approved and and and we'll go on it

(37:04):
so um obviously with both of those there is a process that is involved and the public should
and is heavily involved in those process because our job in the Community Development Department
as planners uh both planners by trait is to make sure that we are balancing the land use rights of

(37:26):
private Property Owners with the desires of the community essentially and the desires of those
neighboring Property Owners um so their input is important to us sometimes people will tell you ah
you know you'll hear our input and it goes in one ear and out the other then that's not true that's
not true at the council level that's not true at the commission level that's not true at our level
um we hear everything that is being said sometimes we might not do what they're asking us to do but

(37:50):
we hear it and we do take it into account so yeah it's it's it's just been an amazing process you
know you talk about the 5our meeting I know I just kind of joked about it and said unfortunately um
you know if I had those meetings every single week that would be one thing but when you have
them from time to time they actually can kind of be a little bit fun uh to have because it really
kind of shows what you're doing is important um and that people are paying attention and it

(38:13):
just kind of reminds you that you know you need to make sure that you're doing what's right for
the community we talked about this with the mayor on the last uh the F actual first episode of Indie
unplugged and I kept saying that that was Civic engagement at its final I mean that's the way the
process should be I mean I would love if we have dozens of people filling our council chambers for
every single meeting because they are uh paying attention they are part of the process and they

(38:38):
are a valuable key player to everything that we do as a city how how quick though can people
be to assess or judge a PUD because if it could always be something where it's uh if you see on
that map in all these different colors and and hey I'm that color hey that's my property hey this is

(39:00):
an immediate change to what I'm having right now how do you kind of reassure people we are very a
long ways away from what this will actually look like be part of the process in terms of uh voicing
your opinions whether you're in support or against of and here's how you can continue to be engaged
and and get the facts and and and be part of this journey that we're taking together you know I I

(39:24):
think yeah people sometimes can be a little bit quick to judge um and you know I think of the
deer run in the Emerald Bay uh really good example is everybody thinks multif family and then they
look at the existing multif family that we have in this community and they go oh my gosh that's
what it's going to look like I don't want that there the good thing with us is we updated our
zoning codes back in 2021 and we have I don't want to say strict design standards but we have design

(39:49):
standards that we require for those buildings that we did not have when the previous ones were built
so um you know we can can thankfully tell the community that yeah you know I I I understand
you're you you're very curious on how this is going to look but hey we do have codes in place
that are going to make sure that they they look good um that they're not going to be um just basic

(40:11):
materials you know steel sighing vinyl sighing whatever that is no they've got to have some other
components built into that so um you know we make sure of that and and I think it's as through those
discussions you know I think people maybe get a little bit more comfortable with things um and and
they're able to kind of come to terms um with the future on on those pieces of ground and even with

(40:34):
all the information that we have available for stakeholders and and folks to be able to follow
along with the with the uh with projects and puds I mean Emily you especially in the past year have
kind of revamped the Community Development website and the assets that are available to be more

(40:54):
transparent and forthright in terms of providing the information for anyone any user to learn more
about these projects and status updates and just kind of the steps that the city is taking on any
given project we launched I guess it's been a year now um our current development projects

(41:15):
map um which is also the most clicked item in every single Community update it was I mean
it was obviously also in the top of your guys' analytics for a department so it's always it's
always a a hot uh digital item for sure yeah well it's funny that you say that too because before we
even launched it and made it public and started doing social media posts on it like I I hadn't

(41:38):
even shared it with anyone except for Charlie and I had maybe like 40 50 views like a day they might
have all been me too cuz I was pretty excited about it but but no um it's been a great tool
um to be able to like share out and help people visualize what um current development it might

(42:04):
look like in our community um and really increase that engagement for our uh development projects
that we're seeing we do send out notifications for some of our development projects but obviously
those won't be as detailed as actually seeing what it could look like or what the architectural
renderings look like so it's been a great tool yeah no for sure and I appreciate it too because

(42:25):
it's just it's it's a great way again you go back to transparency and communication it's how we're
able to put the information to the public to again like you said be engaged and be informed with
everything that's happening in their Community as you talk about more of other projects and studies
that the city is putting on you know right now we're still taking input for the housing study

(42:50):
and needs assessment talk a little bit about kind of that process into um kind of what we're seeking
to accomplish as a city with this particular study the housing study is is great so again I go back
to when we're talking about the comprehensive plan and all the implementation strategies that
are within our comprehensive plan one of those implementation strategies is hey you need to look

(43:11):
at a housing study so going back to 2020 when we did our comprehensive plan um one of the things
that the school district actually asked the city for was hey look at a housing study because we
need to better understand as a school district you know kind of what growth is going to be where our
needs are and because the school district has you know their own entity they have a lot of planning

(43:31):
that goes on based off projections right like because that's really where their focus is is
where we're going to be at in the future um so again a great collaboration that we had with the
school district on that one um unfortunately I think when we did it the we did it as kind
of like a bid alternate essentially which means that hey we want the comprehensive plan done but
here's two other things that we'd also like done as part of the comprehensive plan so give us some

(43:54):
pricing on that um we just at at the time we couldn't afford it because we didn't have um
enough money earmarked to do the comprehensive plan but we did get a kind of um a more simple
version of a housing study that was done as part of the comprehensive plan and because of
that we put that implementation strategy into the comprehensive plan that said hey you need to do a

(44:14):
full-on housing study now when we talk about all the developments that are happening um one of the
ones in particular that we're working on right now is the schoolyard development um that is the old
Trailer part Park uh that is just east of the high school right there on 15th and '92 uh it's been a
vacant piece of ground um another thing in the 5 years that I've been here is something that we've

(44:35):
constantly been trying to get redeveloped and we have a great opportunity here with a developer
who's working with some Workforce housing credits uh through the Iowa Finance Authority and one of
the requirements that they have on that is that they need an updated housing study with the
city um so in working with them knowing what our comprehensive plan said and knowing we did have
some capacity within our budget budget uh for another study this year we thought hey what's

(44:58):
a better time than now we can ensure that this development happens out here we can check mark
or check off another item on the implementation strategy and again we've got the money sitting
here to be able to do it um but it's really really really important for us and it's really important
for a lot of the people in the community to really understand where our housing needs

(45:19):
are you know we can continue to get development inquiries for single family developments um you
know with a price range on a high house from you know $300 to $500,000 um but what we need to know
and we need the data to show is is that really what we need are we saturated with that level
of development that's not to say that we're going to use this study to tell people no we don't want

(45:40):
this development anymore but it gives us a tool to then go out and start looking and and working
with other developers to say hey we need the level of housing that is you know x amount of dollars
whether it's you know that $200 to $300,000 range or if it's even 500,000 plus we're deficient in
those areas we have a demand in those areas and we need to look at that it also helps you know back

(46:03):
up some of the multif family developments that we're having um I don't think it'll be a secret
that our housing studies probably going to show that we need more multif family because that is
becoming a bigger thing Nationwide Statewide um wherever that might be people are getting
more interested in multif family developments that's a good thing we just need to make sure
that we're responding to those demands and we're putting our resources and our efforts on

(46:26):
recruiting developers I'll just use the word term recruiting but you know recruiting developers and
talking to developers and encouraging the level of development that our city really needs so when
you had those conversations with developers kind of what are the the pitches so to speak that when
you were trying to recruit them what what do you say you've got to sell Indianola and and honestly
it's not that difficult for me um the the biggest thing that we have working against us is just our

(46:52):
sheer distance from the Metro but it's really not that far and I think um when you look at a lot
of people in the Metro one thing that I've always had to kind of laugh at when it happens is people
think Indianola is further away from the metro area than it actually is there's a few things that
we can look at when we're comparing ourselves to our peers in the Metro first of all we're closer

(47:13):
to the airport than probably 75% of the cities in the De Moine metro area which is really nice
um that helps with Industrial Development and stuff like that um but just being able to sell
the things that we have here in this community I'm talk we talk the square we talk Simpson College um
we talk the national Bloom classic the de Mo Metro Opera the Warren County Fair there is just so many

(47:33):
things happening in this community um that people when when they come down here and they realize it
I think they really think Indianola is a very nice place so what we're trying to do is we're
just trying to sell processes um and amenities to these developers and making them realize that
it's good but from my standpoint honestly it's it's it's constant communication too you just

(47:55):
have to keep communicating with these people um and making sure that Indian know is on the top of
their mind and and you know making them aware of opportunities when they come along you know if a
piece of ground comes up for sale um they might not see it on a on the MLS uh listing for three
or four days after it comes on there but if I'm able to give it to them three days ahead of time
you know maybe that makes a difference in in some timing on that so um it's knowing what they want

(48:19):
it's knowing what we need um it's knowing what we have to offer um from you know Financial resources
as well too on on residential development it's not that much uh but what little we have we can really
um we can really promote to those developers with the housing study I mean at this point in time the
community can still participate in the survey and all that information can be found on uh the

(48:44):
city's website www. Inola iowa.gov if you were to go through the Community Development Department
page um there's a section there I believe right Emily where they can click to and then be able
to find the hous and study um link to that as well otherwise I think the direct link to the
website of the study website is engage. thinkon fluence.com Indianola dousing D study don't ask me

(49:13):
how I memorize that but I do memorize that because of of a bunch of different Communications we put
out to get more of our citizens and and residents and and community members to participate in that
survey because your input is valuable and I think so far right now when I was looking at the data
that Confluence had provided it was around roughly like what 150 180 submissions th far but we want

(49:38):
more we have plenty more people in this community that uh need to voice their opinion and be part
of the process because it's shaping the future up until like 2050 I think I've seen some of the the
the years we've been putting on our Communications right yeah you're spot on too and and you know we
we've kind of been communicating via email this morning amongst all of us with our consultant
on this too and just hey the survey is out here we haven't really picked a date to end the survey yet

(50:04):
and we're really trying to get that um so anybody who's listening right now take the survey tell
your friends to take the survey send it to your friends your your your family whoever it may be
cuz again what we're doing here is we're really trying to get that Community input um to shape
our future and every little bit of Engagement that we get helps us get to that point to make

(50:26):
sure that we are doing what you as a community wants us to be doing so as we wrap up this
podcast which I think I might to have you guys on in the near future because we could definitely do
like a multipar because there's so much that we can dig into and it's almost overwhelming do you
ever feel like in your day-to-day jobs you feel overwhelmed I've seen some nods how how do you

(50:49):
how do you navigate all this knowledge and all of the the moving parts to the various things that
your department does day in and day out teamwork uh from our standpoint I mean we've got a great
staff we're small But Mighty um and that's not just my department that is every Department within
the city as a whole we rely heavily on our experts across the city so you know we're we're looking at

(51:15):
Jared from the sewer department we're looking with uh Mike Justin and Kurt at IMU and we're working
with ailish pal to to look at the streets and all that stuff we have got so many people who are
experts in their fields really good at what they do and give us feedback on these projects so we
can make sure that we are getting the best product for Indianola um so that's really important um you

(51:36):
know but I think for us too it's it's just making sure that we have positive relationships even
amongst each other you know we're able to have fun I think while we're at work um you know we
we all get along with each other um and and you know it's just good to sometimes take a break
from the day-to-day activities occasionally and make sure that we're having those um discussions

(51:58):
with each other and having those moments with each other and you know even even with you guys
Aaron and everybody else that comes along just uh you know there's a lot of things that we do
I think as a city to make sure that our staff is mentally healthy uh in that sense because it is
really important because the day-to-day that we do I mean I I I I I know I work quite a bit um

(52:19):
sometimes past 5:00 and and we have night meetings it seems like at least one night meeting a week if
not sometimes two a week um that we have to take care of and that takes us away from our personal
lives um but again it is it is uh it is a big time commitment uh at times and there is sometimes
where you feel like you are just not getting all of the work done um but thankfully again our team

(52:42):
is is good we're we're making sure that we help each other out um and you know if something needs
to be done we'll get it done and if something can possibly wait a little bit more to get done
U we're just making sure that we get those right things in place how do you navigate it Emily I
would go back to like what Charlie said like I I really do rely on my co-workers and sometimes like
I do forget things and when Charlie reminds me like oh how is this thing going like that really

(53:07):
helps me make sure that I'm doing my follow-ups with um developers or um other co-workers that
are doing uh reviews on the same development plans if we need anything on that um but then
also really just maximizing our use of Technology too because now we do our development review team
reviews all on teams rather than emails and that kind of helps us put off like the the amount of

(53:34):
organizing of emails that we added do in the past so that that has helped a lot and we use like the
task function and everything so yeah it's and it's a great Point too just the technology advancements
that I think our department has made even our city has made um that are just more user friendly even
our permitting our rental registration our code enforcement process is all online right now um and

(53:56):
and it's just it it becomes somewhat automated for us which is really helpful because you know rather
than what we were doing a long time ago was we were tracking everything in Excel spreadsheets
and it's just it takes time for our staff to go in and update the Excel spreadsheet and make sure
that we're doing this and update this and and we now don't have to worry about that because it is

(54:18):
all automated it allows us it gives us some more time to then be more diligent in other areas which
is really nice and just more efficient from both an internal standpoint and external um for the
end user of being able to submit those uh permit applications or um you know whatever the case may
be efficiency is key and I'm definitely trying to be efficient as a Communications manager for

(54:41):
the city and such a well-rounded team we have from you know all of our various departments to all of
our various staff levels I mean we all love this community we all want to be part of this community
and it's so great to to be part of this team and part of this Mission we definitely appreciate
everybody everybody's got a unique job um that makes the city function um from Council down to

(55:05):
just staff and uh we all do a great job we all enjoy doing it and we do it because we love this
city before we wrap up is there anything at all that either of you want to share the only thing
I can you know again there there's so many things that we always have and so many notifications that
we have to get out to people um you know it's it's pay attention to our social media page just pay

(55:25):
attention to our website go and sign up for our notifications the news flashes the agendas and
stuff like that um you know I think sometimes we we'll get into these um situations where people
are like well I didn't know that was happening but it's like the information is there you know
we can't necessarily send out a piece of mail to everybody in the community every time something
happens we can't necessarily go knocking on everybody's door and letting them know that

(55:48):
something's going to happen the information's there there are ways to make sure that you're
getting the information um so so please do that and if you need help doing that reach out to
really anybody at the city because I think we all know how to get that set up yeah and various ways
I mean in terms of this podcast in terms of our website social media print I mean we work hand
inand with the media as allies to help share the information whe whether it's a an emergency or

(56:14):
general reminders I mean we try to meet people where they are in various different formats to
share this information in an accessible easy to digest manner thanks so much for joining us on
this episode of Indie unplugged make sure that you hit that subscribe button if you haven't already
subscribe to the show and you know what go ahead and also leave us a review rate this podcast let

(56:38):
us know what you like what you don't like again we're in the beginning stages of implementing
this communication strategy into our workflow so again be part of that process help us reshape
what this could look like and who knows maybe someday you'll be a future guest of Indian plug