Hunter
10/18/23
The Iowa City City Council passed the second consideration of amendments to its housing code Tuesday night, although anti-Semitic comments made by online trolls during the council’s community comments session overshadowed the vote.
The rezoning consideration had been deferred for two weeks, prompted by councilor John Thomas wanting to make a change to one of the 14 zoning changes as part of the amendments. He wanted it required for developers to make half of a two-unit housing complex affordable in the single-family residential zones near the University of Iowa. Thomas said the change would keep developers from taking advantage of the new amendments by building new units and charging high rents.
The housing code amendments package passed second consideration in a 5-2 vote. The third and final consideration is schedule for the next Council meeting on November 6th.
The community comment session of Tuesday’s meeting featured some anti-Semitic comments from Zoom callers. Because the councilors are not allowed to respond to public comment, they were forced to listen to about 15 minutes of discriminatory rhetoric.