City Council planning session tackles light agenda

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Once the dust settled, there weren’t many objections at a Charles City Council planning session Monday that dealt largely with concrete and gravel.

Mills Inc. and MidAmerican Energy Co. each requested a permanent waiver from the city to not enforce off-street parking requirements for new business locations.

The city’s zoning ordinance sets the number of parking spaces needed based on square footage of building usage. Office space requires 2½ parking stalls per 1,000 square feet of floor area and warehouses require one parking stall per 1,000 square feet.

Kelvin Keifer, owner of Mills Inc., has purchased the building at 1906 Gilbert St. and will move his plumbing and heating business from its previous address of 312 North Main St. The building at Gilbert Street was previously the worship center for New Life Community Church.

The parking lot is currently gravel, but Keifer plans on paving areas next to the building for customers and ADA-accessible handicapped parking. There will also be pavement near the driveway approach to Gilbert Street, but Keifer is seeking a permanent waiver from a requirement to pave the rest of the parking lot.

MidAmerican bought the old Allied Construction Co. building at 1307 South Main St. MidAmerican has remodeled the building to consist of offices and garage space. The areas outdoors will provide secure storage for wind turbine parts and other tools. The south driveway has a paved approach and there is small area of concrete on the west side of the building. The north driveway is paved for approximately 230 feet. MidAmerican is seeking a permanent waiver from paving the remaining gravel areas.

“The concrete has become a real stifle for a lot of small businesses ’cause it’s a big expense if you have to do a couple hundred square feet of concrete. Well, that’s pretty spendy,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Joerger. Joerger filled in for Mayor Dean Andrews, who was not present at the planning session.

The waiver requests were brought before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Sept. 17 and that group recommended a two-year waiver.

Council member DeLaine Freeseman said he understood the request to not pave the old Allied lot if there wasn’t that much truck traffic or if there were few pedestrians walking around the area. He still felt there needed to be some sort of distinction or barrier in case cars wanted to park there.

“If you don’t want to put in concrete, then fence it off,” said Freeseman.

City Engineer John Fallis said he would like to amend the current ordinance to make it more cost effective for businesses and review some of the reason for the off-street parking requirements like aesthetics, dust control and drainage issues. He also said the city could enforce the requirements in the future on a case-by-case basis rather than just having one city-wide requirement.

The council will consider action on these two waivers at the October 1 regular meeting.

Housing Director Heidi Nielsen was in attendance and made a request for purchase of a new 2019 Chevy Silverado from Karl Chevrolet in Des Moines. The 2009 Dodge pickup that is currently used has encountered much wear and tear over the years.

The cost for the new Silverado is $31,641.60 with a trade-in value of $12,389 for the Dodge. After trade-in, the price tag of the Silverado would be $19,252.60. The funding for the truck has been budgeted for the current cost of the 2019 truck. Nielsen said they’ll be piggy-backing onto the State Vehicle Contracts for the purchase of the new truck.

The council also held a special meeting before the planning session to approve the annual street finance report. The report is required by the Department of Transportation each year. It summarizes street-related revenues and expenses for the past year. If the report is not filed by Sept. 30, the DOT can withhold Road Use Tax payments.

City Administrator Steve Diers was also not present at the planning session.