Council reviews off-street parking requirements at Wednesday’s work session

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Council reviewed revisions to the paving requirements for off-street parking in the city at Wednesday’s council planning session.

Following meetings that started in 2019, the staff prepared minimum paving requirements that were considered a compromise between the then-current ordinance standards and waiving parking lot paving requirements altogether. The council decided in January 2020 to revise the off-street parking requirements as part of a zoning ordinance re-write.

At the most recent planning and zoning meeting, the committee met with a planning consultant for an initial review of a portion of the new requirements. Dean Stewart, proprietor of Stewart Realty, asked the commission to consider new paving requirements as soon as possible, since the current ordinance’s paving requirement is a hindrance to potential projects, due to the cost-prohibitive nature of requiring all surfaces to be hard surfaced.

Under the new ordinance, off-street parking areas will essentially require Portland cement concrete, hot mix asphalt, or permeable pavement, for a distance of 38 feet from the right-of-way line. Beyond the 38 feet (about two car lengths), the parking lot can be surfaced either with concrete, asphalt, permeable pavement, asphalt millings, or crushed rock.

City attorney Brad Sloter told the council the new ordinance would be much easier to enforce than previous ordinances.

The council will need to approve three readings of the ordinance and hold a public hearing on the matter. It is anticipated the first reading will be on the March 15 agenda.

Also Wednesday, the council reviewed the Grove Street project and considered bid letting and hearing dates.

The project will include removing the existing pavement and storm sewer at the intersection, placing new storm sewer and additional intakes to collect stormwater runoff and direct it to Sherman Creek, rebuild the riprap embankment adjacent to Sherman Creek, remove existing guard rail and replace with new guard rail, replace the pavement with new grades to direct the storm water runoff to the storm sewer intakes.

The wegineer’s opinion of probable cost for the project is $135,000. The city will be responsible for approximately 80% of the project cost or $109,000. Adjacent property owner Paul Rottinghaus’ cost share for the project is estimated at $26,000. Final costs will be determined by the contractor’s unit prices and actual constructed quantities.

In other business at Wednesday’s planning session:

— The council discussed acquisition of a nuisance property at 607 South Johnson Street. The city has sought to abate the nuisance at this property for a few years now. The structure itself is in very poor condition and needs to be demolished. The owner of the property lives on an adjacent lot but has not followed through on any abatement on the property, city staff said.

At a court hearing scheduled for April 1 the city will look to obtain the title. The council was informed that it is possible that a settlement for acquisition could come about in the last hours before the scheduled court date.

— The council discussed the Red Cedar subdivision. Tom and Lorraine Winterink, owners of Red Cedar Lodge, submitted a four-lot subdivision to Floyd County for review and approval. The proposed platted area is on the northeasterly side of Gilbert Street in Floyd County and is the location of the Red Cedar Lodge.

Since the subdivision is within the 2-mile extra-territorial review limits of the city, Planning and zoning will review this in accordance with the city’s subdivision ordinance and make a recommendation to the council.