Final plans approved for various city projects

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Final plans were approved and ordinances were amended at Monday’s Charles City Council meeting.

That didn’t mean action was taken on every resolution brought before the council.

Resolution No. 38-19 awarded the bid for the Missouri Avenue Area Subdrain Project to Kamm Excavating for just over $56,000.

The project will install 6-inch subdrains along the east and west sides of Missouri Avenue between 15th and 16th Avenue. Work will also be done along the west side of North Grand Avenue, north of 15th Avenue.

“Subdrains will be connected to the storm sewer and this will provide an outlet for this area for sump pumps,” said City Engineer John Fallis. “Sump pumps are active in this area and currently they just drain on the streets.”

Five easements for the subdrain project were also approved. Work would begin this summer and be completed in August, according to Fallis.

The city also passed an ordinance that would allow property owners to connect sump pumps to the public stormwater sewer system.

Among the major changes to the ordinance is connection to the city storm sewer is allowed after the owner obtains a permit from the city to do the work. The minimum size for the discharge line is to be 1.5 inches in diameter.

The ordinance also requires the property owner to connect their sump pump discharge pipe to an available storm sewer if the discharge water is creating a nuisance.

“A lot of people think we’re going to make people do this. This is more of an allowing them an easier way to do this process as opposed to forcing people to do this process,” said Mayor Dean Andrews.

The council approved the final plans and specifications for the South Main Street Sidewalk Extension Project. The project will construct 5-foot wide concrete sidewalks from the existing sidewalk at the Floyd County Medical Center to the southwest corner of the intersection of Ninth Street and South Main.

The plans called for one addendum, which would include construction of a sidewalk in the Parkside addition. The four easements that came along with the project were approved.

The low bid was received from King Construction of Clear Lake for $59,273 for the South Main Sidewalk Extension Project. In addition to the base bid, King Construction had two added alternates. Those were construction of the North Main Street crosswalk for just over $10,000 and gutter work driveway improvements at 800 First Avenue for $8,767.65.

The council took no action on that bid and will continue to discuss the base bid as well as the two alternate bids at next week’s planning session.

The council approved Resolution 44-19 to direct the Planning and Zoning Commission to review and make recommendations to off-street parking. The subject came up at last week’s planning session after Shawn Foutch, a Johnston developer and owner of JMAE LLC, presented his plan to purchase the 500 North Grand Building and transform the old middle school into market-rate apartments.

Heidi Nielson, director of public housing, described a project that would install replacement exterior door knobs and deadbolts at the North and South Cedar Apartments. That project was approved and the low-bid was awarded to Strauss Security Solutions out of Urbandale for $16,847.

Other action taken at the council included:

– The council gave the OK to submit an application to AARP Age Friendly Community program. AARP could potentially partner with Charles City to determine what things were being done that were considered age friendly in town. There would also be a study conducted to decide what citizens of Charles City want and need in an age-friendly community.

– No action was taken on a request for the Charles City Area Development Corp. to have an appraisal done on land being considered for purchase for a state-certified development site.

– A city ordinance to allow property owners to trim trees in the right of way was approved.

– Mayor Andrews also reappointed Sarah Barrett and Diane Meyer to the Parks and Recreation Board.