Committee looks at county-owned lots for new facility

The Washington County Board of Health's Building and Finance Committee talked about one proposed site for a new public health department facility with architect Brad Lang by speaker phone Monday afternoon.

The county owns two lots on Lexington Boulevard across from the Orchard Hill complex that could be used for the facility. The committee is also looking at other undisclosed sites.

Lang said that the county-owned site is a fair comparison to other potential sites, and that the site would be fairly easy to build on. He said that the 2.45 acres would be more than large enough for the facility and 50-60 parking spaces. There would be enough land to grow the facility if that were needed.

Committee chairman Steve Olson said the location would give good access to other areas of the county, such as Brighton and Kalona.

Following the discussion, the committee went into closed session in accordance with Iowa Code Chapter 21.5(1)(j), regarding land purchase.