City agrees to purchase 120 acres

    The Washington City Council voted to approve an agreement to purchase 120 acres from Charles and Judith Bartholow and Winter Farms Inc. that stretch from the Elm Grove Cemetery to Highway 1 along Buchanan Street. The purchase would cost the city $1.2 million. The agreement now goes back to the Bartholows and Winter Farms Inc. to be signed. 

    Plyman said the city needed 30-40 acres to build a sewer plant west of the existing sewer plant, which it will be able to do if the purchase agreement is signed.

    ?It was a critical part of our plan to meet the federal and state requirements to build new sewer plant, and we could not proceed without this purchase,? he said.

    Plyman said the purchase will serve two other functions the city has planned: to expand Elm Grove Cemetery and to connect Buchanan Street to Highway 1.

    ?This will allow the city to continue to offer a cemetery for the families in town,? said Plyman. ?We will have plenty of land to meet the community?s needs.?

    The ground not used for the new sewer plant will continue to be farmed until it conflicts with the growth of the cemetery or the construction of the conduit between Buchanan Street and Highway 1, said Plyman.

    In other news, the council voted 4-2 to approve the second reading of an ordinance to delete the sections of the municipal code that dictate speed limits on Highway 92 in the city limits. Highway 92 is a state highway and is therefore managed by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), which is responsible for posting speed limits on it. Councilors Mike Roth, Karen Wilson-Johnson, Merle Hagie and Russ Zieglowsky voted for the ordinance and councilors Fred Stark and Bob Shepherd voted against it.

    City Attorney Craig Arbuckle investigated whether or not the city could pass speed limits that contravene those approved by the DOT on primary state roads, such as Highway 92. Arbuckle said the council could pass ordinances that stipulate speed limits different from the DOT?s, but that the ordinances would have no effect.

For the full story, see the Aug. 19 edition of The Washington Evening Journal