Council pushes changes to south ninth traffic

The Washington City Council passed the first readings of three ordinances Wednesday that relate to traffic on South Ninth Avenue. One ordinance would change the speed limit on South Ninth from 30 miles per hour to 25. Another would put a weight limit on semi-trucks that travel on South Ninth and East Polk Street. The third ordinance calls for stop signs to be added on South Ninth where it intersects East Van Buren Street, northwest of Case Field.

Councilor Karen Wilson-Johnson said the speed limit change from 30 to 25 miles per hour was decided in the street committee, which she chairs, and done to bring South Ninth in line with other residential streets.

?We?re trying to make the street a little safer,? she said.

Mayor Sandra Johnson asked if any of the councilors or city staff had received feedback from the public.

?I?ve been contacted by someone who said, ?It?s about time,?? councilor Merlin Hagie said.

?I have had some contact as well and have had nothing but approval,? councilor Bob Shepherd said.

The ordinance on weight limits calls for signs to be installed on South Ninth that read ?No trucks over 25,000 lbs wt.? The weight limits would be in effect between East Madison Street and East Polk Street. The original ordinance called for the weight limit to extend north to East Washington Street but that was amended to read ?East Madison Street? at the meeting. The weight limit would also apply to the portion of East Polk Street east of South Sixth Street. The weight limits would not apply to pickup trucks or vans.

Wilson-Johnson spoke in support of the ordinance to erect stop signs on South Ninth at the intersection with East Van Buren Street. She said much of her efforts to change the traffic signs on South Ninth are the result of citizen input.

Councilor Fred Stark said, ?One important thing about that intersection is that the sun hits you right in the eye if you?re traveling east or west.?

Mayor Sandra Johnson said she was contacted by someone who lives near the intersection who was opposed to the stop signs.

Councilor Bob Shepherd said, ?Contrary to what people realize, that intersection has an undue amount of pedestrian traffic all year round, not just during football season.?

The council voted to hire Active Thermal Concepts of Hiawatha to remove the asbestos from the collapsed buildings on South Marion Avenue for about $27,000. City Engineer Rob McDonald said he received a bid from Environmental Management Services of Iowa Inc. from Dubuque who offered to remove the asbestos and demolish two of the buildings, 207 and 209 S. Marion, but not the third, 211 S. Marion, for about $39,000.

McDonald wrote in a memorandum to the council that he recommended Active Thermal Concepts because demolishing just two of the buildings would leave a hole in 211 S. Marion until it could be demolished later. After approving Active Thermal Concept?s bid, the council advised McDonald to go out for bids to demolish the three buildings.

Mary Patterson, chair of the City of Washington Historic Preservation Commission, asked the council for about $5,300 in matching funds for a grant to put the city?s downtown on the National Register of Historic Places. Patterson explained that the preservation commission has already received a grant of about $10,000 from the State Historical Society of Iowa to help pay a professional to research the downtown and write the city?s application.

Patterson said the businesses in the 12-block area, which includes the blocks around the square and the three blocks north of that, will be eligible for federal tax credits if they are on the national register.

The council voted 4-1 in favor of the matching grant on the condition that the preservation commission raise additional money through fundraisers. Councilor Mike Roth voted against the motion because he said he doesn?t want any tax credits to go to the owners of the Mills Seed Building, which was moved to North Iowa Avenue in February 2010. He said the city has attempted to cooperate with them but that they have been unresponsive to those efforts.