How many Fidos are too many?

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

How many ?Rovers? are permissible at a city residence?

Mt. Pleasant City officials are in the process of making that determination and soon could recommend an addition to city code answering the question.

Currently, city staff is researching ordinances in other municipalities to gain a handle on the answer before making a recommendation to the city council.

During Wednesday?s regular meeting, the council received a complaint from residents living on the 500 block of North Hamlin Street about the number of dogs at a neighboring residence.

?It is just a horrible, horrible situation,? summed up Steve Klein, who lives on the block. Klein said one of his neighbors has at least 14 dogs which are causing problems in the neighborhood.

?My house is on a slab and I have fleas coming in under the wall,? Klein continued. ?I talked to a couple of real-estate agents about selling my house for the amount I purchased it for but was told (by the real-estate agents) that my house was unsalable.

?Their dogs have completely destroyed their yard,? Klein continued. ?I don?t think any of the dogs have had flea treatment. They (neighbors with dogs) are squatters ? plain and simple ? they have no respect for anyone in the community. It is not just one or two of us (neighbors) having problems but the whole neighborhood.?

Mayor Steve Brimhall told Klein that the matter surfaced at a city council ordinance committee meeting earlier this week. ?The committee asked city staff to check with other cities on what their ordinance allows.

?I think 14 dogs is way too many,? Brimhall continued. ?We will be talking with our attorney on what we can do. We definitely will look at how many animals can be in a residence.?

Public hearings on the rezoning of property around the old county home and east of Hy-Vee are scheduled for the next council meeting (July 8). Landowners in the area want to rezone their land from R1 (single residential) to R3 (multi-family dwelling) and B-3 (general retail and service commercial district).

Jack Swarm, city building and zoning administrator, said that about 98 acres of land are involved in the rezoning. Some 45.3 acres are proposed to be rezoned B-3, and 52.5 acres to be rezoned R-3. In a nutshell, the north section will be rezoned ZB-3 and the south section R-3.

Swarm said a landowner approached the city and asked that the area be rezoned in order to suit a potential multiple family development. The area has been zoned R-1 for years, Swarm added, with no single family development. With the rezoning change, the city hopes it will encourage development.

No negative comments from adjoining property owners have been received on either rezoning request, Swarm noted.

Mt. Pleasant will be applying for a state grant to help offset costs of adding 1.53 miles of new trail to the city?s recreational trail system. The new trail would connect the Ashford Park trail north on Iris, west on Mapleleaf to Grand and north on Grand to Winfield Avenue. The extension would give the city eight miles of recreational trail.

Estimated cost of the project is $750,000. If the city were to receive the state grant, the state would pick up 75 percent of the cost.

The city also applied for a federal grant to help with the purchase of new air packs for the fire department. Cost of the air packs is $103,674.

Brimhall said the city will purchase the air packs regardless of whether a grant is received. ?The certification on the current air packs runs out in 60 days. Even if we don?t get the grant, we will get them because we have to have them.?

Council members approved a change order on the Iris Street project which will add just over $3,000 to the project. The change order included Shipley Contracting to install hot mix asphalt to the area between the railroad tracks on Iris. The city did not want to wait for the railroad to finish the project.

?We wanted to expedite the project and get it done,? explained City Administrator Brent Schleisman.

In other reports, Jim Warner of Warner Engineering, the engineering firm for the Iris Street project, said ?we are getting close on Iris Street (to completing the project).? Warner said stripes still need to be pained ?but you can?t do that when it is wet.?

Mt. Pleasant Municipal Utilities told the council that the water tower on Winfield Avenue will be back in service the first week of July. The new transformer at the Adams Street Substation is also in service.

Council members will meet again in regular session Wednesday, July 8, at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.