Supervisors hear annual conservation report

The Washington County Board of Supervisors heard the annual report from Steve Anderson about Washington County Conservation at its meeting Tuesday. Anderson went through a list of projects county conservation had completed in the time period of July 2010 to June 2011.

Anderson talked about the Foster Pond Renovation Protection Project. The Washington County Conservation Board (WCCB) and other agencies lowered the water level in the four-acre pond to remove all fish from the pond due to an abundance of carp, bullheads and green sunfish. The pond will be restocked later this fall.

Anderson also spoke about the bird blind that was built earlier this year on the northwest corner of Marr Park. Anderson talked about other projects such as the Jack McFarland Memorial, the Rich Neff Memorial, the Washington County Conservation Education Center Entrance Landscaping and the trails that would connect Brighton to Lake Darling, Kalona to Richmond, Ainsworth to Marr Park and a trail in Riverside to connect it to another trail in Johnson County.

The number of visitors to the County Conservation Education Center was also something Anderson discussed with the supervisors.

?We had a really good year out there,? Anderson said. ?We had 7,611 visitors there, and we?re having a lot of meetings out there, too. That building is serving Marr Park and our community very well. A lot of other government agencies within Washington County have made pretty good use of the building as well.?

Anderson talked about the environmental education program report submitted by Pam Holz. Holz?s report indicated that she had done 301 formal programs in the 2010-2011 year and that the formal attendance plus the number of conservation center visitors totaled 13,672.

?That is a lot of programs,? Anderson said. ?She does an outstanding job and has for a number of years. Our environmental education program has given every kid in the county an opportunity to know Pam.?

Anderson said that there is a project on the horizon to put a bathroom at the shooting range at Clemons Creek. Anderson said that local archers approached him with the idea and said that they were willing to cover a portion of the cost.

Zoning administrator Steve Lafaurie spoke about the proposed changes to the zoning ordinance. He said that since the zoning ordinance was passed last year, a few errors have been found in the text. He said the proposed changes were meant to fix those errors and to clarify the language of the ordinance.

The supervisors approved the changes to the ordinance and then also waived the third reading of the ordinance. Lafaurie told the supervisors before the vote that he would like them to waive the third reading because someone who needed a permit was waiting for the changes to take effect.

In an interview after the meeting, Lafaurie said that one of the mistakes in the original zoning ordinance had to do with which body had authority over cell phone towers, which in Iowa is the board of adjustment. Lafaurie said the consultant who drew up the ordinance works in other states where the appropriate body is the planning and zoning commission and wrote that into the ordinance.

?I found that if we could do a few things that clarify what we?re dealing with, that would help everyone,? Lafaurie said.

Lafaurie said that one of the changes to the ordinance is instead of using the phrase ?special use permit? the ordinance will refer to a ?conditional use permit.? He said that terminology would bring Washington County in line with other counties in the state and especially southeast Iowa.

Supervisor Wes Rich said at the conclusion of the meeting that he would meet with a supervisor from Henry County later that day to discuss sharing 911 communications.