Warner tells council street work is nearly finished

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

It didn?t take the Mt. Pleasant City Council long to clear its plate during its regular meeting Wednesday night.

The most significant news, in fact, may have been a non-agenda item. Jim Warner of Warner Engineering, the city?s engineer on the Washington Street project, told the council that the current phase is in the home stretch.

?They have a couple of driveways, some back-filling, painting and seeding remaining,? summed up Warner. He said the grass seeding will be done yet this fall. ?Hopefully the weather doesn?t get warm enough for the seed to germinate, but if it does, we will re-seed in the spring.?

Warner also said contractors have a ?narrow opportunity? to erect the street lights on the south side of Washington. ?Hopefully, we can install the lights next week. There is going to be some shifting of traffic (during the final phases of construction). Sometimes the outside lanes will be closed and sometimes the inside lanes will have to closed. People will just have to pay attention to the signs and we may have some flaggers,? Warner explained.

?Hopefully, the construction is winding down for 2011,? added Mayor Steve Brimhall. ?It seems like it has been a long year.?

Turning back to the agenda, the council did host the third reading and passed a resolution prohibiting residential dwellings in the front areas of businesses in business districts. ?We are trying to keep storefronts in businesses in the downtown district,? Brimhall said.

Under terms of the new ordinance, dwellings are permitted only on upper stories and/or in the rear of the ground floor for properties that are located adjacent to the following central business district blocks:

? 100 block of East Washington Street;

? 100 and 200 blocks of West Washington Street;

? 100 block of North Jefferson Street;

? 100 and 200 blocks of West Monroe Street;

? 100 block of East Monroe Street;

? 100 and 200 blocks of South Main Street;

? 100 block of North Main Street.

If the dwelling is located on the rear of the ground floor, it cannot be more than 50 percent of the depth of the building and the entire width. Special limitations apply to one non-commercial building located in the 200 block of South Jefferson Street; the Colonial Building located in the 100 block of East Monroe Street; and the former Harlan Hotel located in the 100 block of South Jefferson Street.

By special permit, apartment houses, row houses, boarding rooms and lodging rooms can be allowed.

The council gave its blessing to the community?s application to become a Blue Zone. The ?Blue Zone? is a new state program, co-sponsored by Wellmark Blue Cross to encourage healthy living and other health initiatives. Ten pilot Blue Zones will be chosen next year and Mt. Pleasant will be one of the applicants.

?The money is out there for communities that want to get healthier,? Brimhall said. ?Brett (Schlesiman, city administrator) and I are definitely in favor of it.?

Finally, the council:

? Passed a resolution recognizing Lori Glanzman, recently retired general manager of Mt. Pleasant Municipal Utilities, for her 38 years of service.

? Was informed by Rich Mullin, public works director, that the sewer smoke testing has been finished.

? Approved an Iowa Department of Transportation federal aid agreement. Under terms of the agreement, the city will receive $733,000 in federal aid for next year?s Washington Street reconstruction (from Marion to Locust streets) project.

? Was told by Schleisman that the city did not receive enough survey responses to apply for a community development block grant for the Jay Street sewer improvement project. The city sent out nearly 350 surveys to residents and needed 264 responses with over 51 percent of the responses meeting low- to moderate-income guidelines. The city only received 178 responses.

Council members meet again in regular session Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. in City Hall.