Supervisors agree to let homeowner add culvert

MARENGO — Iowa County Supervisors will allow the owner of a property in Homestead to put a culvert in a ditch and alter the slope but stopped short of allowing him to fill in the ditch completely.

Ryan Spratt plans to build a home at 4435 V Street in Homestead on property that used to be an apple orchard. He purchased the property from Amana Society in 2020.

There’s a huge ditch on one side, Spratt told county supervisors during their weekly meeting Nov. 22. It’s a safety concern. He’s had to help people get their cars out of the ditch, he said.

Spratt wants to put in a culvert, and he’s happy to split the cost with the county or pay the entire bill himself.

County Engineer Nick Amelon said he doesn’t have a problem with Spratt putting in a culvert and tying into the city culvert, but he doesn’t see it as a safety issue.

The Amanas have a ditch drainage system, said Amelon. He understands that Spratt’s ditch is deep and Spratt wants to level it so he can mow it. “If it were my yard, I’d want to do the same thing.”

“It looks like they’re mowing the ditch now,” said County Supervisor Alan Schumacher.

Spratt admitted that he rolled his mower in the six-foot drop, but that’s his own fault, he said.

Allowing Spratt’s request could open a can of worms for the county, Amelon said. “You get this request once a year … It’s just going to set precedence for the board.”

“What they’re wanting to do is the right thing to do,” said Schumacher. It’s a safety issue, he said.

“Not all of it,” countered Supervisor Chairman Kevin Heitshusen. It may be a safety issue at the stop sign, but not along the length of the property, he said.

“The main thing is drainage,” said Supervisor Jon Degen.

Because the ditch is in the county right of way, the county would be responsible for any drainage issues, said Amelon. If Spratt agrees to take care of those issues himself, the county needs a legal agreement attached to the property so that future owners will also take care of any maintenance, he said.

Schumacher said he was in favor of putting in a culvert to the corner where people go off the road.

Supervisors told Spratt they’d drive out and look at the situation and put Spratt on the agenda for the Dec. 6 meeting.

During the Dec. 6 meeting, Supervisors agreed to allow Spratt to put in a culvert to the stop sign, which they thought was 10 to 15 feet. Spratt said the length is actually about 27 feet.

It’s a safety hazard on the curve, said Degen.

Schumacher was absent, but Supervisor Abigail Maas said she’d talked to him about the culvert and he’d agreed to allow it for about 10 feet, which Maas interpreted as meaning to the stop sign.

Spratt said he would take the culvert beyond the stop sign at his own expense. “We have a contractor already that’s willing to extend it,” he said, the same contractor who did the work on the opposite side of the street.

How far Spratt takes the culvert will depend on the specs Amelon, who was absent from the Dec. 6 meeting, provides. If the county requires galvanized all the way, Spratt won’t be able to go the entire 150 feet of the ditch, he said.

Supervisors voted to allow the culvert but not the filling in of the ditch because, said Heitshusen, everyone will want to do it, and it’ll be a drainage issue.

Instead of filling in the ditch, Spratt could alter the ditch to lessen the slope, said Supervisor Chris Montross

The board gave Heitshusen authority to work out details with Spratt and Amelon and to grant or deny requests for the remainder of the ditch beyond the stop sign.

If Spratt doesn’t agree with Heitshusen, he can return to the full board for a new vote, Supervisors said.

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