Highway 21 will remain a four-lane roadway through Belle Plaine after the Belle Plaine City Council turned down a suggestion that it consider making the road a three-lane highway with a center turn lane.
The Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) had informed city officials that it is going to be resurfacing at least a portion of the highway this year and asked if the city would want to change the lane configuration at that time. Although the state officials didn’t present a definite preference, they did point out that there could be some safety concerns with maintaining the current four-lane system.
But on Monday night, the council discussed the possible change, along with the ramifications and in the end came to a consensus that the road should remain four lanes. This fall, when more children attend classes at the Longfellow School site, there is expected to be an increase in traffic in the area. Although some had suggested that this could be an argument in favor of a change to three lanes, some councilmen apparently felt that a change at this time might be an adjustment that some drivers might not be able to make.
There was also discussion on what the change might mean for possible traffic congestion near the railroad tracks and at the Seventh Avenue and 13th Street intersection. City administrator Bill Daily said he had consulted three engineers who all favored the change to three lanes. It was also pointed out that under the current configuration, the four lanes are a bit more narrow than current guidelines. He also didn’t take a position either way, but presented his findings and offered some pros and cons for each position.
But in an informal survey conducted by Councilman Jason Parizek on Facebook, there were a lot of comments favoring retaining the four-lane concept.
Daily told the council that state officials have indicated that the east-west section of Highway 21 will be resurfaced this year and they are attempting to secure funding to resurface the Seventh Avenue portion of the highway going south out of town.
On another traffic issue, the council directed staff to draft an amendment to the parking ordinance which would eliminate the diagonal parking on Eighth Avenue from 14th to 16th Streets. Parking would revert to parallel parking, much like in other residential sections of the city. Safety and traffic flow were the reasons given for the proposed change.
Before any changes would take effect, the amendment to the ordinance would have to pass three readings by the council. It may be formally considered at the next city council meeting on March 15.
Following a public hearing, the council unanimously approved the city budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The budget calls for a total property tax levy of $16.48759 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Earlier, Daily had explained that this rate is up from the past rate of $14.79 and reflects the cost of construction of the aquatics center. He also pointed out that this rate is still lower than it was in 2004.
The council also authorized the submission of a grant request from the State of Iowa Office of Energy Independence for the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant. Daily told the council that the grant could be for as much as $100,000 to be used toward new street lighting downtown. But he said it might be difficult to demonstrate the needed amount of energy savings to qualify for the grant.
In other matters, the council approved a resolution adopting the Belle Plaine Partners for Beautification. The city will act as a sponsor for the group’s efforts in securing a grant from the Benton County Community Foundation.
A request was approved to allow Polar Bear Peppy’s to operate an ice cream truck in the city.
The council also approved a move to pay time and a half to part-time police officers who work on holidays. The officers had requested the boost in pay and while some councilmen pointed out that part-time workers in industry don’t receive extra pay for holiday hours, the city’s part-time officers are all certified law officers who give up some of their holidays to work for the city and those employed with other law agencies on a full-time basis would receive more pay if they opted to work for their primary employer on holidays.