(Red Oak) — Red Oak officials have backed relocating the recycling dumpsters from their current location in the downtown area, making way for a possible nine-car garage unit.
During its regular meeting Monday evening, the Red Oak City Council unanimously approved relocating the dumpsters from the city-owned parking lot at 4th and Washington Streets to the Street Department site on A Street, also authorizing the installation of the necessary concrete pad and security measures. Dollars from the city’s Recycling Fund would cover the improvements. In addition to helping clean up the appearance of the downtown historic district in a “long overdue” move, Councilman Brian Bills says the city also received a favorable price for the new concrete pad at the Street Department site.
“This is something I’ve been wanting to happen since we moved the dumpsters from over by Fareway out to the fairgrounds, and then we ended up downtown–I’ve been wanting them down (on A Street) forever and I’m so glad this is happening,” said Bills. “I’ve ran the numbers on this from what they’re proposing and its $8.50 a square foot for six-inch concrete–that’s a great price. I mean, by the time they pay for the concrete and the rebar, they’re already halfway into it by the time, you know, that they even start working on it. So I think it’s a great deal that they’re giving us.”
Councilman Tim Fridolph echoed Bills’ sentiments, particularly due to the parking lot’s location across the street from a new restaurant. The council also had more considerable discussion regarding the future of the city-owned parking lot. Red Oak Mayor Shawnna Silvius says the city does have an interested party in purchasing a portion of the existing lot.
“If we’re moving those out, Daric O’Neal is interested in purchasing a part of that parking lot to put covered garage units for the residentials downtown,” said Silvius. “My personal opinion is we should plan in the next year or two to pave or repave that whole parking lot, because right now, it’s terrible.”
Based on the initial proposal to the city, the structure would include nine garages built in two phases, set 24 feet in from the alley, with electricity for lights and a garage door opener. While they will still have to iron out the details with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources due to the lot being in the flood plain, City Administrator Lisa Kotter says in her talks with O’Neal, the hope would be to add extra details to the outside of the building.
“I asked about something around the bottom (of the building) having like some stonework so that it actually looks attractive,” said Kotter. “He’s not going to build a completely brick structure and (I’ve asked) that there would be something that kind of goes along with it.”
Kotter notes that the garages would be available to rent for any tenants living in upper-level apartments around the downtown area, while the other portion of the parking lot would remain a city-owned space. But, she adds that the city would need to go through its formal process of disposing of city-owned property, including a public hearing and entertaining bids on the property.
“In my opinion, we would advertise it similarly to what we did before, which is that our our sale would not be just based on price,” Kotter explained. “So even if somebody came in and said they would pay more than (O’Neal), but they weren’t going to put any tax base on there, you would still be able to choose what you believe is best from downtown and that lot–not strictly based on price. I explained to (O’Neal) we can’t just negotiate with him that we would need to put an ad out. So that that would be the next step, just like we were talking about in getting rid of the last lots that we owned, that we would say the city is open to (selling) the northern 45-ish feet.”
Council members also agreed it would likely be best to wait on resurfacing the lot until after they decide whether to sell a portion or not. Kotter says the council could set the public hearing at its next meeting.
In other business Monday, the council…
–Held public hearings and approved the sale of a roughly 720 square foot area of city-owned land to the Iowa Department of Transportation, related to the Highway 48 bridge replacement project over Red Oak Creek.
–Approved the appointments of Colleen Ross, Dixie Strange, Rome Ozuna, Kylie Maynes, Ashley York, Mara and Joe Law, and Mayor Shawnna Silvius to an Animal Control and Welfare Ad-Hoc Committee.
–Approved the appointment of Steve Adams to the Historic Preservation Committee, filling the vacancy left by Shirley Billings.
–Approved hiring Stickler Concrete to crush the concrete pile located at the Street Department site, estimated between $50,000 and $70,000.
–Read a special proclamation recognizing Longtime Community Leader and Business Owner Shirley Billings for her dedication to the community.
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