The development of approximately 11 acres of property for residential housing on the northeast corner of Rainbow Drive and Garfield Avenue on the northeast edge of West Liberty will be the subject of a special public hearing to be held Tuesday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the West Liberty Public Library meeting room.
Buysse Enterprise LLC of West Liberty, which owns the land, plans to develop the acerage north of the Subway restaurant, hoping to provide a new avenue for new construction of homes and rental property as early as this fall. Andrew Buysse of West Liberty has been representing the developers.
The city is hosting the public hearing to get input on the proposed development that includes a proposed rezoning of the land from agriculture to mixed residential one, two and three. Tentatively, the development includes eight single family home lots, 20 lots for duplexes and two multi-family lots.
Infrastructure construction by the city and developers could begin as early as June and would also include a tax increment financing plan for the development and the city would have to amend the city’s Urban Renewal plan through a URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) plan amendment and development agreement.
The development comes after a long-awaited promise of development of land to the east of the proposed subdivision north of the Dutton Sports Complex to be known as the Dutton Subdivision, but plans for that development have fallen flat due to land elevation problems following a study by the city engineers, Veerstra & Kimm.
The only other development in the community for new single-family housing is in the Wild?? Prairie subdivision to the northwest of the new development owned by Dave Dvorak, who has a few lots remaining on the east end of his property. He is also hoping to develop property west of his development to Elm Street on the north end of West Liberty.
Another rental property development is also underway by Deepak Giri of West Liberty on the southwest edge of the community, where he is working with the city and planning to build a number of apartment buildings.
A special city council work session will be held Tuesday, May 4, beginning at 6:15 p.m. at the West Liberty Public Library to review a new city ordinance establishing a storm utility and rates for residential and business properties, along with the fiscal year 2021 budget amendment as well as state and local funding of the American Rescue Plan of which the city is getting over $500,000.
The city is also squabbling with rural fire and the city fire and ambulance department about amending agreements and extensions to an agreement between parties to extend a 28E Agreement from midnight July 1 through Sept. 30, both parties said to be engaged in “good faith negotiations.” The parties include parts or all of the townships of Wapsie, Goshen and Lake in Muscatine County as well as Iowa and Springdale in Cedar Cunty and Lincoln township in Johnson County as well as the city of West Liberty Fire District.
The city and the fire district jointly own firefighting equipment and the squabble comes in the parties' desire for the city to be responsible for the operation of the department and maintenance of the equipment. The city and the fire district are negotiating agreements on insurance, equipment purchases and the establishment of a Fire Advisory Board comprised of two representatives of the fire district, the fire chief (Kirt Sickles) and two elected officials from the city.
Mayor Robert Hartman said he had two issues with the agreement, noting there should be more clarification and asked if there was total termination of the agreement, “who would get the fire equipment?” He said a second option in the agreement was to accept the draft “as is” with an amendment option. The second option of approving the draft was made through a motion by council member Diane Beranek, noting she’s like to see everything worked out by June 3, the mayor pointing out another meeting may be needed before the agreement is finalized.
The mayor said the old agreement does not meet state standards and needed to be changed, but pointed out it has been work in drafting a new agreement that everyone can agree upon.
In other business, the city approved a liquor license for Flama’s Night Club on Elm Street as well as a liquor license for the Muscatine County Fair board.
City engineer Leo Foley reported finalization of utility study reports and recommendations following a work session with the council earlier in the month.
Foley also gave an update on the non-functioning City Well #2, noting a “final piece” study needs to be conducted on the well, costing $16,000. “Once that’s finalized, we can decide whether to recommend moving forward (in using the well).”
Council member Kara McFerren said she had a guest to the city praise the community, “raving” about the uniqueness of West Liberty, calling it a “very, very good compliment.”
Interim city manager Elizabeth Hansen reported the city has had 11 applications for the police chief position and a dozen applications for city manager thus far and will be holding interviews in the weeks ahead, hoping to have a new police chief in place by June 11 and city manager by June 17.
In other business, developers Emily Geertz and Frank Wagner are working with the office of economic development toward a Community Catalyst Renovation Program for their downtown West Liberty building on Third Street.
City clerk Lee Geertz pointed out the city now has a drop box to pay utility bills in front of the temporary city hall in downtown West Liberty and Geertz pointed out the city still has the drop box near the Casey’s General Store as well on the north side of the community.