City Council Approves Traffic Study

Oskaloosa, Iowa – At a regular meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council, the council voted unanimously to contract with Snyder & Associates for a comprehensive traffic study along the Highways 92, 63, and 23 corridors. According to city council agenda information, the study is expected to improve traffic efficiency and safety, minimize traffic delays and congestion, and allow for future planning. Among the tasks approved by the council for Snyder & Associates to complete, included a traffic signal warrant analysis, traffic operations analysis, traffic signal timing, three-lane conversion analysis, and a recommended improvements report. The total projected cost for the study was estimated to be $41,410.50. After receiving comments from City Manager Michael Schrock and City Public Works Director Akhilesh Pal, the council voted unanimously to approve the study, and also approve a 10 percent contingency “towards unforeseen circumstances”.

The council also discussed frost footing requirements in the city’s building code, pertaining to auxiliary structures. At the December 5 city council meeting, the council had considered a request from councilors Aaron VerSteeg and Tom Jimenez to revise the frost footing requirements to allow exemptions for auxiliary structures provided that the auxiliary structure is being used for storage, is not any larger than 1,000 square feet, and does not have a roof height exceeding 12 feet. Current city code requires frost footing in auxiliary structures larger than 600 square feet.

“I just don’t think that frost footings are required for a building that small- 600 square foot,” said councilor Aaron VerSteeg.

In response to comments from Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt, city councilor Doug Yates stated that he had spoken with a structural engineer he has worked with prior to the December 5 meeting. Yates said that he explained the current code and the proposed revision to the engineer and asked him for his opinion. Yates said that the engineer stated that the present code requirement is reasonable. Yates also expressed reservations with changing the current city code.

“I don’t know how I could be comfortable changing it to any number, other than 600, without us doing quite a bit more study or getting more input,” Yates said.

At the onset of Monday’s meeting, former city councilor Jason Van Zetten spoke in broader terms about the city’s building code, noting that the city had opted to ratify the 2009 International Building Code, which he said had provided more regulation to property owners since being implemented.

“When we pass these code books, such as the 2009 international code book, they are so over regulated to the point where they have contradictory codes in them, several times in them,” Van Zetten said. “We don’t really have a process for us to be able to come forward now to be able to fix those,” Van Zetten added in regards to “contradictory” codes.
Van Zetten stated that a recent project he has been working on on his property recently got approval, after eight months of work. He stated that one of the problems he had encountered was parts of the building code, which he felt contained blanket codes. Van Zetten closed his comments by encouraging the council to consider changes to the code.

After discussion among the city councilors, the council voted 6-1, with councilor Steve Burnett voting no, to direct City Manager Michael Schrock to revise the frost footing requirements governed by the building code.

The next regular meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council will be on January 3 at 6 p.m. in the city council chambers.