City Council Approves Temporary Variance And Sewer Project
Oskaloosa City Hall
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa City Council met Monday night to discuss items such as granting The Cellar Peanut Pub a temporary variance from the noise ordinance for the business to hold upcoming events. They also granted the establishment permission to temporarily sell alcohol outside the building for upcoming events like the one scheduled for July 6th.
Also discussed was a motion for a special use request from MCRF (Mahaska County Recreation Foundation) for the purpose of organizing RAGBRAI on city property.
The council did pull one item from the consent agenda. It was a resolution that would schedule a public hearing to amend the zoning ordinance for the property located at 201 Trueblood Avenue for William Penn University. The current zoning doesn’t allow the use of alcohol at the location, but the updated zoning would allow that use for those seeking to hold functions at the location.
Also approved was the appointment of Michael Sytsma, Jane Ireland and Judith Bishop to the Library Board of Trustees.
Holden Barnhart, Glenda Booy and Karen Powell were appointed to the Enterprise Zone Commission.
The council approved a resolution for fiscal year 2014 property, liability, automobile, equipment and workers compensation insurance from Butler Brown Insurance in the amount of $188,896.
The council approved awarding the contract for the west area sanitary sewer improvements project to DeLong Construction Inc. The contract amount is not to exceed $498,671.50. The resolution also allowed for the city manager to utilize an additional five percent or $24,933.57 for project contingency.
The council approved a site plan from Mahaska Health Partnership for a 47,700 square foot parking lot. The city staff was recommending to the council that sidewalks be added to the rows of parking to allow for safer pedestrian traffic.
During the Planning and Zoning meeting last week, as well as the council meeting Monday, Mahaska Health Partnership CEO Jay Christensen expressed that doing so would eliminate needed parking space in a lot that will primarily be used by hospital staff, not patient parking.
During the Planning and Zoning meeting last week, Christensen used the example of Wal-Mart parking lots. Those lots typically don’t have sidewalks down the middle of the rows. In that meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission overturned the staff’s recommendation for the sidewalks. Monday’s meeting had the same result, with the council voting unanimously to approve the request from MHP to build the lot without the extra sidewalks.
The Oskaloosa City Council will once again be in session on July 1, 2013 at 6:00 pm in the Oskaloosa City Council Chambers.
