City Council Moves To Gain EPA Grant

Oskaloosa City Hall

Oskaloosa City Hall

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa City Council met in regular session on Monday, October 2nd, and approved a plan to redevelop land contaminated by the former Buchanan Oil/Ma and Pa Store at 711 6th Avenue West, and the adjoining vacant lots.

The City of Oskaloosa has secured two EPA Brownfields Assessment Grants that totaled $400,000 and was the only community in Iowa to be awarded those grants.

HR Green has been tasked with assisting the city in environmental assessments of those properties.

To gain access and redevelop the lots, access has been granted from one landowner, and the lot owned by the Union Pacific Railroad Company must be purchased to be eligible for the cleanup grant.

The Union Pacific Railroad Company has a minimum purchase price of $10,000, and the City of Oskaloosa made the offer to acquire the property to better the chances of receiving the EPA grant.

The council also heard from residents in Middle Creek Subdivision during public comments. The residents spoke on the condition of their road and asked the council to consider adding their roads to future improvement plans.

The council approved amending the ordinance for two-hour central business district parking.

The change would increase short-term parking restrictions from two hours to three hours, as well as remove parking spaces designated for compact cars.

The ordinance would also update the parking regulations to reflect changes from new construction as well as remove the short-term parking restriction at some outlying downtown locations.

The council also adopted a resolution approving the 2017 Ash Tree Removal Project. The project would include removing 70 dead or dying ash trees from city right-of-way.

During the past three years, approximately 75 Ash trees have been removed from the city right-of-way, and nearly 100 remain. The accelerated removal project is due to the substantially accelerated deterioration of the trees due to the Emerald Ash Borer.

The council approved a bid of $46,197.60 to Breman & Sons Tree Service for the removal of the impacted trees.

A payment of $35,883.86 to TK Concrete for work completed on the 9th Avenue East curb and gutter replacement project.

The next scheduled meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council is October 16th at 6 pm in the city council chambers.

Posted by on Oct 4 2017. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed

         

Search Archive

Search by Date
Search by Category
Search with Google
Log in | Copyright by Oskaloosa News