City Council Paves Way for Sidewalk Ordinance
OSKALOOSA- At Monday’s meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council, the council approved the final reading of an ordinance aimed at adding more sidewalks into the town. The proposed ordinance had been discussed and approved at the prior two city council meetings. It calls for sidewalks to be mandated for all new developments in any part of Oskaloosa, as well as for any redevelopment of a property that adds more than 25% of total the property or gross building area, except for single family, two family and duplex properties. The ordinance says that the requirements may be waived by the city council after a review by the planning and zoning commission. For properties that have to put in a new sidewalk, all new sidewalks must be poured in concrete and meet ADA requirements. In the cases of “sidewalks to nowhere”, the council may elect to add in sidewalks for the rest of the street to avoid a “sidewalk to nowhere”. To pay for that, the council may assess property owners affected, or pay for the sidewalk out of the city’s general fund.
City Councilor Aaron Ver Steeg expressed frustration with the ordinance.
“How does a code like this improve the city of Oskaloosa?” Ver Steeg asked the council.
“It brings us into the 21st century,” responded Councilor Steve Burnett.
During his comments, Ver Steeg said that Oskaloosa had grown by “only 500” since 1965. However, he noted that the city of Pella had more than doubled their 1965 population in the same time span
“They haven’t done it with codes like this,” he said. “When you have contractors coming to you and saying ‘I will build in Pella before I build in Oskaloosa’ that’s gotta be telling me something,” he added.
Before discussion on the ordinance could continue, Councilor Scottie Moore called for a vote, effectively ending debate. The vote on the final reading of the ordinance passed 4-3, with councilors Aaron VerSteeg, Tom Jimenez, and Tom Walling opposed.
The council also heard a brief update from Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt on the proposed rental inspection program. He noted that the council had held a work session prior to the regular council meeting where they discussed who would conduct inspections for the city, should the program move forward. Krutzfeldt said that the options were for existing city staff, such as the fire department, to conduct inspections, to hire new city staff to conduct inspections, or to hire an outside agency to perform inspections. Krutzfeldt said that the general consensus was to proceed with the hiring of an outside agency.
“These would be people would be professionals. They would have some experience doing it; they would know the best practices, and furthermore, it looked like it would be a little cheaper than what we would do if we do it ourselves,” Krutzfeldt said.
During the city council reports portion of the meeting, third ward councilor Doug Yates updated the council regarding discussions he had been having with Oskaloosa Food Products President Blair VanZetten. He said that he had started talking with him in regards to complaints he had received about foul odors in the community. He said that VanZetten acknowledged Oskaloosa Food Products had been the culprit for “some” of the problems. Yates also reported that VanZetten said that Oskaloosa Food Products is “pulling all stops” on trying to get the problem resolved. Yates also commented that Oskaloosa Food Products is in the process of a multimillion dollar expansion/improvement to their facility, which they believe should take care of the problem.
“It’s not anything the community wants but I feel very confident knowing that Oskaloosa Foods wants it even less than the community wants it,” Yates said.
