MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
JANUARY 16, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chairperson Harney called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:00 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak introduced himself and Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator R.J. Moore. Dvorak explained that for the past few years the Board has asked that Planning and Zoning give comment on the 5 Year Road Plan. The roads that Planning and Zoning will be looking at today include Scales Bend Road, Sandy Beach Road, Lake Manor Road, Newport Road, Prairie du Chien, Sugar Bottom Road, and Sharon Center Road. Dvorak said that Scales Bend Road is one that they have recommended be put in the 5 Year Road Plan for many years. Scales Bend Road currently has a traffic count of 2,000 vehicles per day. In making their recommendations, they use the goals set out in the Land Use Plan. They look at areas that have been zoned for residential use, areas that are in the North Corridor growth plans, and the villages.
Dvorak explained that the land around Scales Bend Road was zoned residential in 1960. Jolly Roger Campground is also located at the north end of Scales Bend Road. There is also a proposal from the Muslim Youth Camps of America (MYCA) to build a facility along Scales Bend Road. Upgrading Scales Bend Road would give the County an excellent opportunity for in-fill, public recreation, functions as a collector road, and help keep Phase II of the North Corridor Plan rural longer.
The next road Dvorak recommends looking at was Sandy Beach Road. This seal coat road has the highest traffic count of any seal coat road in Johnson County. The area around the road has been zoned residential since 1960.
Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator R.J. Moore explained that the next road recommended was on the previous 5 Year Road Plan as Newport Road Phase I and II. This includes Newport Road from its intersection with Prairie du Chien to Highway #1. The reason they looked at this road is because it serves Phase I of the North Corridor, it has pre-existing 1960 residentially zoned ground, is a great opportunity for in-fill development, it would function as a collector road, and would keep development out of Phase II of the North Corridor and out of the rural agricultural areas longer. The next area is the segment of Prairie du Chien from its intersection with Newport Road to the Corps of Engineers land. The reason that they recommend improving this road is it is in Phase I of the North Corridor, is pre-existing 1960 residentially zoned ground, has opportunities for in-fill development, serves as a public recreational facility, functions as a collector road, and keeps them out of Phase II of the North Corridor.
Regarding Sugar Bottom Road, Moore explained that it is in Phase I of the North Corridor. He said that it is kind of the border between Phase I and Phase II, however, the north or east side of Sugar Bottom that is in Phase II would be considered for rezoning requests that are within a quarter mile of the road that would make connections to Sugar Bottom Road. Moore explained that the reasons that they are recommending this road for improvements are that it is pre-zoned ground, would provide in-fill development, and would be a collector road.
Moore said that Sharon Center Road serves one of the villages. They feel that this is a defined growth area. Developing in the villages insures compliance with protecting agricultural areas from non-agricultural encroachment. There isn't a lot of prezoned ground near the road but there are mixed zoning classifications in the villages.
Dvorak said that some of the public may not be aware but in 2000 the Board adopted Road Performance Standards. The roads that they recommended looking at today cannot be developed due to the Road Performance Standards. According to the Road Performance Standards any seal coat road that has a traffic count of over 700 vehicles a day can only have one house for every 20 acres. Any road over 1,000 vehicles a day can have no more development. Since the County adopted these standards, most development has slowed down. One of the things that Dvorak started looking at is the number of building permits the County has issued in the last 5 years. They went from around 100-120 down to 45 last year. The majority of those are actually built on farmstead split lots where not a lot of development is going on.
Dvorak said that the Road Performance Standards Ordinance has a provision that states that if the applicant agrees, any time a subdivision is created the applicant has to give the County additional right-of-way. That is identified on a map that has to be approved by the Board. The previous map prior to the current recommendation was primarily just seal coat roads and the paved roads, but because of some of the growth that has occurred in the North Corridor and potentially on some gravel roads, they wanted to add these roads to the map. There is a lot more land in this area that is zoned residential than people realize. By adding these roads, they have been able to extend these areas around the perimeters of the villages so that if someone did develop, the County could get additional right-of-way because it is difficult to get right-of-way back after property has been developed.
R. Sullivan asked for background on right-of-way dedication. Moore said that the Board, in their land use policies, has adopted a stance that development should pay for itself and taxpayers should not subsidize growth. As the County allows development to occur on their roads, it frequently requires that they improve their roads. Part of that is that the County would get right-of-way dedicated to the County from the people receiving the benefit of developing property. Then, when it is time to improve the road, taxpayers don't have to purchase right-of-way. Dvorak explained that they also ran into a few cases where houses were built close to the existing right-of-way. By moving that back farther, that gives them a buffer so that even if they don't improve the road immediately, at some point when they do improve the road, they won't have to worry about impacting the residents who are currently there.
Stutsman asked if Dvorak is proposing that the map become an ordinance. Dvorak said it is part of the ordinance now, but they have to bring it in front of the Board to make sure it is okay. Moore said that according to the Unified Development Ordinance, the Board adopts the right-of-way dedication map each year when they adopt the 5 Year Construction Plan. Dvorak said that many of the areas in the North Corridor that have residentially zoned land are along gravel roads. These are the areas that they have expanded from the previous map. Dvorak added that Planning and Zoning worked very closely with County Engineer Greg Parker on the map.
County Engineer Greg Parker said that they are looking at the 2008 to 2012 Construction Plan. Parker said that they've distributed a copy of the draft 5 Year Construction Program and map. Tom Carsner asked if there are copies available for the public. Neuzil said that the plan and map will be on the County website. Parker added that the 5 Year Road Plan might change depending on the decisions that the Board makes today. Carsner said that it would be helpful for the public to have copies to follow along with. Neuzil noted that making copies of these documents is expensive. Parker said that depending on how the Board decides to proceed today, their goal is to have the documents on the County website today. Parker said that within two weeks, they will have a night meeting and at that time it would still be a draft until approved by the Board. He said that today's document is a preliminary draft but it will be closer to a final draft at the meeting in two weeks. Carsner said that it would be helpful to have the same material that the Board of Supervisors has. Stutsman directed Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan to make copies of the draft for the public.
Parker explained that the 5 Year Construction Plan is required as part of the Code of Iowa. The 5 Year Road Plan needs to be adopted by the Board and forwarded to the Department of Transportation (DOT) by April 15 of every year. Parker said that the goal, depending on the Board's decisions at this meeting, is to get the draft plan to Information Services today so that it can be placed on the County website. Any modification made to the plan from this day forward will be updated and replaced on the website, hopefully instantaneously. He noted that Information Services has been very good about getting the draft 5 Year Construction Plan on the web promptly.
Parker said that one of the things the Board has been aware of is that there was recently a bridge failure due to a resident who was driving and hit the railing of the bridge, causing it to collapse. Parker said that there are two options: replace the structure, or permanently close that location. The road gets about 70 to 80 vehicles a day. There is a parallel paved road that runs a half mile west of that road. He said that residents still have an option for getting around if the Board decides not to replace the structure. They could remove the structure that is collapsed and maintain permanent closure, or they can replace the structure. There are three to four different options for replacement. The lowest cost option is between $100,000 to $150,000 and the highest cost option could be up to $500,000.
Neuzil said that a lot of it depends on who pays for what. That information would make the Board's decision a little easier. Neuzil said that he isn't comfortable with putting a project on the 5 Year Road Plan without that information. Parker said that due to the timeliness of this incident, staff has not had the time to configure complete cost estimates. He said that of the two options they would like direction from the Board as to which they prefer. Stutsman asked how many people live on that stretch of road. Parker replied that there are no residential homes north of the structure to Black Diamond Road South. There are less than half a dozen homes to the south of the structure. Stutsman asked how far residents would have to drive if that stretch of road were closed. Parker said that the section of road they are talking about is a mile long, and the bridge is approximately in the center of it. If the bridge isn't replaced, the homes that are south of the structure would drive about the same distance to Orval Yoder Turnpike to get to the pavement as they would to get to Black Diamond Road. The downside is that if they go to Orval Yoder Turnpike and they want to get Black Diamond Road, they have to drive north a mile and then back over half a mile to get to that same point. There is that inconvenience, but they can get to a paved road in about the same distance.
Meyers asked if not replacing the bridge would make it more difficult for emergency vehicles. Parker replied that if traffic is coming from the north they would have to drive to Orval Yoder Turnpike and then south, then east, and then north. Stutsman said that she thinks Kalona provides emergency services to that area. Parker said that if it is Kalona, they would be coming from the south and would probably use Orval Yoder Turnpike anyway.
Harney asked what the structure by the Linn County and Johnson County line near Ely cost the County. Harney said that it is a good bridge. Parker said that doing a very rough estimate it would probably cost about $150,000.
Stutsman asked about the status of insurance for replacement of the bridge. County Insurance Agent Bob Saunders said that County Attorney Janet Lyness has asked him to handle this claim on behalf of the County. Saunders said that the gentleman who struck the bridge is insured through Farmers Insurance Group. The County filed a claim with them and they have an attorney adjuster who is going to meet with Saunders this week. The insurer has $100,000 in property damages liability available. If the County can substantiate that the damage exceeds his policy limits, then their indication is that they would like to settle the claim and give the County the $100,000. He said he also spoke with Lyness who has been in contact with Sheriff's Department to finish up the law enforcement reports because if there are any charges that are made and substantiated regarding an OWI, then Saunders will begin the claim process against any bars involved under their dram shop liability insurance. Bars are required to carry a minimum of $100,000 dram shop liability insurance. Saunders said that it appears that the driver went to at least one bar. With the driver's insurance and dram shop insurance the County should receive a minimum payment of $200,000 that they can collect rather quickly. Saunders said that they should be able to generate funds quickly for a low end bridge project of less than $200,000.
Harney said that he would like to direct Parker to begin working on engineer's estimates for the bridge. Saunders said that all they need at this time is a very preliminary estimate of the options. He explained that the insurance companies will be eager to settle this claim. Neuzil said that he is comfortable giving direction to Secondary Roads to come up with estimates with the idea that they will be able to repair the bridge with funds from the individual who destroyed it. Stutsman said that she is supportive of replacing the bridge. She said that there are enough people who live in this area and not replacing the bridge would be inconvenient for them. R. Sullivan said that even if there was only one person that farms that road, the County could potentially change their work environment forever due to a drunk driver. He said that doesn't seem fair. Stutsman agreed. R. Sullivan said that the County has an obligation to put the bridge in some passable form. Saunders said that he will continue to work with Parker and Lyness and keep the Board updated.
Parker said that the staff will proceed with putting together estimates for replacing the bridge but would be surprised if they can get it done in the next couple of weeks based on the amount of work. Stutsman said that even if they decide to replace the structure they couldn't begin working on it until spring. She asked if that would have to be put on the 5 Year Road Program. Parker replied yes and said that it will be difficult to do this project in the next year because of the waterway and all the permits they would have to have. He said they could do a local letting on it which would be a little quicker. He said that if they do a DOT letting it could take a year or longer. Parker said that they may, based on the information, add it to the following construction year. Assistant County Engineer Al Miller said that they can amend the 5 Year Road Construction Plan when a decision is made. It isn’t something they have to add on by April 15 because they do have the option to amend the plan. Miller said that he highly doubts that they are going to see construction on this project this summer. It is a possibility but they would have to amend the current year program in order to do that. Harney asked if this is true even though the project would be covered by insurance. Stutsman clarified that even if the County decides to pay for the project using the insurance funds, the project would still have to be added to the 5 Year Construction Program. Parker said that anything that is considered a construction project has to be in the plan.
Parker explained that the 5 Year Road Plan handout is a snapshot of the approved 5 Year Road Plan as it was approved by the Board last year. They have added a new year, 2012. There may have also been shifts in projects based on the timeliness of them. Parker noted that for the most part the draft 5 Year Road Plan is relatively the same as it was approved last year. The handout presented to the Board is an overview of the project. The first item is the project name location, and then the location of roadway, the project number as assigned by the DOT, the estimate for the project, and the status of the project.
Miller said that the first item on the draft 5 Year Road Program is project FY 08A, Prairie du Chien Road from Newport Road north to Saddle Club Road. It is estimated at $1.1 million. Project FY 08B is Newport Road grading and paving Phase I from the intersection of Prairie du Chien Road to just south of Kott’s Lane. Last year they divided Newport Road into three separate projects due to funding and the amount of construction they can get done in a calendar year. Project FY 08C is Newport Road grading and paving Phase II. It begins just south of Kott’s Lane to Turkey Creek Road and is estimated to cost $1.7 million. The reason that Phase I and Phase II of the Newport Road project are appearing in FY 08 is that originally they had planned on completing these projects in two separate construction years but both taking place in the same fiscal year.
Miller said that Project FY 08D is an intersection improvement project at Derby Avenue and 120th Street with an estimate of $100,000. The project is slated to be let and be in construction in FY 07 but will carry on into FY 08. The project is to try to improve the sight distance looking east to Derby Avenue. They have done some improvements on Derby Avenue such as putting down a macadam stone base from the county line to 120th Street. Miller anticipated that traffic volumes will increase due to some of the work that they've done and development in the area north. R. Sullivan said that they have a proposal for a facility in the area and there is a conditional use permit that would be attached. He asked if the facility, because of the volume of truck traffic, is going to contribute to this project's funding. Parker said that the project is based on some of the potential development. The mile north and the east-west section of the county line were seal coated by Linn County. Parker said that they would anticipate increased traffic based on Linn County seal coating the north mile. As part of the agreement between the facility and Johnson County, the facility will be paying for a good portion of the construction that has already taken place and that will take place in the future. Stutsman asked if $100,000 is the cost to the County or for the entire project. Parker said that they have already negotiated the dollar amount with the facility to donate towards the project. The project alone was partly due to the fact that they macadam based the mile section of gravel road. A portion of the monies the facility is going to give as part of that project will be applied toward this project or the mile road section. At this point, the monies are being paid out of Secondary Roads. Due to the fact that they are anticipating increased traffic, they feel this is a good project.
Harney asked if because of this project, the road out of Swisher will need an upgrade. Parker said that new businesses and residential areas increase traffic, but they haven't addressed the road through the City of Swisher. Parker isn't aware that Swisher is planning on upgrading the road through their city. Parker said that eventually 120th Street will be on the 5 Year Road Plan. Harney said that when the County was first approached by the composting facility, all of the traffic was going to come from Cedar Rapids. Harney said that he now sees that reversed and thinks the traffic will be coming into Swisher. Parker said that they are already seeing increased traffic in that area because it is a shortcut to get to the airport for those traveling southwest and heading northeast. By upgrading this again due to the fact that Linn County has already seal coated the mile north, they are presenting an increased traffic situation for Johnson County. Stutsman said that it is a shortcut to the airport, so there are a lot of people who will be using the road beyond people going to the composting facility.
Meyers asked about the status of the compost facility. He said that there have been questions about permits. Dvorak said that they have had three court rulings in the County's favor on the application so far. The attorney for the concerned citizens in the area has requested another opinion from Dvorak before it goes back to court again. He said that the composting facility could start building tomorrow as long as they enter into an agreement with the County about the road. R. Sullivan asked what the County is asking the composting facility for in terms of a financial contribution. R. Sullivan said that they are going to agree to an amount of dollars that will pay for the seal coat and if there is any left over it will be put towards the intersection upgrade. Parker said that the composting facility is going to donate around $70,000 for the intersection realignment and for the regrade work on the gravel road. Also, as long as the business is in operation they will pay for future seal coats on the road. If the composting facility goes out of business the Board and Secondary Roads have the option of letting the road revert back to gravel. R. Sullivan said that the composting facility ought to pay for more because the intersection improvements are their responsibility. Meyers said that they are the cause of the intersection improvements needing to be done. R. Sullivan said that it needed to be done because there isn't sight distance to the west. Parker said that the recommendation was to put it in the 5 Year Road Plan before the compost facility issue started.
Miller said that the next road on the program is FY 08E which is 540th Street grading and paving at Twin County Dairy. This project is the result of a past conditional use permit where they had agreed to fund a portion of the project. The estimate for this project is $220,000 and some of that is being donated by Twin County Dairy. Miller said that this project will be completed this summer.
Project FY 08F is 500th Street pavement rehabilitation from the Iowa County line to Angle Road. This project has been extended half a mile from last year's program. This project is estimated at $1,100,000.
Project FY 08G is a new project that has been added to the program. It is for pavement rehabilitation on Lower Old Highway 6 at an estimated cost of $660,000. Miller said that this is part of Old Highway 6 and has concrete pavement with an asphalt overlay. They are recommending milling off the asphalt, and breaking up the concrete pavement to form a rock base and then overlaying it with new asphalt. Neuzil asked if they will be including shoulders on this project. Miller said that it will be wider than what it currently is, but the goal is to rehab the pavement. He said that when they raise the road or add asphalt some of the shoulders are lost. He said that they are going to widen what they've got there so that they don't lose any shoulders that they currently have.
Miller said that FY 08H is pavement rehabilitation on Curtis Bridge Road from Highway 965 to the Iowa River. This is another new project. The cost estimate is $400,000. This project is very similar to FY 08G. They will be milling the asphalt overlay and break up the existing concrete and then overlaying it with asphalt. A developer will be contributing to the cost of this project. R. Sullivan asked if the agreement is signed. Parker said that Secondary Roads and the developer have formed an agreement. The developer is going to donate $100,000 to the project. R. Sullivan said that he wants to make sure there is an official agreement before he agrees to put this project on the 5 Year Road Plan. Parker said that an agreement will be brought to the Board for approval soon.
Project FY 08I is macadam stone widening and subdrains on Highway 965 from the Iowa River Bridge to 120th Street. The cost estimate is $350,000. Project FY 08J is pavement rehabilitation and paved shoulders on Highway 965 from the Iowa River Bridge to 120th Street. The estimated cost for this project is $1,450,000. Miller said that these are two different projects on the same road. The first year they will be doing project FY 08I and then will be doing FY 08J the following year. Parker said that the widening and subdrain project will take place in Fiscal Year 08 sometime after July 1, 2008. The second project will take place at the latter part of Fiscal Year 08. He said this is a good example of a project that is done in one fiscal year but over two construction years.
R. Sullivan said that this is a highway that has a lot of traffic that is traveling at 55 miles per hour or faster. He said that they need a shoulder on this road. He asked if there is enough room for a separated trail. He said that it isn't appropriate for people to be biking on the shoulder of a road where people are going 65 miles an hour. He said that if there is a possibility to put a separated trail in this area it is a good potential area. Neuzil asked if they had the bike trail in mind when putting this project in place. Neuzil said that he rides this road on his bike and is often riding in the gravel. Parker said that they are putting a paved shoulder on this project. Miller said that there is a wide shoulder there now. He said that at a minimum he would recommend paving 5 feet of that. Harney said that he doesn't mind widening the road a little bit more with a paved accommodation on the side of the road. He said that if they build a separate trail along this stretch of road there would be a lot of costs because there are large drop-offs.
R. Sullivan said that he doesn't want to have this pass without at least having a preliminary estimate for a separate trail. He said that he hates the idea of adding two more feet of concrete and saying that its okay for bicycles because it isn't at the current traffic volume and speed. Stutsman said that Sand Road is 55 miles per hour and people drive faster than that on it, and the wide shoulders have worked very well for Sand Road. Neuzil said that there is a difference between those who want to bike and those who want to bike with children. Stutsman said that people can choose which trails they ride on. Harney said that if the shoulders are striped and signed property they work great for bike lanes. R. Sullivan said that they don’t want to encourage bicycles to interact with 65 mile per hour traffic. He said that if there is a possibility of doing something separated he would at least like it to be investigated. Meyers agreed with R. Sullivan. He said that at those speeds the margin of error is a lot slimmer than on a lower speed road. Harney said that they could make the road 45 miles per hour. Neuzil said that the opportune time to look at separated trails is when they upgrade roads.
Miller noted that the Highway 965 traffic count in 2002 was 3,970. The Sand Road traffic count is anywhere from 3,000 to 3,400. Miller said that the question is if they want to wait to rehab the pavement until they have funding and plans for a separate trail. He said that it would cost a lot for a trail because of the ravines and the Iowa River. He said that there is a fair amount of right-of-way which is a bonus. R. Sullivan said that there will be a crew doing some minimal grading activities. He asked if there is anything to be gained from charting out the future trail and having them do the grading for the future trail. Miller said that there isn't any grading on this project. R. Sullivan said that he would like to know the viability of a separated trail in this area. Stutsman said that she is comfortable with the wider shoulders on this project. She feels that the wide shoulders have worked well on Sand Road so she would be supportive of going ahead with the project as is. Miller said that the paved shoulders serve more than just for bicycles; they can be an improvement to driver's safety too. He said that he recommends paving the shoulder whether they do a separate dedicated trail or not. Neuzil said that they could explore adding an extra foot or two of shoulder beyond what is normal. He said that he would like to see that option.
R. Sullivan said that he would still like to see the feasibility of a separated trail in the future. Harney said that they don't realistically have the dollars to do it with. He said that the trails funding from the DOT is gone until 2012. The recommendations from the trails groups are to do routes from North Liberty to Cedar Rapids and Ely first. R. Sullivan said that he doesn't understand the resistance. Harney said that it isn't resistance; it's realistically what they can afford to do. Stutsman asked how difficult it would be to get a cost for this trail. Parker said that it would be very time consuming, even to just do estimates. Stutsman said that the County is new to doing trails and she therefore supports the wide shoulders. Neuzil agreed with Stutsman. Harney said that he would like estimates for wider shoulders. There were three Board members who supported the wide shoulders, but not estimates for a separated trail.
Project FY 08K is 120th Street pavement replacement and paved shoulders from Highway 965 to the east right-of-way of Highway 380. Miller said that the cost for this project is $600,000. Miller said that the pavement is in poor condition on this road. Harney asked if they are going to work with Shueyville on this project because there is interest for a separated trail in this area. Parker said that they have put together a committee with Shueyville to talk about this road project. He said that the committee hasn't meant in awhile but will probably be meeting in the next few months.
Project FY 08L is a bridge replacement and approach paving on Black Diamond Road over Old Man's Creek near the Johnson-Iowa County line. The cost estimate for this project is $900,000. Miller said that this bridge is not currently load rated but does have height and width restrictions. He said that the bridge is functionally obsolete. Stutsman asked if this bridge would go to Kent Park. Miller said that the bridge is very heavy and would have to disassembled and then reassembled. He said that they will offer it to Kent Park.
Miller said that project FY 09A is the Newport Road grading and paving Phase III from Turkey Creek Road to Highway #1. The cost estimate for this project is $1,200,000.
Project FY 09B is Oak Crest Hill Road pavement rehabilitation and paved shoulders from Highway 921 to the Hills city limits. Parker said that this is a DOT transferred jurisdiction road. He said that the portion of road from Iowa City south to the Washington County line was transferred from the DOT to Johnson County. The County is spending a lot of dollars to rehab projects that were transferred to the County. Stutsman said that the DOT gave money to the County for some of these roads. She asked if the amount was anywhere near what needs to be spent. Parker said no. Miller said that it was about 5% to 10% of what the County has actually been spending. Neuzil said that they gave $240,000 or $280,000 for maintenance upgrades, but this project is $1.6 million.
R. Sullivan said that he has concerns that some cities might want to annex land after the County has put a lot of money into a road. He asked if they want to work with cities to have an agreement that says something like if a city annexes an upgraded road within a certain window of time they'll pay for the cost of the road improvement. Stutsman said that for Hills it would be so far in the future that the road would need to be replaced again before it ever got to that point. Neuzil said that they have talked about arrangements for 10 year costs shifts with cities but that policy hasn't been talked about beyond key issues work sessions. Stutsman asked if the County can do that. Harney said that it would have to be a voluntary agreement between the County and a city. Parker said that it couldn't be forced upon an entity. Neuzil said that ISAC has talked about a 28E Agreement for situations like this. Stutsman said that if a town annexes, they would probably annex to the middle of the road and the County would still have responsibility for part of the road anyway. The Board agreed to have Parker work with the County Attorney's Office investigating annexation issues with roads.
Parker said that Project FY 10B is pavement rehabilitation and paved shoulders on Oak Crest Hill Road from the Hills City limits to the Washington County line. He said that this project is related to FY 09B. Parker said that the Washington County Engineer would prefer to see Project FY 10B completed first because their road surface in Washington County is in bad shape and they are ready to begin work on their section. Stutsman asked what benefits Johnson County more. She said that she thinks there would be more traffic from Hills to Iowa City so she isn't interested in swapping the projects. Neuzil agreed, but said that there will be a fairly significant trucking project that will be located in the area so it might be advantageous to do this. He said that they want to try to coordinate the construction projects so if there is a potential cost savings of combining Washington County's contractor with Johnson County's he would want to entertain that possibility. Parker said that the County will let the project and then they would pick up the project costs. Neuzil said that there would be potential savings. Miller said that it would happen this way whether they do the north section or south section first.
Meyers asked if it is feasible to do both sections in one year. Parker said that they haven't analyzed it from a cost standpoint. He said that they are looking at two years of construction out there. He said that if they shut the road south of Hills and north of Hills down at the same time they might have problems with the residents in the area. Parker said that they are seeing construction prices grow up to 30% over the last several years. He said that based on the construction costs, they could have a savings there. Miller said that it will still cost close to 3 million dollars to do them both at the same time. Parker said that they are only talking about separating the projects by a year. Miller said Washington County's piece of road is in very poor shape. The longer Johnson County waits the more maintenance that Washington County has to do on their section, but they are going to participate either way. Harney asked if Washington County would be interested in doing a wider shoulder on their section. Parker said that the cross section that Johnson County is proposing would carry through into Washington County. He said that it would be an increased cost for them, but they would see the benefit of carrying the same cross section south. Stutsman said that this could be an opportunity to see if the casino would join in the costs since they are seeing the benefits from the traffic. Parker said that they recommend doing the south section first to be able to work with and help Washington County, but either way is fine with them. Neuzil, Harney, R. Sullivan, and Meyers agreed to doing the south section first.
Miller explained that project FY 09D is a bridge replacement on Sharon Center Road over Old Man's Creek. The estimated cost for this replacement is $900,000. Stutsman asked if they are definitely going to do the bridge replacement whether they do the entire road or not. Harney said that the bridge needs replaced. Parker said that they will replace the structure. He said that there is an alignment issue to the north. Miller said that if they are just going to do the bridge and the approaches to it they would want to put it in the same place to reduce the amount of wetland impacts. He said that it certainly could be built to the east. The main thought with building to the east is to keep the road open while building the new bridge. Harney said that he would like to see the alignment adjusted. Parker said that would be his recommendation as well.
Project FY 10A is pavement rehabilitation and paved shoulders on Ely Road from Highway 382 to Linn County. The estimated cost for this project is $1,200,000. Neuzil said that he hopes that the Trails Committee is involved with this project because there might be some connectivity. Parker said that the old railroad right-of-way bed is east of this road and runs north. He said that JCCOG has put together a rough estimate for cost because there are two structures involved. Harney said that it looks like this trail could work out.
Project FY 11A is pavement rehabilitation and paved shoulders on Mehaffey Bridge Road from the North Liberty city limits to Sugar Bottom Road. The cost estimate for FY 11A is $950,000. Project FY 11C is Mehaffey Bridge replacement over the Iowa River on Mehaffey Bridge Road. The cost estimate for the bridge replacement is $2,500,000. Harney said that he would like to see a separated trail from Sugar Bottom Road to North Liberty. Miller said that they will have some of the same issues with this as with 965. There are a lot of deep ravines. He said that if they have a dedicated trail they will want to take that into consideration when they build the bridge to have a separate walkway on the bridge. This will cause the bridge estimate to go up. Harney said that North Liberty has interest in that as well.
Meyers asked if the road will be closed when Mehaffey Bridge is replaced. Miller said that they would like to do half of the bridge at a time. He said that it is possible to build the bridge while keeping half of the old one open. He said that there will be signals on either end allowing traffic to get through. Miller said the other option would be to totally shut the bridge down. Miller said that there is a realignment option but it is very expensive. Parker said that they aren't to the stage yet where it has been finalized. He added that the bridge design hasn't been finalized yet. He said that they are still several years out. Neuzil said that this would be the main arterial separated trail connection to get from Solon to North Liberty on the Johnson County Designated Trails Map. R. Sullivan said that they will want shoulders for the road, but in addition to that they do want a separated trail. R. Sullivan said that this is another situation where they need to be talking about an agreement with North Liberty. He said that if North Liberty wants to start annexing up this road he wants to make sure the County taxpayers are protected. Neuzil said that Parker might want to have conversations with North Liberty about upgrading North Dubuque Street in North Liberty as well.
Neuzil asked if Secondary Roads coordinates projects with other cities and counties after the 5 Year Road Plan has been approved. Parker said that he does make contact with cities and counties about projects. Stutsman said that a good idea would be for Board members go with staff to talk about these projects with other entities. The Board agreed.
Miller noted that FY 11B is pavement rehabilitation and paved shoulders on 520th Street from the Hills city limits to Wapsi Avenue. The estimated cost for this project is $2,000,000. He said that there are a couple of structures on this road that they need to evaluate to see if they need to be replaced but that will be part of the construction design process.
Miller said that a new project on the 5 Year Road Plan is FY 12A which is a grading and paving project on Herbert Hoover Highway from Interstate 80 east to the county line. The estimated cost for this project is $3,500,000. Stutsman asked why this section of road needs to be done. Neuzil said that the surface looks good but the width and accident rates are a problem. Parker said that they have a lot of accidents on this specific section of road. He said that this project would be similar to Sand Road. He said that there is a high amount of traffic on this road and from a safety standpoint they felt that this project would be a good one to add. Harney asked if Cedar County is aware of the project. Parker said that this is a new project and he will be having a conversation with Cedar County about this project in the future. Parker said that this road is a safety issue so they will be applying for safety funds. Harney said that this road also has a lot of bicycle traffic that they should address at some point.
Another new project on the plan is FY 12B which is pavement rehabilitation on 520th Street from Wapsi Avenue to the county line, Miller said. The estimated cost is $1,200,000.
Harney asked if the County has to have money in the budget for improvements to Highway #1. Parker said that he had a recent meeting with the DOT regarding that project. He said that one thing that could impact Johnson County is that the DOT's recommendation for Rapid Creek Road is to shift the alignment south of the bridge. The DOT would pick up all construction costs, right-of-way acquisition costs, and alignment costs for that section of the roadway. Anything north of that the DOT is going to pick up all construction costs. Parker said that one conversation they had was that in the process of this construction in the summer of Fiscal Year 09 and Fiscal Year 10 the DOT would like the County to consider realigning Morse Road with Newport Road. He said that the DOT sent an email offering $180,000 towards the realignment. They would do all of the construction inspection and design and negotiate the right-of-way. The County would have to pay for the right-of-way. Parker said that it would make sense to realign those intersections. He said that because of the separation of those two intersections and the road will be increasing in traffic, by closing the gap they are minimizing possible safety problems with these intersections in the future. The DOT will pay 100% for the intersection improvements with Rapid Creek Road. The DOT recommends realigning Morse Road as part of the project. He said that they could change the alignment while all of the construction is going on there. Harney asked for the accident rate at this intersection. Parker said that he will provide this to the Board at a future time. Neuzil asked for the timing of the DOT's project. Parker said that they are looking at doing this in FY 09 and FY 10. Parker said that the DOT will be putting turn lanes in at these intersections. Parker noted that they will be adding eight foot paved shoulders with rumble strips outside of the lane pavement markings.
Recessed at 11:00 a.m.; reconvened at 11:10 a.m.
Stutsman asked for traffic counts on Oak Crest Hill Road to help decide whether they complete the north or south portions first. Parker said that ADTs (average daily traffic counts) are done by the DOT every four years. Parker said that counts were completed in 2006 but they aren't available yet. Miller said that the section of Oak Crest Hill Road from Hills to Washington County had a 2002 count of 572 vehicles a day. The stretch from Iowa City to Hills varies from 1,370 to 2,620. Neuzil said that he still wants to explore cost savings if Johnson County and Washington County work on their portions at the same time. Stutsman said that looking at the traffic counts she doesn't know how they can justify doing the section to Washington County first. Parker said that he will talk to the Washington County engineer and report back to the Board at the 5 Year Road Plan meeting on January 31, 2007.
Stutsman asked when they are going to discuss projects that the Board would like to see added to the 5 Year Road Plan. Parker said that they have presented the draft of the 5 Year Road Program as it has been approved in past years. He said that this is the time for the Board to direct Secondary Roads to make any modifications to the 5 Year Road Program. Stutsman said that she would like to discuss Oak Crest Hill Road.
Meyers said that before they discuss Oak Crest Hill Road he would like to discuss the 800 pound gorilla that hasn't been addressed yet. He said that they've talked about every project but skipped over Newport Road and Prairie du Chien Road. He said that it isn't a secret to anybody in the room that he would like to see these projects removed from the 5 Year Road Plan. Neuzil agreed and said that he would like to see Projects FY 08A, FY 08B, FY 08C, and anything associated with Newport Road and Prairie du Chien removed from the 5 Year Road Plan. R. Sullivan said that it is frustrating to him because he felt like they were within a few minor adjustments of getting something that he thought that everybody could live with, but they never got to that point. He said that he is in agreement to see these projects removed if they can't get those things ironed out.
Stutsman said that they haven't even seen the designs yet. Parker said that they do have check plans for the project. He said that per the last presentation given by Anderson Bogart there were no design modifications made as they presented it. He said that there may be some incidental small things that might change. He said that currently they are reviewing the plans to see if they follow County standards on items, but really the monumental design of the project has been completed as it was presented last. Harney asked if it has been delivered to Secondary Roads in its completed form. Parker said that they have a set of check plans and staff is reviewing those among other things that they are working on. R. Sullivan asked what check plans are. Miller said that the alignment, profiles, and major issues with the design are complete; it's just a matter of checking to see if they've missed anything, looking at details and making comments. Miller said that the design elements that they are responsible for signing off on are complete.
Harney said that he still doesn't approve of taking these projects off of the 5 Year Road Plan. He said that the Board has a financial responsibility to do this, they have liability issues out there, and it's just a matter of time before the County is paying out for multi-million dollar lawsuits. He said that they have three engineers that have said the roads are bad, there have been two consultants that have said that the roads need attention, and he believes that it needs attention. Harney said that he doesn't mind if they want to push the projects back and work with the residents to come up with some sort of solution to some of their issues in some areas of design but it isn't in the best interests of the County to take these projects off of the 5 Year Road Plan. He said that it is in everybody's best interests, including the residents, to complete these projects. Harney said that these roads serve a recreation area and these roads need to be improved, particularly Prairie du Chien over Newport Road. He said that it isn't in the interest of Johnson County taxpayers to remove these projects from the 5 Year Road Plan.
Meyers said that one of the things they need to look at are the accident rates. He said that Prairie du Chien has an excellent accident history; there was a five year stretch where there were no accidents, according to the engineering data. Meyers said that if that is the benchmark they are going to measure on he doesn't see the justification for a zero accident rate. Harney said that there are a lot of accidents out there but a lot of them go unreported. Meyers said that argument can be made on any road. Harney agreed. Meyers said that if there is no property damage or personal injuries accidents don't have to be reported. Harney said that the approaches to the bridges and the contour of the road need attention. Harney said that they either give it attention, or keep pouring money into it to patch it up or they could let it go back to gravel. He said that for the liability of the County and the taxpayers he can't see removing these projects from the 5 Year Road Plan.
Dvorak said that they've been approached by a developer to develop property in the area and they are anticipating between 400 and 700 residents. Meyers said that development will be on the new section of Prairie du Chien Road. Neuzil said that he would like the projects removed. He said that he thinks they could all identify a number of other priorities that have higher standards. In addition, they ought to reconsider and look at the Land Use Plan and get a new direction on where they think growth should occur. He hopes that discussion comes up this year as well.
Stutsman said that she is not supportive of taking these roads off the 5 Year Road Program. Stutsman explained that she has thoroughly researched this and feels that it is in the County’s best interest to upgrade this road. To repeat a lot of what Harney has said, she thinks they have a liability issue. They would be ignoring the recommendations of staff, County Engineers, consultants, and JCCOG Transportation Planner Jeff Davidson if they were to take this project off of the plan. Politically, it is a good idea to take this off, she noted. She figured that they all know that, but they have to look beyond the political repercussions and look to the interest of the entire County. Stutsman said it looks as if there is not the support there to do that, so they should move on.
R. Sullivan said that it is still frustrating to him because they just had Iowa City come in and talk to them about Lower West Branch Road. They are building a new part of that road in a part that is still County. It is going to have an eight-foot trail on one side and a four-foot sidewalk on the other. It is two 12-foot lanes of traffic, and there are shoulders. The whole thing is put in there within the existing right-of-way. R. Sullivan said the difference is that Iowa City is going to do a sewer system as opposed to ditches but the differences are the city standard versus the rural standard. He speculated that they could have avoided this whole issue if they had thought about this as city standards including speed limits and such. He said that they could have done the road, the trail, the whole bit within the right-of-way if the County had thought like a city. R. Sullivan said that this has been his frustration the whole time; it basically has to be a city project. Neuzil said he made that suggestion three years ago, so it was out there. Harney said he thinks that everyone said they could do that. They could put stone sewers in certain narrow sections and build alongside that. Stutsman agreed. R. Sullivan said that they never did get plans to do it and so they end up having to vote down something that is not that. Meyers said that he always thought storm sewers were over the top because there are no drainage problems in the area. He said that they would be spending a lot of money to solve a problem that isn’t there.
Harney said that some residents just past the Newport Road turnoff are concerned about the closeness to their yards, so they could have a city type drainage system. Harney said he still thinks all of that could be worked out. He isn’t opposed to pushing the project back and reassessing it to come up with a design that the majority would be agreeable to. Meyers said that he thinks that Neuzil made a good point about the Land Use Plan, and it is a point that has been brought up a number of times in the last couple of years. The County is not necessarily moving in that direction. Stutsman said that the Road Performance Standards have slowed it down. Meyers said that Newport and Prairie du Chien Roads have been within two years of the top of the 5-Year Road Plan, so there has been nothing to stop any building applications being approved. He said that any road that is within two years of the top of the 5 Year Road Plan can have building projects approved. He asked where all these projects are. Harney said that he doesn’t think anyone ever said they are building the road for development. They are addressing the traffic and development that is already there. He said that Planning and Zoning has just told them that a lot of zoned ground is there and they would allow that growth if the road count were not where it is at.
Stutsman said that if they are going to take these projects off of the 5 Year Road Plan they need to discuss additional projects to move up. Meyers said that this has been hashed out over and over, and he would like to see them move on and put this discussion behind them. Moore said that they spent approximately $400,000 of taxpayer money on consultants to study this road. By taking this off of the 5 Year Road Plan, they are basically throwing the baby out with the bath water. He thought that R. Sullivan and Harney have said a couple of things that make sense to him. He asked the Board to move it back a couple of years and try to work something out. He said that if nine out of ten people here are telling them that they are not against development, and they are only worried about the design of the road and the impact on properties, which are valid concerns, they should push it back a few years and work on the details. He said that he doesn’t care if they design the road for 25 miles per hour or 55 miles per hour, but because of the Road Performance Standards, in order to continue to allow people to have the opportunity to live outside of the cities, they have to have those roads improved. Neuzil said that they could change the numbers on the Road Performance Standards. Meyers noted they could also change the phasing program. Moore said that he doesn’t know how that would impact anything. Dvorak said that moving it the road projects back shows that they are committed to their investment and are willing to work with the residents that have concerns and reach the long-term land use goal.
Meyers said that having sat in on practically every one of those meeting with engineers, he has a lot of concern from what he has seen about the sentiment of working with the residents. He said that trust has broken down completely. Moore said that it is the Board that is going to end up making the decision, so if three of them agree that a design works, whatever that design might be, then they can have improved roads. R. Sullivan said he would like to see a city street design, but they don’t have that now. R. Sullivan asked if there is a lot of work that would have to be recreated in order to come up with such a plan. Parker said that is the million dollar question. He said that they start talking about curb and gutter and putting storm sewers in, construction cost goes up considerably. If they were to do the full section of the project, they are probably talking about a 20-30% increase at minimum. They would also be putting all of the open drainage in a ditch somewhere. That means that they would be acquiring right-of-way in locations where they may not currently be looking at acquiring right-of-way to make sure that they have maintenance for that future drainage. Parker said this is not necessarily a negative but are just the facts that they are presented with. The County hired a consultant to design the road based on all of the information that they have, and they have recommended an urban cross section through there. That is where and how the County Engineers have come up with what they have done and why they have designed it to that standard.
R. Sullivan asked how it could be considered an urban cross section when it is at a much higher speed than anything in the cities and has no sidewalks. Parker said that it is posted at 55 mph in the day. When he is talking an urban cross section, he is talking about curb and gutter with a storm sewer system. Sometimes with that specific alignment, they can use less right-of-way to build it because they are containing all the drainage to the roadway and getting rid of open drainage. They are using open drainage and that allows for a sidewalk and that gets to an urban cross section. He said he doesn’t have a picture but can get one to them. R. Sullivan asked if they decide they want to do a more urban cross section, are they ahead financially to put this in now or putting it in five years later. Parker said that construction costs are going up 30% annually, so any time they don't do a project, they are looking at that increase. Parker said that if they are looking at going from a rural design to an urban standard, then they not only increase the cost of the later construction activities but they also increase the construction costs on top of the cost of living. R. Sullivan said that the longer they put it off, the more they are going to pay. Parker said there is one other consideration; they are looking at a particular set of guidelines now, but guidelines change over time and do not get any cheaper. Later, there may be different design standards, so they would have to modify their design which may also cost more.
Meyers said that by that same argument, it could go in the other direction because right now the State Department of Transportation is sending up a big cry about the huge amounts of money that they need. The Department of Transportation may have to look at relaxing their standards a bit in some situations. Parker said that they still follow the AASHTO Design Guidelines, which is a manual that engineers are required to follow as a part of their license. He thought that what may happen is that they may anticipate doing a project above design activity standards for future use and may reduce that to current design standards. Typically, it becomes a cost issue. Anything over the design standards would increase the cost. Meyers asked if that means making it wider and flatter. Parker said going less is not typical. Meyers said that the amount of money they need is not going to be gotten easily. Parker said that effectively what is going to happen is that projects are going to be taken off the 5 Year Construction Program until they get funds to do them. They will then prioritize those projects based on needs, traffic, and safety.
Harney asked what the Board thinks. Meyers said that he is in favor of removing it completely from the 5 Year Road Program. Neuzil and R. Sullivan agreed. R. Sullivan said that he is still for taking it off knowing that they can put it back on in the future to city design standards. Parker said that any project that they take off now can be added anytime later when the Board wishes. Stutsman said that she thought that Neuzil wanted to put the item on the future projects list. Neuzil said that he would like to add the project back to the list of all potential upcoming projects. Parker said that since they do have a design completed, they would naturally put it on a future projects list.
Harney asked what roads they would move up. Stutsman said that the Board is looking at moving up Oakdale Boulevard. Harney said he would like to put Oakdale Boulevard Extension on the program because Coralville has already agreed to participate on that. Parker said they have had several conversations about adding that as part of the project. He said they could add that to the 5 Year Road Plan, but they are limited to a construction year on that because there is going to be considerable right-of-way acquisitions in that area. Parker said that River Products did not have an interest in the project going forward but that did not inhibit them from having conversations with them. Neuzil said that there are certainly some folks in Coralville who want to invest in this with them.
R. Sullivan said that he thinks Oakdale Boulevard is a real missing link, but he has the same concern that he has been mentioning all morning about the County building a road and then the road getting annexed. Neuzil said that there are certainly some folks from the City of Coralville that want to invest in this with the County and that is the arrangement they need to start with. He said they are talking about a section from Gold’s Gym to Lincolnshire Place or Pembrokeshire Drive. He said that Coralville clearly wants to invest. Stutsman said that she doesn’t think so. She noted that River Products has made it really clear that they don’t want to be a part of this. Neuzil said that in the future there is going to be a created island down the road. R. Sullivan said that they should always protect the taxpayers and they should let Coralville know that they are talking about it.
Parker said that he thinks Oakdale Boulevard would be a candidate for using a fund source. He has spoken to Coralville who is in support of this, as is North Liberty, however Iowa City is not in support. Iowa City is a large voting portion of JCCOG. They are several years out before being able to tap into that. But, based on the funding needed, which is not available currently, they might be able to get in the latter part of the plan. If they want to use local funds, that is something Secondary Roads can look into as well. Harney said that is a conversation they should have with Coralville. Neuzil said that there are obviously three members of the Board who want Oakdale Boulevard on the plan. He asked if there is a certain year that Parker thinks is more realistic than another. Parker replied that this is a good candidate for utilizing JCCOG funding, which is Federal funding. He said that there is a new stream of funding coming in with a renewal at that point. Now is the planning time, and there are several members on the committee and a larger portion of them are from Iowa City. Neuzil said that maybe in two weeks, Parker could look into when the next eligible funding is available. That would give the Board time to plan with other communities and also lobby. Stutsman thought that was reasonable. R. Sullivan said that Coralville may have a way of going to Washington D.C. and getting the money themselves.
R. Sullivan said that he doesn't want the County to fund the whole project, complete it, then have it be annexed, and have people asking why their investment is there. He said maybe they could have Coralville pay 70% up front or be willing to enter an agreement for repayment for annexation. Harney said that he thinks they are willing to participate but there isn't land available. Stutsman said that basically they are telling Coralville to assess those property owners for payment of that road, but she doesn’t think they need to talk about these details at this point. Parker said he will check in to the funding sources and have a response as soon as he can. As far as utilizing County funds, it is his anticipation to try to receive 80% Federal funding, so they would only need a match for 20%. He said he isn’t sure that there is an estimate for the cost of the project.
Harney asked if there are projects that Parker can move up that are already scheduled. Stutsman mentioned Oak Crest Hill Road. R. Sullivan said that Scales Bend Road is another example. Harney said he is thinking of things they can move up to fill in next year’s gap. Parker said that one of the things that has happened since the 5 Year Road Plan was accepted last year is that the DOT has frozen Farm-to-Market funds or at least is going into the hole with those funds. In the past, the DOT has allowed them to do that. He said that a lot of counties have gone far into the negative on those funds. Since the fund source is not maintaining the growth as it has in the past, and the construction costs have increased over the years, the fund source has been dwindling for all 99 counties, said Parker. Parker said that if the Board moves projects off of the plan that does not necessarily mean they can move projects in to replace them. That puts a big dent into the potential expenditures. Neuzil asked if there is anything they need to add into FY 08 on the program. Parker responded that they have a very aggressive construction schedule, so they don't need to add anything. If they aren't doing construction, they are doing design. They have a high demand and safety is a concern, so they are trying to improve and maintain all the time.
Stutsman suggested moving Oak Crest Hill Road ahead because they would then be in synch with what Washington County wants. Parker said that because they are going negative on their Farm-to-Market funds, they would have to take a look at their funding stream and see if that would be a possibility. If the Board would like Secondary Roads to prioritize projects to move them up, they can take a look at it from a fund source. Stutsman said she would be interested in looking at Oak Crest Hill Road. Parker asked for a list from the Board of projects that they would like to see moved ahead on the plan.
Neuzil said that with Highway 965 and 500th Street Secondary Roads will be busy until FY 2009. Stutsman said that she thinks they should look at the situation and see what they would recommend. Miller said that there are new projects that have moved into 2008. Harney suggested moving the improvements near Twin County Dairy ahead. Parker said that project would be a good candidate for potential Revitalize Iowa's Sound Economy (RISE) funds. They have stopped the funding for that temporarily. As soon as those funds become available, this project would be a good one to begin on. Neuzil said there are basically three routes that truck traffic is going to increase on. He asked if they should use 540th and then upgrade Cosgrove Road or should the trucks try to get to Frytown and come down. He said that they need to have a good sense of where the truck traffic is going to go and if there is a potential investment from the chicken factory. Harney said the trucks are going to take the shortest route. Neuzil said that he realizes that but the Board needs to look at the fact that there is already turning ability from Highway 1 at the Cheese Factory location because that is where there is a hard surface. Harney said that they have two gravel roads in between. Stutsman said that 540th Street has worse sight distance than 520th Street. Stutsman said that it is just the law of averages that people will use the shortest distance between two points, so they need to make that route workable. Neuzil said that they might find that the chicken factory would prefer a safer route than a faster route. Parker said those are all good considerations. Neuzil said as far as the upgrade distance, the sections are the same. Harney mentioned that if a business is going to qualify for a RISE Grant, they have to make application before they open or else they're not eligible. Parker said that they have stalled all applications for RISE funds at this time. He has been talking to DOT staff and residents, and the DOT seems to understand that they need to do a study on that section of the State road as they did between the interstate and Solon. Depending on the information that is completed for that, there is a movement to do a study based on the issues that are taking place.
Stutsman asked about large confinement facilities that are bringing in additional traffic and wondered about upgrading Wapsi Avenue or Sioux Avenue. Stutsman said that part of those roads have a dirt portion. Parker said that Sand Road is a mile west of that and goes into Iowa City. Stutsman said that the Board needs to come up with some kind of policy for upgrading roads. She said that they worked just fine when people were just raising 1,500 hogs in a field. Neuzil said that they need to have a conversation about the Capital Improvement Plan. He said that they also have to have a conversation about gravel versus dirt roads. Stutsman said that she is also thinking of seal coat. Meyers said that they would go through the Macadam process to do that. Parker said that the County should be looking at maintaining existing gravel roads. He said that the County has gravel roads that have a lot of traffic on them, and he isn’t sure the last time they went in and regraded those roads to put them back to their original state. On some roads, they can do maintenance as they did on Derby. Others where they are anticipating increased growth and development would be recommended to be built to a design standard for the future potential of high traffic and speed increases.
Harney said that one thing they haven't discussed is 120th Street into Shueyville. They need to do that for safety reasons because the road is deteriorating. They have had a lot of inquiries about that over the years. Neuzil said they are talking about the stretch from the gas station to the main intersection. Parker said that they have had a meeting with JCCOG who did a study and recommended an urban cross section with a center turn lane and a separated sidewalk and/or trail on one or both sides of the right-of-way. The Shueyville City Council at that time said that it was too much of an intrusion; there would be a large impact to the front yards. Based on the amount of traffic there, they get several thousand vehicles a day. Shueyville also has two large developments coming in so the traffic count will increase. One has already been annexed and the other is going to be. They are talking about several hundred vehicles a day going from Curtis Bridge Road to the interstate. It is going to be a road that they need City participation from as far as funds. They may be able to look into using safety and/or Federal funds in the future. But, again, they are tapped out on Federal funds until 2012. Harney said they need to start looking into that. Parker said that they are. He said that the Shueyville Mayor is in Arizona for the winter and once he gets back they will discuss this further. He thought the City rejected the first idea and they are now working together to figure out where to go. Parker said that Secondary Roads is willing to assist the City from a design standpoint or construction management standpoint, but as far as the cost, it is going to be a fairly expensive project. R. Sullivan said that it is going to be their call as far as the level of design.
Neuzil said that 120th Street and this area is unique because after a few of those additional developments, the County is not responsible for a road that is inside city limits above a certain population threshold. The two developments are at that threshold. This one is a little different in that it is in the city limits of Shueyville, who clearly decided they want to be as big as they are. Neuzil said that the question is should the rural taxpayers be paying for this road. Neuzil said he is fine with this project being off the list until they can further negotiate. Harney said the bottom line is that the State transferred the jurisdiction of this road to the County, so the County doesn't have a choice. Neuzil that is only until the area reaches a population of 700. Meyers said he thinks it is 750. Parker said that they are climbing to that level very quickly, but the fact is they receive about $12,000 to maintain these roads including pipe replacements, snow removal, ice control, pothole patching, and ditch cleaning. The $12,000 does not cover the full cost of maintaining the road so the cost is going to be considerably higher than the funds they are receiving. Neuzil said the point is that they have to maintain it; they don’t have to rebuild it. Parker said that is a gray area. Parker said that his and his colleagues' interpretation of the Code of Iowa is that maintenance is one thing and reconstruction is another. To maintain the road, they could put a new surface on, but it is not necessarily good use of funds when they know the road needs to be upgraded based on traffic levels. It might make more sense to put those dollars toward expansion of the road so that it can handle the amount of traffic that it has.
Stutsman asked why cities don't annex the complete road and only annex to the center. Parker responded that the Code requires them to annex to the center line of the roadway. If that wasn't in the Code, they probably wouldn’t annex the road at all. Harney said he thinks they are forgetting the reason for annexing to the center of the road. He explained that property owners own the roadway to the center when it comes to County rural roads. Stutsman said that they are selectively annexing so that the County still has to maintain the roads. Parker said that is true and can be frustrating. He said that he is trying to be careful to make sure that entities are following the Code language. Stutsman said that if people are going to annex, they should annex but not selectively to avoid responsibility for the roads.
R. Sullivan said that they are long overdue to consider something around James Avenue if Shueyville is willing. Stutsman said that is in the City. Parker explained that the large subdivision to the east is a County subdivision. One small section of that is a County road; it is a gravel section. Stutsman said that they tried to work with Shueyville to upgrade their respective portions of the road, but Shueyville wasn’t interested. Neuzil said that might be a candidate for an upgrade from gravel to chip seal. Parker noted that the residents would like the road seal coated. Neuzil said they may invest in that. Parker said that there are some sight distance limitations on some curves up there. Stutsman said it is going to take a major reconstruction. Parker agreed. R. Sullivan said that for the County residents in the area, it is long over due and if the City doesn't want to play ball, then they can't do anything. Parker said he thinks it is a matter of funding. Neuzil said that it is more that they don't want to spend the money. He said they aren’t even doing close to what they could be doing. Parker said that if they were going to move forward on the project they would treat it just like any other County project that benefits the County. They would talk to the involved parties. Those are conversations that they are always open to. Parker explained that it is a Board decision as to whether they do that or not. Stutsman said that this would be a perfect example of annexation once the County improves the road.
Neuzil said that R. Sullivan brought up Scales Bend Road that has been brought to the top of Planning and Zoning's list. He said that they have to think about how to get the potential of some grant assistance. The City of North Liberty certainly needs to be a part of that conversation. Neuzil said that MYCA is very interested in a road upgrade. He asked how they get all of these entities together. He also asked if Parker wants direction from the Board that they want Scales Bend added to the 5 Year Road Plan. Parker said they met with North Liberty last week and North Liberty City Administrator Brian James said that they have no plans in the future to annex onto Scales Bend Road. Neuzil said that is what they said, but they are building in that direction. Parker said he thinks they know there are major construction issues with Scales Bend Road. It is a gravel road that has been turned into a seal coat road. Parker continued that they have lots of traffic on that road and there are horizontal and vertical geometry issues with the road also. He said that need to be addressed as part of the design, so they are talking about a very high cost project. Parker doubts they would get Federal funds for that or Farm-to-Market funds because it is a local project. Miller agreed. Neuzil asked if there is potential for North Liberty or MYCA to get Federal dollars on their own. Harney said that their portion is gravel, and the other is chip seal. Miller said that in the late seventies or early eighties, the County did a design on that and a group of concerned folks on the road were not happy with it, and the project was dropped. It is something that they should probably ask people about before they go down the line too far.
Harney asked if Parker has enough direction. Parker said unless there any other changes, he is fine. Neuzil asked Secondary Roads wants direction from the Board as the County looks at exploring new roads capital improvement budget maintenance. Parker said that regarding Level B roads, he does need direction from the Board on whether to move those to Level A. Neuzil said that one that comes up is Sioux Avenue. Parker said that those are things they can proceed with if the Board would like. Secondary Roads can come up with a cost estimate. Harney said his suggestion would be to get recommendations from the Engineering Department and then all sit down at a work session and see which they want to prioritize. Stutsman said that these things don’t have to be put on the 5 Year Road Plan.
Parker passed out a list of roads and their average Annual Daily Traffic (ADT) counts. Neuzil said that as far as putting their budget together, this is probably the most significant thing they would be doing in Johnson County as far as the Rural Fund is concerned. Assistant County Engineer Rob Winstead said that the document presented to the Board is still in draft format and they are still verifying their data. They received data from the DOT that had the road names, surface type, and traffic counts in it. They have tried to sort that data and show it on a map that takes the gravel roads and divides them out by ranges of traffic count. Harney commented that Deer Creek Road is basically all truck traffic. Meyers said he thought those numbers had to have dropped tremendously since 2002. Parker said that the document that was just given to the Board is based on 2002 traffic levels and does not account for the new alignment that has already been constructed on that particular road. He agreed that the large majority of the traffic on that road is truck traffic. Typically the higher the traffic count, the higher the accident rates. Neuzil said that Deer Creek Road is also getting an upgrade from Highway 6 to the softball diamonds. Parker agreed and added that it is a Coralville Project. Neuzil asked about Penn Street. Stutsman said that so many of these roads are next to cities, so she couldn’t support doing anything on Penn Street near North Liberty. Neuzil said that North Liberty might be willing to invest or make some kind of arrangements. He said the idea has to do with too many cars on a gravel surface. Even though it is next to a city, they are going to have to address some of these things, just like they are upgrading roads that are right next to a city if they are hard surfaced.
Harney said another one that isn't on the ADT map is Jasper Avenue that goes to the new school. R. Sullivan said he thinks it is Kansas Road. Parker said they haven't had conversations with other entities about those roads but certainly they are going to have to be addressed. Who is going to address them is another conversation, said Parker. Due to the increased traffic to the new school, there are things that need to be taken care of in the area. Harney said there are going to be school busses and a lot of traffic.
Neuzil said that he didn’t realize the traffic count on Anchorage Road was so high. He thought they need to get the word out to some of the Homeowner's Associations. Neuzil said that some of these roads might have chip seal but they wouldn't have been done by the County. Parker said that they would've been done as part of an agreement. Neuzil said that if the document notes which roads were done through agreements it might help the Board prioritize better. Harney said that they have a lot of time to go over these in the future. Parker said that these maps take a lot of staff time to accomplish and he thanked his staff for putting them together on such short notice.
Parker reiterated that the map and 5 Year Road Program that they've submitted today are drafts and only based on the information that they had available at the time. Neuzil said that if some of the roads on the map do lead to developments, as the County does the Land Use Plan update this will help them figure out where they think growth will be occurring. Parker said that this is a snap shot of 2002 ADTs. He said that he tried diligently to get the 2006 ADTs but was told that at the earliest it will be April. He added that they will be able to compare the 2002 data with the 2006 data and see where growth has changed over the years and look to see where potential development activities might take effect in the future. Neuzil said that something that Stutsman brought up in budget discussions that needs to be considered as well are roads that the County in the 1970s and 1980s took out of chip seal and reverted back to gravel. He said that it would be nice if the map showed those roads too and where they need to be prioritized now. Neuzil said that specific roads of interest would be Amana and Sioux. Stutsman said that looking at Sioux Avenue would be interesting. Harney said that they will review those in the future.
Harney asked about the DOT realigning Morse Road. He asked where those funds will come from. Parker said that if the Board decides that they would like to proceed with the Morse Road realignment, the DOT has sent Parker an email where they would give those dollars to the County as part of the construction costs for the alignment. Parker said that he isn't sure of the fund source at this time; whether they would use Farm-to-Market funds or another fund source. Based on the timeliness of the project, FY 09 and FY 10, would also make a difference in the fund sources available. Parker said that it would probably be a mix of funds to cover the rest of the project. Parker said that he just found out about this last week. He said that there is some work that will have to go into this before he can have costs ready for the Board. Harney suggested that Parker talk with landowners in the area and see if it is something that is feasible. He said that he would like to see them realigned if possible, but if it is going to have too big of an impact they would need to discuss it. He said that they should set the funds aside, have discussions with the property owners, and go from there. Neuzil said that he would like to have this project added to the 5 Year Road Plan. Stutsman agreed. Parker said that if it is in the Program they can start working on it.
R. Sullivan said that Sandy Beach Road has a traffic count that is similar to highways. He asked if they would like to have an idea of what is involved in improving Sandy Beach Road. Neuzil said that he is against the Road Performance Standard Ordinance because of roads like Sandy Beach Road. He said that it has a traffic count of over 4,000 on a chip seal road, but other roads that have 800 or 900 cars have been put on the 5 Year Road Plan to construct a brand new road. Neuzil said that until Sandy Beach Road is addressed, he thinks that the entire Road Performance Standards Ordinance should be thrown out of the window. He said that they need direction from an engineer's perspective if that is a road that needs to be a priority. He said that if that chip seal surface can handle 4,000 cars, then other chip seal surfaces should be able to handle more than 1,000 cars a day. He said that if this is the case the Road Performance Standards ordinance is probably too tight and they might want to change the numbers. Parker said that when a traffic count of 400 to 500 cars per day is achieved on a road it should be seal coated. He said that when a road reaches a traffic count of 1,000 it should be paved. Parker said that the surface type is holding up but there are increased maintenance activities. Parker said that with the amount of traffic they should look at that road.
Stutsman said that she can't support looking at that road. She said that it is a waste of County dollars to put any time into Sandy Beach Road unless the Board has an upfront commitment to fix that road. She said that the minute they start putting plans together the Boardroom will fill up and they will end up not improving the road. She said that it is a waste of time, energy, and resources to even consider it. Neuzil said that the reason they would consider it is that Planning and Zoning staff has made it a top priority. He said that he isn't hearing from anybody that with all of the cars on the chip seal surface that there is a need to upgrade it. Meyers said that he doesn't see a big issue with that road. Stutsman said that they could argue until the cows come home about need versus political will. R. Sullivan asked if there are three people who are interested in putting this on the plan for 2012. Stutsman, Harney, and Meyers said that they were not interested.
Bob Welsh said that he has a couple of observations. He said that he appreciates the Board's discussion although road issues aren't one of the high priorities items on his personal agenda. Welsh said that he did hear the Board say that FY 08A, FY 08B, FY 08C, and FY 09A are deleted from the 5 Year Plan with three Board members being in agreement and two disagreeing. He gathered that there was general agreement that they want staff to really look into annexation agreements for cost sharing or reimbursement of County dollars. He said that the Board hopes that where it is feasible for there to be a separate trail, they will do that. Where it is not feasible there will be wider shoulders. Welsh said that regarding the entire process, when they began discussing FY 2012 and staff considerations, all of those are new projects. Welsh said that although he doesn't know how that list is generated, it seems to him they need to ask themselves what the process is for developing a 5 Year Road Plan. He asked if there is any value in actively seeking citizen input to avoid later confrontation. He said he heard R. Sullivan say that Newport Road should be designed to 35 mph. He heard discussion that seemed to convey that there is resistance to that. He urged for more citizen involvement in order to prevent future confrontation as seen with Newport Road. Welsh thanked the Board and said that he appreciates all that they do.
Dick Gibson said that one thing that really troubled him today is the supposed inflation on projects as an argument for constructing them now. He said that if they don't spend money on one project they will be spending it on another. He said that as long as they are in a system that continuously rolls forward every year with approximately the same resources and demand they should not be making their decisions based on supposed inflation. Gibson noted that Parker gave a perfect example when talking about Scales Bend Road. Parker argued for the project need based on design, safety, and a number of other considerations and said that it will be a very high costly project. Gibson explained that the argument Parker made was that the road should be done now, but then when it came to costs he argued for deferring it because it is too costly to be done now. Gibson said that this argument should not be done in this manner and any economist would back him in that observation.
Regarding Sandy Beach Road, Gibson said that he understands Stutsman's frustration as he has that same frustration. He said that the Board has to find a process that gets them through these kinds of problems. He said that they don’t have a process yet and they've been trying to get there for five years. He said that there isn't enough negotiation or enough open public discussion to balance some of the road items. He said that right now there is a terrible conflict between safety and standards that they have to meet plus people trying to maintain their own living environment. He said that they need to find a way for both of those to work together. He said that they cannot indefinitely delay Sandy Beach Road. He said that it doesn't work to turn these issues over to engineers without guidance, which is what the Board has been doing. He said that the engineers cannot solve all of the problems. He asked the Board to somehow step into the process, play an active role, and try to find a political balance necessary to make the projects go ahead.
Gibson said that with the way this turned out there are no winners. He said that there was plenty of room to compromise on Newport Road a long time ago on numerous occasions and it didn't happen. He said that the County was so adamant about staying out of the process supposedly and the engineers were not going to depart from their standards because they didn't have any direction from the County to do that. He said that this caused a clash and they've got to find a way to remove these things from the process or they're going to continue to have these issues project after project. Gibson said that they are all getting tired of it.
Janelle Rettig said that she sees an ongoing problem in attending a number of meetings that materials available to the Board are not available to the general public. She said that earlier in the meeting today there was frustration about that. She said that some cities put packets ahead of time. These packets are then available online prior to the meeting. Other entities make packets available at the door. She said that having packets available online would cost money in scanning but would be cheaper than having paper copies available. Rettig said that as the Board looks at plans, citizens should have access to documents if the Board actually wants input.
Rettig said that the 5 Year Road Plan is a misnomer and should be called a 5 Year Transportation Plan in that roads are not necessarily all of their transportation. She said that although trails, paved shoulders, and wide sidewalks were commented on, she doesn't see a dedicated funding stream to fund them. She also doesn't see the will of the Board to fund them. She said that as the Board looks at their Capital Improvements Plan and their long range transportation plans, she hopes that there is a commitment to start funding some of the projects as opposed to just talking about them. She said that with over 6 million dollars removed from the 5 Year Road Plan today there is room in the County budget to start dedicating local money to trails, regardless of the State and Federal funding streams.
Dean Bahndorf said that he lives on the County's newest dead-end road where the bridge got knocked down. He said that although the County Engineer says that an alternate route for the residents is available and is only six-tenths of a mile away, by the time they drive the entire detour they have driven four miles. He said that in the area there are seven people who work in Iowa City that have to drive that. He said that he heard a couple of Board members say that they need to spend the money on the bridge. He urged them to do this because it is more or less a free bridge for the County. He said that he was happy with what the Board said right off the bat. The Board thanked him. Bahndorf said that the only way out now is to go south. This leads him to a T intersection which is uphill, and then after turning right it is uphill more. He said that with the current weather it is tough. Bahndorf said that this was the first time in 32 years that the road was not plowed the day it snowed. Neuzil said that part of it was because of the dead-end. Parker said that it will be plowed by the time he gets home because they have motor-graders out today plowing the gravel roads.
Neuzil asked if the Board added the bridge project to the 5 Year Road Plan. Parker said that they can add the project to the 5 Year Road Plan but they do have to have an estimate completed. He said that they will come back to the Board in the future, possibly at the January 31, 2007 meeting, to discuss options for the bridge replacement.
Adjourned at 12:42 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary