Lehman: OK. We’ll go back into session. Our next item is Discussion Action Needed for Proposed Annexation by the City of Oxford for a piece of property. I think we have our Planning and Zoning representatives who have a clarification on this. Any annexation that comes in the County is usually sent to the Board and we make a recommendation to the City Development Board as to that, either pro or con. R.J. Moore, from our Planning and Zoning Department.

Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator R.J. Moore: As part of that, you have Rick and our staff review the annexation requests from the Planning and Zoning Departments point of view. As we looked at the proposal that you have in front of you and reviewed the plats, it would appear to us that all this is, is annexation of what was right-of-way for what was road there as you can see on the exhibit that they presented to you. Ohio Avenue, it appears that that wasn’t originally brought in. So, what they are doing is annexing that right-of-way that was part of the platted road. We don’t see any problems with that. It would probably help them out quite a bit.

Lehman: OK. Our Secondary Roads have no problem with that. Would you recommend that we write a letter to the City Development Board stating our no objections to that annexation?

Moore: I think you’ve set precedent the last few years doing that and to be consistent it probably would be.

Lehman: OK. Thank you very much.

Stutsman: Who will draft that letter?

Thompson: Do you want to do it with me? I’m going to do the other one so I might as well.

Stutsman: Thank you.

Lehman: Thank you.

Lehman: Our next item is Discussion Action Needed of Integration of the North Corridor Development Plan and Road Management Plan. We had Pat Cancilla ask to give us some information on that. I don’t know if I quite worded that right, Pat. But I took a little liberty, I guess if you want to redefine your topic.

Pat Cancilla: Thank you very much for the opportunity to meet with you all and to present some thoughts on the North Corridor and road programs. You, as Supervisors, and its departments have a number of very active or projected plans for roads. The purpose of my presentation is to identify these plans and programs and to seek their integration. There are 5 plans that you all have that I think bear upon this topic. The first is the 5-year Secondary Road Construction Program. This is a document that you approved this morning actually and is sent to the Iowa Department of Transport by April the 15th. This year there was considerable discussion by the public of the need for a well-defined analysis and study of road construction priorities that goes beyond what is in the annual 5-year road trend. In addition, there was concern expressed by the public regarding the validity of the methodology used to assign priority points to roads. In addition, the staff pointed out that bridges, such as Mehaffey Bridge Road, will need very extensive repair in the very near future. Funds for such repairs have not been identified and no plans have been formulated to address these problems. Now, each year, the Secondary Road Department is able to construct and or repair approximately 2 miles of roads. There are 900 miles of roads in the County. At the rate of construction and repairs, it’s going to take 450 years to do all of the roads. The recently developed 5-year plan projects 29 miles. It’s a 5-year road plan, it would take something like 14 years to do what is on there. The recently revised and expanded future projects 175 miles, or more than 87 years, to do the projected projects. With data like these, the need for a Countywide construction for road study, with clear needs, goals and priorities would seem paramount. Second, you have developed County road performance standards. Supervisors and staff and introduced road performance standards when they realized that slow rate of new road construction, the urbanization of the North Corridor, the increased utilization of rural recreation resources, population business and commercial growth have expanded and impacted negatively the adequacy of rural roads. The standards that call for reduced or curtailed zoning and planning will, when certain traffic levels are reached. There needs to be an accurate documentation and reliable analysis of the average daily traffic counts and valid road use data in order for these standards to be used in a controlling ordinance for informed decisions and public information. Is there agreement on who will obtain these data and when and how these data will be collected, validated and used? Third, you have a proposed road study of either the North Corridor roads or Sugar Bottom Road. Now, there may be $70,000 in the Fiscal Year 2002 Secondary Road budget to hire an engineer for the Secondary Road Department or for a study of roads in the North Corridor or Sugar Bottom Road. Actually, the term North Corridor is becoming an ambiguous term. Recent trends indicate that there is really a division by the Iowa River and Coralville into a North Corridor east and North Corridor west. In the discussions about the need for a road study, the Supervisors appear to be referring to the North Corridor east. But, it may be even further restricted to a search for alternatives to an expensive and difficult reconstruction of Sugar Bottom Road. What is the goal of the plan? Who is to be responsible for it? What is the time line for its completion and who is to be involved? If in reality, the Supervisors are orienting their approach to development in the County to an expanded North Corridor west that is mixed urban and business commercial zones, which extend beyond Highway 965 to include Highway 380 and its environment, a North Corridor east that is an urban and agricultural zone and the remainder of the County, which is agriculture, then road planning needs to take these differences into account and priorities need to be set accordingly. It may be time to revisit the North Corridor plan, in view of changes in the development patterns and use, since the time the plan was first introduced in 1996. The fourth is a Scenic Road Ordinance. Why has a Scenic Road Ordinance or a scenic byway program been relegated to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan for consideration in 5 years? Surely, Johnson County has roadways that are scenic and destinations that would fit for State or federal funding. Our neighbors in Iowa County are outstripping us in this regard. They have in place a scenic byways program, with funding and professional and citizen involvement covering the Iowa River watershed and the Amana Colonies. It is projected to attract tourists, promote business and facilitate access to the resources of the area. Chris Taliga, a resident of Johnson County, is a leader in that program. Now, parts of Johnson County would be a natural extension of the byway. From East Amana, the byway could go and extend naturally along the Iowa River, along Amana Road, to Highway 965. Then, extend south to North Liberty on Highway 965 hence, along Mehaffey Bridge Road to the parks and Lake MacBride, Coralville Lake, as well as south via Sugar Bottom, Newport Road and Prairie Du Chien to the Devonian fossil deposits and other resources at the Coralville Dam. State and federal funds are available to study and development such a program. Johnson County needs to study these possibilities and they should be a component of a road program. The fifth item is the sensitive area on conservation subdivision design ordinances. Why would one consider integration of these 2 projected organisms into road plans or programs? After approximately 3 years these ordinances are being reviewed by the office of the County Attorney. 3 years is an inordinately long time for the identification of a need to the introduction of the ordinances. Still to come will be public hearings and formal and informal meetings. Yet, each ordinance may impact roads. Where are the sensitive areas in the County and how do these relate to present and future roads and to zoned and or platted lands? Now, the conservation subdivision design ordinances are important techniques to protect the environment and to preserve agricultural, scenic and natural resources. In planning the plats, the relationships to roads becomes critical to protect the view scape from the road and to preserve the view shed for the residents of the project. Also, there needs to be a plan to integrate and preserve contiguous areas of open space in order to link them together. Will these 2 documents contain these ideals as significant components? In conclusion, for the reasons given above, there needs to be the development of an integrated, Countywide, thorough and reasoned approach to roadways and their role in future plans for Johnson County. Only through such considerations with careful planning and fiscal prudence, will the most beneficial effect be reached for all County residents, as well as for visitors and for our natural and cultural resources. Thus, I am here today to ask you to form a Committee with active citizen participation to make recommendations to you that will lead to a broad and integrated road program and their integration into future plans for roads in Johnson County, including, but not limited to the North Corridor. Thank you. I have copies of what I presented for all of you and I would be willing to answer any questions.

Lehman: We’ll make those available to our Secondary Roads and our Planning and Zoning people. A lot of interesting information, I had talked to Pat a little bit. The east and west North Corridor plans, when you think about it, there is when you get to the North Liberty and Coralville area there is a lot more commercial industrial, where opposed to the eastside is more the residential (inaudible) exposed to. Also, a member of the Board of Representative of ECICOG, I know I’ve visited a lot with the representatives from Iowa County. I know they’re really active in trails. I wasn’t aware that they did a lot with scenic road labeling yet, but I will check into that.

Cancilla: It’s a scenic byway program. They had a public meeting that I attended up in Iowa County, with a lot of citizen input, with real professional planners who came all the way from Chicago and from Ames and from Northern Iowa University and have very, very concrete plans. They have funding. They have a whole methodology to do it. Chris Taliga from our County is very active in that program. We are relegating any thoughts to 5 years from now when you may well already be changing the environments of some of these roads, which would qualify for scenic roads overall. There is federal money. T-21 money and those kinds of things as well as State funds are available. There are scenic byway programs very active in the State.

Lehman: Has Iowa County, do they have a citizen committee?

Cancilla: They have a Citizens Committee and a group that is meeting and planning, designating these roads, planning for economic development, planning for trails, very active in terms of developing community support in the isolated communities all along this route. It’s a very, very well-integrated and formulated plan.

Stutsman: I might add a little background on that. That is being sponsored by the Iowa Valley Resource Conservation District, which we are a part of that group. What they do, they develop programs to enhance the resources of individual communities, and this is one of the projects that they have selected to work on. I attended some of those meetings; Pat, I think you attended one of those meetings.

Harney: Yes, I did.

Stutsman: We do have representatives on Johnson County on there. They have focused on Iowa County at this time. That’s not to say that Johnson County couldn’t be included in that, but I think their focus has been more in the small rural counties that don’t have as many resources available as perhaps a Johnson County does. So that’s why the concentration is in Iowa County and developing that whole Amana Colony idea, and (inaudible), and then…

Cancilla: It’s a logical extension from East Amana, along the Amana Road, over to 965, to all of the other resources. And we’re not even thinking about it. We have nothing working on it, is the point, and I think that there are funds available that would allow us to get involved in that, rather than let it sit idle in the Comprehensive Land Use Plan for 5 years.

Thompson: When Chris was here last year and made her presentation about this, I thought she mentioned some connection with the Herbert Hoover Highway in the future which would certainly include roads in Johnson County.

Cancilla: Well, maybe it’s the trail, the bike trail and hiking trail…

Thompson: No, it was the scenic byway.

Cancilla: …that is going into Solon.

Lehman: But you’re talking about resources, and financial, but it’s something where it’s just the concepts and ideas that we get a group together to pursue that, and help with the ideas in this 5 Year Road Plan. Like you say, basically, we do 2 miles a year, so where’s our priorities, and we’re limited pretty much by funds.

Cancilla: Yes, and I think that during the public hearings there were a number of people who spoke to the need for a broader look at how you are planning your roads. I worked into this what’s happening with North Corridor west as compared to North Corridor east. I think that it really is an ambiguous term, because there are many in Cedar Rapids and in Iowa City who are talking about a North Corridor, but they’re referring to development of businesses along 380. We’re talking about how that interacts what’s going on with Tiffin. What about North Liberty annexations, going across Interstate 380, and those kinds of things, which have a very significant impact on what we call the North Corridor. But the difference between the east side of the river, which is part of your North Corridor plan, and the west side of the river, is really quite striking now, in the 5 years since you developed the North Corridor plan. I think it bears a look. You have 4 townships in what is referred to as the North Corridor. Each township has 36 square miles. You’re talking about an area of 144 square miles of land in there, and it’s changed in the last 5 years, as to the way that development is going, what the needs are for roads. I’m just trying to point out that it would be time now, because 5 years are up since you really looked at the North Corridor plan, to have a look at it, or maybe have 2 North Corridor plans, or whatever, because of all of these major differences, which are really quite striking.

Stutsman: We’ve got a number of things yet on the agenda, Pat…

Cancilla: I understand.

Stutsman: I appreciate you bringing this forward. I guess I would like to have some time to read through this, and get my thoughts together before I’m ready to make a decision about appointing a committee. But I certainly appreciate your work, and looking at the bigger picture, and presenting a good concept to the Board.

Cancilla: And will you bring this back to the Board? Or how will there be follow-up?

Stutsman: Yes.

Lehman: Yes.

Thompson: Well, the North Corridor plan is up for review, for this is a good time to be talking about it.

Neuzil: It’s good timing.

Stutsman: Yes. And I guess I would suggest…

Cancilla: This also includes roads into that, in a major way.

Stutsman: …putting this back on the Board for the discussion in, maybe, a couple of weeks, depending on what our agendas are like.

Lehman: Yes.

Stutsman: We’ve just got such a full agenda today, because the full Board hadn’t met for a couple weeks.

Thompson: And how about when…Chris Taliga usually comes in about this time, how about asking if, in her presentation, she could talk about what roads could be developed in Johnson County, or what their plan is to include us. That would be good information to have.

Lehman: I think, make this, even, available to her, so she has the background of what the interest is.

Cancilla: OK.

Stutsman: Maybe Chris and Kathy Wilson can give us an update with the (inaudible).

Thompson: Do you want them to come together?

Stutsman: Yes.

Thompson: Yes.

Lehman: Yes.

Cancilla: Thank you.

Lehman: Thank you, Pat.

Harney: A lady in the back, Mark.

Lehman: Yes? Would you like to identify yourself?

Connie Mutel: Yes, Connie Mutel, and I came just to listen to Pat’s report, but I…you folks may know this, but Chris Taliga is already working with the County Roads Department, and Mike, and others, because she’s doing our Native Plant Survey for the County Roads, so she’s quite familiar with the County, with roads, and how this would work together, and is already working well with Mike, and with our IRVM Committee, of which I’m a member. So I just wanted to point that out, that the connections would already be partially set.

Lehman: OK. So she wouldn’t be coming into complete new waters.

Mutel: No, not at all.

Lehman: Good. OK. Thank you.

(Continued in Part 3)