Chairperson Harney called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 1:05 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Johnson County Council of Governments (JCCOG) Executive Planner Jeff Davidson said that he and JCCOG Planner Brad Neumann appreciated the opportunity to assist in the development of the Johnson County Poor Farm Plan. He said the Board of Supervisors came to JCCOG and asked for a planning study report to be made of the County Poor Farm, based on requests that they had been getting of people wanting to do things with some of the acres. He said the City of Iowa City is somewhat a player in this because it is located within the corporate limits of the City. He said that as public property, the County has a lot of leeway in what happens here, but if any of the property would be developed for a private use, it would have to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan of the City of Iowa City. He said there is a lot of history associated with this property because the County has owned it since the mid-19th century. He said the Historical Society was very helpful in helping them learn as much as they could about the property. He said there is information summarized in the final report about the property.

Davidson said they tried to find as many stakeholders in the property as possible, as well as anyone who had any interest and association with the property. He said that they tried to find out how they felt about it. He said that they held a couple of public listening forums, too, and overall tried to find out how the people of Johnson County felt about the property and what they felt should be done. He said that as they listened to people they began to hear a lot of consistency in the opinions that were brought forth.

Davidson said they looked at the Comprehensive Plan of the City of Iowa City. He said he thinks what came out of the public input process is consistent with the Iowa City Comprehensive Plan. He said he doesn’t think that there will be any problems with respect to implementation of the plan if the Board chooses to do so. He said the issues of what to do with the property are active. He said they have had the request from Chatham Oaks for housing units as a potential project to the east. He said the plan does accommodate that request. He said they also have the issue with the National Guard Armory potentially locating to the north and the infrastructure issues that would be associated with that. He said they also prepared an infrastructure plan that is included in the final report per the Board’s request.

Davidson said the Poor Farm buildings definitely need attention. He said they are beginning to deteriorate. He said that these are quite an asset with respect to the history of the County. He said they are something that all agree should be preserved. Davidson said that a couple of other major recommendations in the plan relate to the notions of a park land, which is something that the public would like to see at least a portion of reserved for. He said they met with the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Division and they wholeheartedly endorsed the notion of a large regional park that would be accessible to the people of Johnson County. Davidson said the sensitive environmental areas, the wooded brush areas and the prairie areas, encompass about 60-70 acres and possibly 90 acres. He said that there are some flat parts adjacent to those areas that would be needed for the proper park development, such as parking and restrooms. He said they would eventually want to have a trail system through the park. He said the intention is to have it be a more natural park, like Hickory Hill Park or Kent Park.

Davidson said the Board also inquired about the private sale of any or all of the property. He said he doesn’t believe that selling all of the property is appropriate. He said that there is the opportunity for some funds to be raised in a way that is very consistent with the implementation of this plan by a portion of the border area. He said there are 45 acres on the border and not particularly sensitive with respect to the environmental features. He said that area could be sold for private development in the County. Davidson said that adopting the plan doesn’t mean they would have to do so, but only something that is there as an option to consider in the future if they determine it to be appropriate.

Davidson said he has received very good feedback from everyone he has talked with concerning this. He said that today he is here to discuss and answer any questions and then offer the Board’s consideration for adoption. Stutsman said she is almost ready to approve the plan as is. She said that it has definitely given them some direction as far as the future use of this site. Stutsman said she is not surprised that there has been a lot of positive feedback. Neuzil also liked the plan. He said he thinks the Board should consider taking it in steps, that once they have committed to 120 acres being a park, then if they had the ability to grow the Poor Farm, it wouldn’t be possible. He said he does like the vision, though. Neuzil said he also likes the idea that there would be some acres for low density residential. He said he thinks it would be prudent for the Board of Supervisors to take the money that would be generated by that and put it towards the Poor Farm. He asked the Board to look at the page of existing site conditions, page 2. He said it breaks down the wooded area, the 60 acres. He said it also takes into account the 30 acres of prairie. He said that to him this makes perfect sense to start with a park system and that this is an area that should be preserved for some sort of park. He said this allows an area surrounding the Poor Farm and Chatham Oaks to be left alone for the time being to see if the park system works. He said this would give the Board an opportunity down the road to allow growth for a park, to grow more residential or to grow a Poor Farm and it gives more room for the potential of Chatham Oaks and some buildings around that. He said that if the Board chooses to do everything right now, then this opportunity would be lost because it is extremely difficult to build in a park. Harney asked why they would want to expand the County Farm. Neuzil said he thinks it is probably something down the road to think about, but there are things that could be done with a Poor Farm exhibit, for example. He said to imagine investing the money that could be generated off of this, such as a welcome center or a historical society having their entire operations there. He said that it is a unique location since it is right off of the Avenue of the Saints. He said it really could be a destination point for Iowa City and Johnson County. He said by limiting it to only those 12 acres, then the ability for it to grow is very limited. Neuzil said he envisions a pretty neat tourism and destination opportunity to promote the Poor Farm. Stutsman asked if the park and the Poor Farm would work together. Neuzil said that in the Land Use Plan design, the park is 120 acres of preservation that butts up against the Poor Farm and Chatham Oaks. He said it doesn’t leave any buffer room to grow that area. Lehman said he is looking to reduce the possible park area from 120 down to 90, then. Neuzil said also reducing the 45 acres down. He said they would also be able to preserve the farmland right now, too.

Stutsman asked Davidson what the process is if they adopt this plan. Davidson said that if they adopt this it means they have a guide. He said that when they choose to implement any element of this is up to the Board and any subsequent Board of Supervisors. He said that if they adopt this and show this beautiful park and a notion that they might sell some ground around it, then they would definitely hear from developers. He said it would be very, very nice property for residential development, along with a logical extension of what is coming up from the south of Iowa City. Stutsman said that she just wanted to know that if they adopt this it isn’t set in stone. Harney asked how many acres the Hunters Run Park is. Davidson said he guesses it is about 20-25 acres. He said City Park is about 125 acres. Neuzil asked if they could imagine any more houses being built in Hunters Run Park. Davidson said it is about built out. He said Wild Prairie Estates, which is the next subdivision, and Southwest Estates are the 2 that have remaining property. Neuzil said that once a park is designated, it is going to be a park. He said that his reading of the Board, as well as that of Conservation Director Harry Graves and the Conservation Commission, is that this would likely be developed as a city park, since it is within the City. He said it wouldn’t have to be but that is what he has been hearing. He said that if the Board adopts this then it is still County property until they work something out. Neuzil said it is difficult to unpreserve an area once a County has committed to preserving a certain area. Lehman said he likes Neuzil’s suggestion of leaving some buffer. He said a buffer would also leave the possibility of some sort of stand alone surface that doesn’t need to be on a central campus, like Secondary Roads.

Harney asked where Davidson anticipates an access to the park other than the prairie grass area. Davidson said the access would probably come off of Melrose through the Poor Farm property. He said there has been a notion of the Poor Farm as a trailhead for Willow Creek Trail. He said this doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be some minor neighborhood accesses. He said that once Slothower Road is constructed as a more permanent street, there could also be access coming off of that side as well. He said he thinks the plan is to eventually rebuild Melrose out to where 965 comes down in a similar design to the portion east of the interchange.

Stutsman said she is personally relieved that they have gone at least this far. She said her concern was that they would start whittling away at this and then suddenly get backed into a corner, limiting their options. Davidson added that he has had discussions with Iowa City, too, with respect to this as parkland development. He said it is something that would have to be negotiated between the 2 entities.

Thompson said that when she looked at the drawing for the Chatham Oaks Building, 10 acres didn’t look as big to her as she thought it was going to be. She said she thinks that Chatham Oaks might need more space. Chatham Oaks Architect Bob Burns said he hasn’t really prepared anything for today, so he doesn’t feel he could answer that. Davidson said the concept that Burns previously brought to the Board looks like it is fairly consistent with what they have laid out here. Burns said the plan as it is now would accommodate the first proposal, but he doesn’t know about additional space beyond that. Neuzil said he thinks it comes back to whether or not they want to have a little buffer between the Poor Farm, Chatham Oaks and the potential of the preservation area. He said that when he hears preservation area he thinks park.

Thompson asked for an explanation of how the line between the Poor Farm and Chatham Oaks was established. Davidson said that when he spoke with Chatham Oaks Director Mary Jean Donovan, she indicated that there was sort of a blending of the 2 and that there wasn’t a real solid line there. He said the intention is that one way or another there would be some of sharing or a parking lot or maintenance building and that line would just be in there arbitrarily. Thompson said that potentially then they could still develop to the west of their western driveway. Davidson said he does want to point out one thing based on what Neuzil said. He said that the additional 3 acres from the first figure is filled in for the Poor Farm for exactly the types of uses that Neuzil outlined. Thompson said she also likes Neuzil’s idea of leaving a little space to the south. She said she would change the line to match. Neuzil said the other reason to possibly look at that is to still farm the land. He said that once they commit to a park he thinks they would really want to commit to a park and start planting trees, getting organizations in and other things. He said he thinks it would connect really well with Hunters Run Park. He said that as far as development goes in that area, he doesn’t know that he is committed to all of that either at this time. He said he is only suggesting that if the County is serious about fixing up the Poor Farm and there is no money, then this is an opportunity to generate the money to fix it.

Stutsman said she isn’t hung up on the lines either because she sees this as a guide. She said they have some basic concepts down about what they want to see happen to this piece of property in the future. Lehman said his feeling is that if people see this map with 120 acres of park, then they are going to assume that this is what it is. He said that any reduction from there is going to be a lot tougher than trying to expand. Thompson said that this is farmed ground. Harney said that if they do anything like this they need to restrict what sort of crop goes into the park. He said that at the same time there is someone who wants to get an easement across part of this property for development in the lower area. Stutsman said the same argument could be made for saying 120 acres of farmland. She said people could look at it and say they have 70 acres of poor land to fill up. Harney said he is in general agreement about what they want to do. He said he isn’t sure about the lines and where they want to make them. Davidson said that on the one hand they would want to have something that at least provides some guidance for what they intend to do, so they want to make sure that this reflects that. He said that on the other hand, if they take some area out of the park, what would they want to label that as then.

Harney said he thinks this goes a little bit further than what they anticipated. He said that they discussed laying out a plat for sewer lines with Secondary Roads. He said that if they are talking about putting more development up there, they are looking at coming all the way back from the bottom and putting a larger sewer line in when they do this. Davidson said that the 8-inch line, because of the amount of fall in it, is has pretty good capacity. Harney said it would have to be flattened out though for the National Guard. Davidson said that right now the salt and sand goes into the storm sewer and it would not be able to go as proposed by these regulations and would therefore have to go into the sanitary sewer. He said it might require some upgrading in that line if Secondary Roads hooks into this because of the high demand. County Engineer Mike Gardner said that it isn’t going into the storm sewer right now. Davidson said that tying Secondary Roads into this sewer was an aspect that might require the whole line to be upgraded, whereas just adding the National Guard or adding a little more of Chatham Oaks would not require upgrading the existing line. Harney said they would have to rethink it though if they let an area for development.

Davidson reiterated that the notion of the amount of property that has been set aside in the plan for Chatham Oaks was based on discussions with Donovan. He said she indicated that there is an aspect of Chatham Oaks that is possibly going the other way of getting people out in the community more in independent living situations. He said that she didn’t see a phenomenal amount of growth, which is why the amount shown is such. Harney said that Secondary Roads is going to be doing the survey work and working with the City, so they need to have some sort of idea of the plan or else this is going to have to come to a halt. Neuzil said that if Johnson County wants to commit to building this area up, in particular with Chatham Oaks, the 2 more department buildings and the Armory, then they would have to ask for assistance from the City or the builders of Chatham Oaks, if the 8-inch lines aren’t big enough. He asked what the cost would be for this. Davidson said he has heard numbers around $80,000-$100,000, to continue the 8-inch up to the National Guard site. Stutsman said that if they build the capacity then they would come. She added that she thinks the 10 acres would be just fine for Chatham Oaks. She said they run a risk of leaving this up in the air. She said they are making this property around here very valuable by proposing a park. Davidson said he agrees and the County is enhancing the price of that by setting the notion that they intend to have a park there.

Davidson asked if there is a feeling on the Board’s part that they have something here of interest to adopt as a guide for decision-making. Stutsman said she is comfortable with what is laid out. Lehman said he is in a catch-22 of leaving the park this big to start with in regards to the sewer line issue. Davidson said his impression from is that anything they do beyond what is shown in the plan would mean having to upgrade the sewer. Thompson asked if he is saying that it could accommodate the 16 units that Chatham Oaks approved but not 32 units. Davidson said he thinks they were talking 24 at their discussion, so 24 units plus the National Guard for the 8-inch. Davidson added that there is a development plan for Walnut Ridge that could possibly extend the sewer to there. He said it is expensive, but it is possible to sewer an additional area out there this way as well. Harney said he spoke with the City a couple of weeks ago and they indicated that they did not want to bring anything under the Interstate.

Lehman asked Don Slothower if they wanted to sewer where the farm buildings are now, could they bring that back along Slothower Road. Don Slothower asked what buildings he is talking about. Lehman asked if the topography is such that they could bring a sewer line tap into the 12-inch that they could go back north and catch an area around the farm buildings or is there too much elevation. Slothower said that could be done. Lehman said Chatham Oaks, Secondary Roads and the National Guard could be serviced by the 8-inch and they could actually put another line in and bring it back down this area and tap onto the 12-inch. Stutsman asked if they have made a decision that an 8-inch is what Secondary Roads should design for. Harney said no, that that would be very expensive. Lehman said that a developer could pay for a portion of that. Harney said the issue now is whether to put Secondary Roads on it or not. Slothower said the 12-inch comes up to Slothower Road and is about 16-18 feet deep. Lehman said there are limitations for that. He asked if they are planning on using that to pick something up further to the west. He said that would reach capacity by any development. Slothower said it is a possibility that something to the west pumps in there. He said that was built out there for the Landfill sewer. He said that is in the Old Man’s Creek watershed. Davidson said that has a lift station in it. He said it pumps to a force main, which then takes it into the Southwest Estates. Slothower said it is a possibility, but he doesn’t know the capacity of the lift station. He said there is a possibility that the land west of the County Farm could go up to that lift station and then pump back up. Davidson said the Iowa City growth area goes out to where 965 is going to be extended, even though some of it is in the Old Man’s Creek watershed, which is not able to be sewered by Iowa City by gravity. He said that the City has agreed to a series of lift stations that would eventually sewer all of that though.

Harney said he could adopt this in principal, as long as it is known that some of these lines are going to be changed. Stutsman said there are 2 Supervisors in agreement and asked what the rest think. Thompson said she is still thinking about Neuzil’s first argument about once it is declared a park. She said she would like to take the buffer along in there and just call it future public use. She said that in the future it might become part of the park. Davidson asked Thompson if she is talking about the cross hatched area of the map. Neuzil said the lines are arbitrary. Thompson said all the way to the western boundary. Neuzil said that if there are the nice trees in there already, why wouldn’t they preserve that into the park. He said they would probably want to buffer around the Poor Farm and Chatham Oaks until they know what they want to do with those. He said he hopes that future Board’s wouldn’t want to put a bunch of new homes right across the street from Chatham Oaks. He doesn’t think the infrastructure would hold them and it doesn’t make sense. Stutsman agreed. Thompson asked if the 68 acres becomes about 50 acres. Stutsman said yes. Neuzil said it could be less, too. Thompson said it is nice land that should be designated as a park. Neuzil said that right now in the Land Use Plan it is labeled as 45 acres of low-density residential. He asked if it makes sense to go all the way up to the edge of the Poor Farm as low-density residential. He said he doesn’t think it makes sense at this point. Stutsman asked Davidson how many acres that would be. Davidson said he is guessing maybe 40 acres. Neuzil said that most of it is farmed right now. Davidson said to not worry too much about where the lines fall because this is just a planning document designed to generalize.

Neuzil said he thinks it is amazing that the whole Board is pretty much on the same page in that they want to see a park and the Poor Farm continue to survive along with Chatham Oaks. He said they all agree that maybe some development could occur on this land. He said that where the funds go, etc. is still all up in the air.

Davidson asked if there are 3 members that would like to see the diagram modified according to what they have been talking about with the top part taken out of both a little piece of the yellow and then all of the blue and labeled future public use. Harney said he doesn’t think so. He said he doesn’t see any reason for that 10 acres to be development, it should be part of the park. Davidson asked if he means leave the 10-acre triangle in with the park. Neuzil said yes. Stutsman said that when it is labeled park and public use, the Board is sending a message to the community that they would consider proposals for use of that land. Davidson said he would carve that part out then and label it as future public use. He asked if there is anything else about the plan that they would like to have modified. Neuzil said he thinks they are going to want to have some sort of system to get from the Poor Farm to the cemetery, like a trail or something. Davidson said the notion is that the Willow Creek Trail would come up through this area.

Davidson said that if this is suitable, then he and Neumann will change the map, change the wording to be consistent with this, put a different color cover on it and then put adopted by the Board of Supervisors. Harney said he thinks they need a public hearing. Davidson said he would find out from Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan what date the Board adopts it. Chappell said because it isn’t land being sold and it isn’t a Land Use Plan in the same regard as their Comprehensive Plan, he would like to do a little research and discuss with White the best way to approach this. Chappell said a public hearing wouldn’t be out of order, to get input on the plan, if nothing else. He said there isn’t any immediate time constraint that he knows of either.

Neuzil said he thinks there should be something in the plan saying that the Board is committed to keeping the trail system.

Neuzil said it has been a lot of work getting to this point, from JCCOG and others. He said they are at least starting to take steps in this direction. Davidson asked how to proceed with this. Chappell said the best thing to do would be for Davidson to give Sullivan a call and he would check out the Board’s agenda. Neuzil said that if Davidson provided the Board with a new map showing and stating the changes, then the Board would hold a public hearing to see if they want to change anything. Davidson said he would get the proposed revised map to Sullivan.

Adjourned at 2:05 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary