If city council members approve a zoning change for the new Allen County Hospital — thus rejecting a recommendation from the Iola Planning Commission — City Administrator Carl Slaugh will propose the city pay for extension of gas, water and electric lines to the site.
In question is whether the hospital will be built on a 25-acre tract along North Kentucky Street. Wednesday evening planning commissioners voted 5-1 to deny a request for rezoning the parcel from residential to commercial. The City Council will take up the issue Monday night, when they meet at 6 p.m. in the New Community Building in Riverside Park. The session will be open to the public.
Slaugh announced his proposal at a meeting Friday morning of city council and hospital trustees representatives.
Trustees, all along, have assumed responsibility for extending sewer service, said Harry Lee, trustees chairman, which likely will be the most expensive of the utility projects.
Slaugh said cost of materials and labor, figured by himself and city personnel, totaled about $132,000 for gas, water and electric.
“It’s standard development policy that the developer pays for utilities from where they are, although sometimes cities pay (for some costs) as an incentive,” Slaugh said.
Iola has no written policy for such projects and in the past they have been decided on an individual basis, he noted.
“I hope to have a policy” at some point, he added.
Then, before exiting Friday morning’s meeting for another obligation, Slaugh said abruptly that he would recommend the city “bear the cost of extending utilities” if the Hopper site, as the one on North Kentucky is identified, is where the hospital is built.
“That just made our decision more difficult,” said Ken Rowe, a councilman, referring to the council either accepting or rejecting the planning commission’s rezoning recommendation.
“It’s just a simple yes or no,” countered Steve French, another councilman.
As it shakes out, the City Council will decide whether to accept the recommendation. An approval would trigger a 14-day protest period in which nearby neighbors could petition for another vote; it was announced Friday morning that 20 percent would be required for protest success. If that occurs, the second decision to override rezoning rejection would require a super majority, or six votes among the eight council members.
ROWE ALSO brought into focus the reliability of Kentucky Street, a mix of chip-and-seal and asphalt. The road’s maintenance is the city’s responsibility after being shared with Allen County until about seven years ago.
“What needs to be done to make (the street) not a problem?” Rowe asked.
“We don’t anticipate a lot of heavy traffic,” said Lee.
And, “with its location, whether the hospital is built on the Hopper or Oregon Road (and U.S. 169) sites, Kentucky has to be addressed,” added French. “It’s an issue and not contingent” solely on whether the hospital is built on the Hopper site.
During street discussions it was noted that when Walmart opened at the north edge of town along State Street, traffic on Kentucky increased as a shortcut from east of Iola. More recently people going to and from the new First Christian Church, at Oregon and Kentucky, increased traffic, particularly on Sundays.
Also, it was pointed out that the consensus for some time has been that Iola’s most likely growth pattern, with flood plains to west, south and east, is to the north, with Kentucky being a primary artery within that projection.
“I would hope that we try not to … find expenses to tie to the hospital,” if it were built on Kentucky, Lee said, which could cut into money available for building and outfitting the hospital. “But, we want to be good neighbors.”
Rowe said he thought the city’s pledge of sales tax money to support the hospital was with the supposition that it would be built on East Street — now dismissed because of environmental concerns.
“Hopefully, we would share as much in extra costs as we can,” he added, but, “I’d hate five years down the road for the city to have to build a concrete (Kentucky) street.”
Trustee Patti Boyd recalled the city’s sales tax support was a “bargain struck delicately without a definite site,” and that she thought a close look would have to be taken at traffic numbers before any decisions were made on Kentucky.
“Joyce (Heismeyer, ACH administrator) said the hospital won’t have as much traffic” as some people might think, she added.
Kentucky Street is “a valid talking point,” observed Trustee Tom Miller, but traffic patterns are hard to quantify to determine the responsibility of increases. “It’s hard to sort out.”
Before too much is said or done about traffic considerations on Kentucky, “we have to get past the rezoning,” he said.
“Obviously you know what our hope is,” Boyd interjected, which all at the meeting interpreted as the council’s rejection of the planning commission’s recommendation for the zoning change not to be made.
That decision will be a centerpiece of Monday night’s council meeting at the New Community Building in Riverside Park.
Also involved in Friday’s discussion was Councilman Jim Kilby.
THE COUNCIL also will discuss at their Monday meeting Iola’s utility rates, wastewater collection improvements, renewing the city’s health insurance policy for its employees and Iola’s purchasing policies.
Rowe also is seeking a number of volunteers to operate a video camera set up to record the council’s regular monthly meetings.
The camera is set on a tri-pod, although Rowe said the operator could pan the council and zoom in on individual speakers.
Rowe said he would like to set up a short list of camera operators to take turns attending the meetings.
