LAHARPE City Council members will decide in October whether to increase the speed limit to 30 mph in downtown LaHarpe.
The request to bump up the limit from its current 20 mph threshold came from Ray Maloney, owner of Rays Metal Depot.
He noted that many of the reasons for a lower speed limit having businesses or a school in the vicinity, for example no longer exist.
Also, the city has far fewer trucks coming through town since Diebolt Lumber closed its doors in 2014.
It just kind of makes the city look bad to drop it to 20 mph, Maloney said.
He brought to the Council a petition for the higher speed limit he said was signed by parents who pick up and drop off their children at a designated bus stop in downtown LaHarpe.
Maloney said he also has attempted to speak with residents who live in the affected area.
While he hasnt visited with them all, Maloney noted he has heard no opposition to his request.
LaHarpe Police Chief Mike Jewell, did not take a stand on Maloneys request, but did point out that having a speed limit of 30 mph would most likely mean motorists would drive through the heart of downtown at speeds approaching 35 or 40 mph, because of the number of drivers who as a habit drive a few miles per hour above posted speed limits.
At the behest of City Attorney Fred Works, Council members agreed to table a decision until their Oct. 9 meeting, to give them a chance to hear from others in the community.
PHIL EBERT asked the Council to address water drainage concerns near his house in the 500 block of West Fifth Street.
A confluence of issues, including neighborhood development in recent years, has increased water runoff to a drainage ditch, he noted.
The problem is that ditch needs a lot of work, Ebert said, and an adjoining wooded area needs to be cleared because theres nowhere for that water to go. We have water coming in from the east and west.
Ebert told the Council he was hoping to improve his homes landscaping, but had qualms about doing so with substandard water drainage.
COUNCIL members rejected, 3-0, a variance request from James Greathouse to allow him to keep as many as 20 goats on his property.
Greathouse has less than 2 acres of land. City ordinances allow for two head of livestock per acre.
