County approves several re-zoning requests

     Several public hearings and re-zoning requests come before the Jones County Supervisors during their July 17 board meeting.

     The supervisors held a public hearing on the proposed sale of county-owned property on John Drive in Monticello for the new JETS facility. The county sold the property to ECICOG.

     The project was awarded a $225,000 grant, which covered 80 percent of the construction costs. The county covered 20 percent of the project, but in reality spent more than the remaining 20 percent.

     The board approved the sale and a 30-year lease of the property, pursuant to an agreement the supervisors approved on March 28, 2017. At the end of the 30 years, the property transitions back to Jones County. The county is paying $1 a year to lease the property.

     A second public hearing was held on the re-zoning of two parcels at Camp Courageous on 190^th Street, from A-Agriculture to C2-Highway Commercial. The two parcels include “home base” and the Durgin Pavilion.

     “We have been working on this for several months now,” commented Land Use Administrator Michele Lubben.

     In June, Jones County Planning and Zoning approved the re-zoning request, with some conditions. Some of the conditions include non-camper activity at the pavilion shall cease by 11 p.m., and all future development at Camp Courageous shall be approved by Planning and Zoning. The conditioning zoning agreement only applies to the two parcels in question.

     A third public hearing was held on a re-zoning by Delores Sullivan and Common Ground Capital to re-zone four parcels on 150^th Avenue in Monticello from R-Residential to A- Agriculture. Lubben explained the re-zoning is needed so the owner can erect a communications tower.  An application for the tower will go before the Board of Adjustment.

     The board waived the three readings needed to approve both the Camp Courageous and Common Ground re-zonings, with a 3-1 vote. Supervisor Jon Zirkelbach was opposed. The board approved the re-zoning of both properties with a 3-1 vote. Supervisor Zirkelbach was, again, opposed.

In other county business:

     • County Auditor Janine Sulzner informed the board that the Assessor’s Office had to replace the air conditioning unit due to the water leak from several weeks ago.

     • The board approved the final plat of Hunter’s Crossing, a 24-lot subdivision in development with Randy Caspers on Ridge Road.

     E911 Coordinator Gary Schwab said his only concern with the subdivision is the naming of the roads. He said using proper names (family names) for the roads could cause some confusion, particularly with the spellings and pronunciations. Schwab said using a numbering system helps emergency crews to better locate the address.

     “We want to try to normalize clean up the naming system,” suggested Schwab. He said it’s important to stick to the county ordinance.

     Caspers said he didn’t necessarily agree with Schwab’s assessment, but said he would work with E911 to get the naming of the streets in order.

     • The board set a public hearing for Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 9:15 a.m. for the re-zoning of a parcel on Shaw Road from R-Residential to C1-Commercial. This is a request from Shaffer Plumbing & Heating in Anamosa. They plan to build a new 3,000-square-foot facility (office, warehouse and shop) with parking on the property.

     • 15^th Street residents Gary Edmondson and Gary Novak addressed the board and County Engineer Derek Snead on the poor condition of their gravel road in southern Jones County. Edmondson said there are potholes on the Jones County portion of the road (shared with Linn County) 6-7 inches deep.

     “You need to fix the road and cut lose with a little money,” he said.

     He said Linn County blades their portion of the road every week.

     With 20 houses on 15^th Street, Edmondson said they are just as important as any other county road.

     “The operator rarely shows up when we call,” he added.

     The two men asked if the county could chip and seal the road. Snead said Jones County does not chip and seal roads, no matter the traffic count.

     15^th Street sees roughly 160 vehicles a day. He said a traffic count was conducted by the DOT and was supposed to be available online as of July 1.

     “We’ve done a lot of grading projects the last three to four years,” said Snead. “We try to pick the worst spots with the highest traffic count.”