Please don’t feed the...

City officials say they have asked nicely.  Now they are going to put some bite in their request to not feed waterfowl.

The Council approved a draft of a new ordinance which will prohibit feeding waterfowl within 300-feet of any City owned and maintained recreation area.  This includes City Beach and North Lakeview Drive,

 between Main Avenue and 4th Avenue N., typically known as the area of the Seawall and North Lakeview Drive walkway. 

“This is something the Governing Body has expressed interest in over the past several years,” explained City Administrator Scott Flory. 

Flory said the proposed ordinance was created after reviewing many similar ordinances in place in other Iowa cities.  The ordinance being considered for Clear Lake is almost identical to one recently enacted in Cedar Rapids, he said.

The Council voted unanimously to send a draft of the proposed ordinance to the Board of the Clear Lake Parks and Recreation Department for review and recommendation. The issue is expected to be back before the Council at its May 6 meeting.  The ordinance would require a public hearing and passage of three readings before becoming law.

Flory noted the proposed ordinance has already been presented to both the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Board and the Association for the Preservation of Clear Lake’s Board.  Both groups endorsed the measure.

“Penalty (issuing citations) is not the primary interest here-- compliance is,” said Flory.  “Having something in the toolbox to draw upon might be a good thing.”

Sidewalk, street improvement project

approved

In other business Monday, the Council conducted a public hearing and moved ahead with its South 20th Street intersections, stormwater and sidewalk improvement project.  The project is one of the major capital improvement projects for the city in fiscal years 2013 and 2014. 

Before voting unanimously to accept a bid for the work which was 24 percent below the engineer’s estimate, Council members heard from two property owners who urged them to drop, or modify, the sidewalk portion of the project.   Sidewalks will be constructed on the west side of South 20th Street, as well as the north side of 2nd Avenue South, between South 14th Street and South 20th Street.

Bill Otterman suggested the City “must have more important things to spend its money on” than sidewalks in his little traveled neighborhood.  However, Council member Tony Nelson told Otterman his 18th Street location likely will become more traveled once it has sidewalks.

Carol Story said she and her husband, Russ, were also “disappointed in the Council’s action” and described the project as “more of a want, than need.”  She chastised the Council for not following a 2002 city policy regarding sidewalks.  

Councilmembers said they would “agree to disagree” with Story’s assessment that ample notice of the project had not been given and that they were not being responsible stewards of the taxpayers’ money.   She asked the group to consider reducing the sidewalks from the proposed five-foot width to four-feet.  “Don’t be fooled into unnecessary - Read More VIa e-Edition