Supervisors consider request for road vacancy, appoint Nancy Walleser to Board of Adjustment

by Bob Beach

During its regular meeting Monday, January 21, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met with Raleigh Buckmaster of Lansing, who requested that the Board consider vacating a portion of County Road 527 approximately two miles south of Power Plant Drive near Lansing. Allamakee County Engineer Brian Ridenour explained that Buckmaster’s request involves only a 759-foot portion of the road at its southern end, a portion that is currently blocked by a gate.
Ridenour told the Board that options include leaving things as they are, changing the road classification to class C (no trespassing) or vacating that portion of the road as Buckmaster requested. Buckmaster said that he would be willing to work with the County to create a turn-around area just north of the gated portion of the road. The Board agreed to consider Buckmaster’s request.
The Board also met with Allamakee County Economic Development Executive Director Laura Olson, who presented the Board with a Revolving Loan Fund application for the Board’s consideration. Olson said that the application was submitted by Tom Lewan for approximately $38,000 for an expansion of the Grand Central Station restaurant in Lansing. She said that Lewan plans to add what he is calling The Lounge at Grand Central Station, a bar and grill attached to the current restaurant. The Board approved the Revolving Loan Fund Board’s recommendation to approve the loan at 1.3% interest.
The Board also appointed Nancy Walleser of Harpers Ferry to serve on the Allamakee County Board of Adjustment. Walleser was the only applicant to fill a vacancy on that board.
In other business, the Board heard funding requests from the Northeast Iowa Regional Housing Trust Fund and from Helping Services, which will both be considered when the Board enters budget discussions in the coming weeks. The Board also signed a resolution to approve a special prosecutor for a case in which the Allamakee County Attorney’s Office has a conflict of interest, and accepted and placed on file the Treasurer’s semi-annual report.