Lansing City Council considers bridge lighting options and possible change to revised City Code, hears of funding options for City Hall improvements
by Julie Berg-Raymond
The Lansing City Council is considering several lighting design options for the bridge that will replace the Black Hawk Bridge.
Ken Taillon, manager of municipal lighting services with Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc., of Stillwater, MN, spoke to the council at its regular meeting Monday, April 4 and outlined a variety of bridge lighting designs - differing in type, design, function and expense. The council will consider the options and come up with two or three ideas for Taillon - at which point, he will construct partial designs and provide the council with cost estimates.
“We’ll need to narrow our choices, get his designs, and get them to the public,” Lansing Mayor Melissa Hammell said. “I’ll get in touch with (Taillon) when we’re ready to talk with him again.”
CODE REVISION OBJECTION
Two area contractors offered comments and questions about the 2022 Lansing Municipal Code revision - in particular, they objected to the 26.5-feet height restriction on new buildings constructed within city limits.
“I couldn’t even do a two-story ranch house, with this restriction,” one of the contractors said. “It will basically end building here in town; and it will keep people from remodeling old buildings.”
“Your input is valuable, and helpful,” Mayor Hammell told the contractors. “We’re trying to prevent as many issues as we can. And we’re trying to make it as clear as we can, so everyone knows what they’re dealing with.”
The council asked the contractors for their ideas about what would constitute a more reasonable height restriction. “Thirty feet sounds good,” one replied. Mayor Hammell said she and City Clerk Katie Becker would contact Michelle Barness, regional planner at Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission, who has been assisting the Lansing City Council with the code revision, to inquire about changing the building height restriction from 26.5’ to 30’ in the Code.
Following the discussion of height restrictions, Mayor Hammell conducted the second reading of Ordinance No. 202 for adoption of the 2022 Municipal Code. She noted that it’s possible a special meeting may be called for the third reading of the Code. In the meantime, the moratorium on new construction within city limits will remain in place until the revised Code is adopted.
CITY HALL IMPROVEMENTS
Following up on an item from a prior council meeting, Main Street Lansing Executive Director Andy Kelleher emailed the council regarding potential grant opportunities for effecting improvements to the Lansing City Hall building. In his email, Kelleher informed the council that Representative Ashley Hinson’s office is accepting requests for Community Project Funding.
Forwarding to the council an email announcement from Hinson’s office, Kelleher wrote, “If I’m understanding the email correctly, this essentially means that you can request special consideration for a federal funding opportunity, provided it’s eligible for this kind of funding. So instead of applying for a federal grant and crossing your fingers, you’d have a chance for Congress to write this funding directly into policy.”
Additionally, Kelleher drew the council’s attention to the Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program which, he suggested, might be eligible for Hinson’s appropriations request while also being an option for a regular grant. The grant, he wrote, “is designed to help develop community facilities in rural communities; and while the list of eligible projects is large, the relevant ones for this discussion are town halls and community centers. The program also gives stronger consideration to communities with low populations and low income, and I believe we meet both of those criteria, though I do not have recent income data. It also offers grant funding up to 75 percent of project costs, with more grant funding available for smaller and poorer towns.”
Kelleher further noted that, if the Stone School is ever considered as a new City Hall location in the future, this program could potentially help fund a conversion.
BIDS AND PAYMENTS, ETC.
In other business, the second payment to Damon Construction of New Albin for work on the municipal swimming pool project was approved. Payment was $8,500 for tucking mortar joints, adding concrete for bond beams and rebar vertical core filling, blocking filler and starting block painting. The bid of $53,487.50 for paving on Center Street by River City Paving, a division of Mathy Construction of Decorah, was accepted. The council also approved a liquor license renewal for Lansing IGA-Quillins.
The next regular meeting of the Lansing City Council is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, April 18 at Lansing City Hall.
