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School supports, council OKs rezoning Meadows’ property
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · July 28, 2016
Yes, West Branch School Board likes the idea of an assisted living facility across from West Branch High School on the northeast corner of Cedar-Johnson Road and Main Street/Herbert Hoover Highway.
However, Board President Mike Colbert raised a few concerns last week to the West Branch City Council, before the council approved rezoning the 12-acre corner lot for certain businesses.
“We are fully in support of this rezoning,” Colbert said. “We want to see West Branch grow in a controlled and thoughtful way.”
Colbert prefaced his concerns by saying he had conversations with two of the property’s owners, Brad Larson and Chris Kofoed, partners in KLM Investments, the developers of the Meadows subdivision. The school board president said the Board of Education had concerns earlier when KLM wished to rezone the land, but fewer now.
Colbert said the school included in its 15-year plan moving the entrance to the high school to line up with the proposed Main Street entrance to Meadows. The high school will have to move the softball field to do this.
“We’re going to spend a lot of time, effort and money (moving the entrance),” he said, as well as constructing a crosswalk.
That said, the school district asked:
• That entrances to the businesses on corner lot only connect to Cedar-Johnson Road, not Main Street. “If not, we would want to see some thought put into that … we would want to be part of that conversation of how to do that safely,” Colbert said.
• That a new city comprehensive plan include the west end of town.
• To know what will follow. “There’s a lot of excitement out there … we want to know what’s next” to fit in with the school’s 15-year plan, he said.
• That if the city uses Tax Increment Financing to improve areas of town, that it does not use automatically renewing TIFs. “We understand TIFs help get things started — especially with the Cedar-Johnson and Main intersection,” Colbert said. “We might have to do some work there, so we understand that.”
Bruce Barnhart of Barnhart Custom Services followed, stating that “I agree with what he said” to show support for the rezoning.
Larson stood up next, telling the city council that he recently heard a customer ask him, “Why isn’t West Branch growing?”
“I think we’re ready to do that,” Larson said was his answer.
Colbert’s appearance follows a July 11 Board of Education discussion about the Meadows’ rezoning request.
Colbert told the school board that the plans for an assisted living facility means more vehicles turning at the Cedar-Johnson/Main Street intersection.
He noted that Cedars Edge Golf Course plans to build homes on its western edge, also likely increasing traffic at that intersection.
The school board president said KLM suggested requesting the Johnson County Board of Supervisors drop the speed limit from 50 to 35 mph on Herbert Hoover Highway’s western approach to that intersection, and to add rumble strips to the west side of the hill.
School board members frequently expressed concerns about the westbound traffic coming over the hill near the county line and toward the high school. They also did not want a business on the northeast corner, like a convenience store, that would tempt students to walk across the street.
Board member Mike Owen reminded the school board of its plans to build an addition at WBHS for sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
“We’re moving a third of our students — who don’t drive — out there,” he said.
Colbert told the school board that speed limit reduction and rumble strips are preferred.
“There are no firm plans for a roundabout,” a doughnut-shaped intersection designed to merge and slow down traffic.
Board member Julie Sexton said Cedar-Johnson Road is “very narrow.”
“A lot of kids travel that road,” she said. “I hope those roads become a priority.”
Board member Jodi Yeggy said she favors community growth and does not oppose a business north of WBHS. Julie Sexton said she sees a need for assisted living.
Colbert said he wonders if such a facility would welcome high school students and adults looking for certified nursing assistant training.
Board member Mike Owen said the school board “ought to be watching” what goes on around and just outside its campus and to remind the city council of the city’s own reasons when developing its next Future Land Use Plan and comprehensive plan.
Colbert agreed, saying the school board “needs to hold the city accountable,” noting that a business on that corner was not part of the city’s five-year plan.
“But let’s not beat them up over it,” Colbert added.
Colbert said he, too, favors growth.
“I don’t want to be seen as an obstructionist,” he told the school board. An assisted living facility “seems school-friendly.”
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