Rail crossing improvements requested

The Iowa Department of Transportation and BNSF are looking to make a number of improvements to the Elm Street rail crossing, with the approval of Creston City Council.

The first of these improvements came up for vote Tuesday, installing a curb at the city’s west city hall parking lot, passing 4-2.

Councilmember Steve Wintermute questioned the reasoning for these improvements, asking if this was “something the railroad is dictating.” City planner Mike Taylor denied this.

“I think if we have big objections to some of the requests, I think we go back to them and see if maybe there’s something else we could do,” Taylor said. “The whole idea is to try and make it safer.”

Other safety improvements proposed include replacing the crossing arms and redoing the pedestrian crossing, though these will be voted on at future sessions.

“They want to put some new sidewalk in with curb to keep traffic away from those folks,” Taylor said. ”There’ll also be pedestrian gates on the sidewalk.” The current setup has a non-curbed sidewalk with pedestrian gates.

Taylor said the whole operation would likely take more than two years. The entire project would be grant funded through the IDOT.

“We’ll have to have some engineering help, but the grant will even pay for the engineering,” Taylor said. “It shouldn’t cost us anything.”

Councilmembers Jocelyn Blazek, Josh Thompson, Matt Levine and Rich Madison voted aye. Councilmembers Martin Graham and Wintermute voted nay, with Councilmember Kiki Scarberry absent.

In other city news...

The council approved the hiring of Jacob Pacholski as a full-time dispatcher for the Creston Police Department. The city now has five full-time dispatchers.

A public hearing has been set regarding changes to a number of ordinances relating to code compliance. Chapters 1, 148, 145, 168, 56 and 105 will be up for discussion at the next council meeting, 6 p.m. March 19.

Another public hearing for the same date has been set regarding an easement request from Greater Regional Health. The hospital would like to place slanted parking spaces along a portion of Country Club Drive. The proposed changes would add between 35 and 40 stalls to the hospital’s parking.

The city is working with Johnston-based environmental consultant Impact 7G to survey the land at and around the Creston Waste Water Treatment Plant on Lake Shore Drive.