Around Maquoketa: Community Updates

In addition to the possible adoption of a building code for the City, there are a number of other areas of interest that can be updated.

Family Dollar: Family Dollar reports that it is "right on schedule" with the construction of its new 907,000 square foot distribution center in the Highway 61 Industrial Park. They expect to be receiving merchandise near the end of January or beginning of February. They should be shipping merchandise by the end of March or beginning of June. Job interviews are to begin in mid-October.

Generac: Roger Schaus, a vice president with the company, stated last week that they are currently in the process of setting up the plant for production. The test cells are being finished, fuels are being piped in and the ventilation system is being completed. Last week, a large crane was on-site, helping to install some of the ductwork. Schaus said, "There is a crew working there that are all Iowa natives, several from Maquoketa."

Hwy 61 Industrial Park, in general: Most of the work is done. The items still left for completion appear to be related to finishing storm water mains or ditches and final grading and seeding. The paving of Family Dollar Parkway (County Line Road) and the installation of sidewalks along that street should be done by mid-October.

Internet: What might be coming that isn't offered now: Two years ago, the Mayor appointed a Telecommunications Committee. City leaders had noticed that a number of larger communities have greater and more varied telecommunication service options than are available in Maquoketa. The City's perception of the situation was that Maquoketa should not be behind other communities on a quality of life and economic development issue such as this. The Telecommunications Committee's focus was to investigate ways to encourage the current service providers to improve what they offer or find new service providers that might compete with the incumbents.

During the Committee's research it was noticed that a number of smaller communities that have independent telephone companies offer services that are as good or better than what large companies offer in larger cities and often at a lower cost. These services include: more cable television channels at often lower rates, less costly telephone service, more telephone service choices--such as DSL for high speed data transfer, local offices and local service, and dial-up internet.

After talking to a number of companies, the ones that showed the most interest in competing in Maquoketa were the Lost Nation-Elwood Telephone Co and the Central Scott Telephone Company of Eldridge.

To compare the potential of what might be offered, City staff made two phone calls to ask about the availability of DSL phone service. This, again, is for high-speed internet or data transfer.

The first call went to the number listed for Qwest in the local phone book. The call went to Portland, Oregon. Qwest could not tell City staff if DSL is available on a given phone line unless they tested each phone line coming into City Hall. Qwest stated that is might be possible that none of City Hall's lines would be compatible with DSL. They also could not give a price for providing DSL service until after the testing was completed since the amount of work they needed to do was dependent on the type of computer system that City Hall has and how far City Hall is from their Maquoketa central office.

The Qwest representative also stated that they planned to make DSL service more available but that would require an upgrade of their local central office, and they could not offer a date by which an upgrade might happen.

City staff's second call went to the Lost Nation-Elwood Telephone Company. The representative for that company said that anyone in their town can get DSL and that the service was not dependent on any prior testing of a customer's phone lines. The cost is $50/month for 128 k, $70/month for 256k, and $100/month for 512k.

At this time, both the Central Scott Telephone Co and the Lost Nation-Elwood Telephone Company are studying whether or not to pursue projects in Maquoketa. The Lost Nation-Elwood Telephone Co is investigating into the potential of raising capital by finding local investors.

Wireless, high-speed internet service may also become a possibility soon. In September, the City signed an agreement with Prairie-inet to allow its use of the City's water towers as a location to mount their equipment. Prairie-inet is currently in the process of testing the community for existing radio signals to see what the compatibility is with the frequencies that it uses.

More recently, another wireless internet company, called You-Squared, has also expressed an interest in serving the community. If its equipment is compatible to Prairie-inet's, You-Squared may also reach an agreement to use the City's water towers.

Prairie-inet offers two speeds for its internet service, 128k and 256k. The prices are $40 and $65 respectively. You-Squared offers several speeds that go from 128k to 1544k with a monthly price range of $40-$600.

Mediacom, the incumbent cable television provider, is currently rebuilding its system. It has stated that it plans to offer internet service through its cable system, but has not yet offered a date by which this might happen.

Anyone wishing further information on these topics may contact City Hall.

Clinton Engines: Phase 1 of the clean-up and demolition of the Clinton Engines brownfield site is nearing completion. The Clinton Engines site came under City ownership on December 31, 2000. The City plans to clean-up the site and offer it for future industrial development. Phase 1 involves the eastern portion of the property. Phase 2 will be completed in 2003 after the company that currently occupies that portion of the site has had a chance to relocate.

The estimated completion of Phase 1 had been set for September 30, however, the demolition contractor has needed extra time to deal with a number of unknown obstacles that were discovered. These include:

          --Double concrete floors.

          --An underground pylon that needed two excavators to remove it.

          --An old basement wall under an area that was thought to be only a floor.

          --An unregulated storage tank.

Activities that are left to do, include:

          --The removal of a regulated storage tank that held fuel. Its contents are undergoing testing.

          --A decision from the City Council on whether or not to remove several thousand square feet of concrete flooring that are under about 4 feet of fill sand that was not known to be there. The deeper floor was under a more recent floor that had apparently been built over it.

          --Final grading and seeding of the Phase 1 area.

In all, and if no contingencies came into play, the project for both phases was estimated to cost about $625,000. The cost of removing extra concrete and the recently discovered concrete floors is still being estimated.

In late September, the City applied for $110,000 from State of Iowa's Department of Economic Development through its Brownfield Redevelopment Program. The announcement of awards from this program is expected by sometime in November.

Westgate Plaza: According to John Bliss, the president of MOCO Realty, barring problems with the weather, the street called "Westgate Drive" and shown under construction below, should be capable of being driven on by Oct 15. The City's final acceptance of the street would depend on its passage of a final inspection by the City Engineer.

There are 3 lots within the subdivision. The east lot is believed to be the future site of a family restaurant that might specialize in either Italian or Mexican food.

The west lot is expected to fetch an offer from a gas station/convenience store.

There is nothing official on the larger rear lot. In the past, MOCO Realty, the developer of the site, has tried to recruit "big boxes" like grocery stores to that lot, but hasn't enticed anyone yet.

ATV/Motorcycle Track: The City Council has authorized its Finance Committee to negotiate with Gary Kleppe and John Manson on the use of the City's 12-acre site at the end of Birch Drive in the industrial park The lot is generally behind the Woodform building and is the location of the City's brush pile.

Manson and Kleppe had previously sought approval from the Jackson County Zoning Board to use Manson's 16-acre property south of town on the west side of Old Highway 61/South Main Street as a location for the track. Manson's application for a special exception to the current zoning of the property that would have allowed the track to operate met heavy opposition from Maquoketa residents who live in the area and opposed the potential loud noise and dust that they felt the track would create while in operation.

In trying to structure a new arrangement that would allow the track to operate on Birch Drive, the Council authorized the appraisal of the site, and Finance Committee met with Gary Kleppe on September 27 to discuss how either a lease or lease to purchase the property might be arranged.

Kleppe and City Manager Brian Wagner are also to meet on the Birch site with grading contractors to collect two bids on grading the site so that it is more conducive to the lay-out of a track.

If possible, Kleppe hopes to design the site to allow for a 600' drag racing area, with overrun, for snowmobiles and a course that uses the existing ravine and trees for motorcycles and ATVs.

As a condition to the lease of the site, the Finance Committee has stated that it wants to retain the area used for the City's brush pile and continue its use at that location.