Hunter
01/21/20
The Iowa City City Council will be meeting tonight, with a couple of construction projects and early repealing of a temporary ordinance on the agenda.
The councilors will be discussing the delay of the bidding process for the Prentiss Street Bridge replacement project.
The City submitted final plans to the Iowa Department of Transportation for the bridge on November 5th, with plans to put the project out for bid today. But during the bidding process, a number of deficiencies were discovered that the DOT considered redesign. The DOT recommended that the City withdraw the project from bid letting.
Revisions were submitted last week and if approved, the project will be now let out for bids on March 17th.
The city still expects to have the project completed by this fall.
One of the city’s other main construction projects this year will be the Rochester Avenue reconstruction. Tonight, the Council will be voting to approve a resolution that establishes design elements incorporating the Bicycle Master Plan into the project. City staff recommends the Council proceed with sidewalk infill, dedicated bike lanes, and the removal of the center turn lane on the Avenue.
The Council will also be voting on the second reading to repeal their rental permit moratorium. The moratorium will automatically expire on March 1st but the council wants to sunset the measure early. In an interview earlier this month on KCJJ, councilor Susan Mims said she hoped that the Council would collapse the second and third reading at tonight’s meeting to expedite the process.
The council meets at City Hall starting at 7pm. A work session is scheduled before the formal meeting, and is to start at 5pm.