A proposal to close three east-side streets is no longer expected to be on the Des Moines City Council agenda for Monday’s meeting.
City Manager Rick Clark said last week he doesn’t expect the council to vote on the matter at that meeting. Instead he has directed city planners to revise the proposal. The council will receive and file the Plan and Zoning Commission’s recommendation against closing the streets. That board considered the issue in early January and voted 8 to 5 against the proposal.
“I think what (city planners) need to do is go back to the drawing board,” Clark said. “Obviously, there’s significant concern among neighbors about the proposal. We need to go back and re-look at the proposal and talk to the railroad.
“As far as the process going forward, that’s up to the City Council.”
Senior city planner Jason Van Essen said in an email Thursday: “We are going to revisit the details of the proposal to see if more can be done to address the concerns that have been raised.” He did not elaborate.
Union Pacific Railroad officials have asked the city to close a portion of Hull Avenue west of Dixon Street and areas of Southeast 34th and 36th streets where they cross train tracks. A fourth closure, at Scott Avenue near Kemin Industries, also was planned. That one is an undeveloped crossing; the land has been vacated, and the city has erected a fence there.
Railroad officials have said they need to improve train movement through the city and reduce vehicle backups at the crossings at Hubbell and East Grand avenues and at East Walnut Street and Dean Avenue.
The proposal has met with fierce opposition from some residents and some businesses that would be affected. They contend the neighborhoods will become isolated if they should be flooded, and they believe that emergency response time to their neighborhoods would be lengthened if the streets were closed.
Cherie Mortice, a resident of East 22nd Street near Hull Avenue, has led a petition drive against the street closure there. She has gathered more than 400 signatures since last summer.
Mortice said many people in her neighborhood feel the city hasn’t kept them adequately informed about details of the proposal.
“From the beginning it seemed like city planners weren’t inviting us to the table,” she said. She added she plans to invite Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie to meet with her neighborhood about the issue.
“I think city planners have been taken aback by the (residents’) reaction,” she said. “I’m hoping they’re willing to go back to the drawing board and understand there needs to be compromise.
“The railroad can’t take away a road we pay for with taxes and not offer us anything.”
A city traffic engineer has said that about 3,300 area residents would be affected by the closures and about 19,000 fewer drivers would be delayed by trains each day.
Mortice said she has talked with the Garton Elementary School principal and with owners of about 20 small businesses on nearby Delaware Avenue.
“There are a lot of businesses that are very concerned. They are very much linked to our neighborhood.”
Cynde Rayman, president of the Laurel Hill neighborhood, where Southeast 34th and 36th streets are located, calls the proposal to turn the streets into dead ends a “non-solution.”
“If this proposal goes through, I foresee that the freed space (on railroad tracks) will also be filled with more railroad cars, creating even longer trains,” she said “This process would continue until fewer and fewer intersections would be available to the citizens for travel by car.”
It would “cut more neighborhoods in half, restricting local businesses, and creating hazardous conditions for all but the railroad,” she said.
Des Moines City Councilman Brian Meyer said last week he has been opposed to closing the streets since the idea surfaced.
“I am still opposed to any closings,” he said. “I just don’t see the need in it and I think it’s unfair. A big concern is blocking those people in.”
City Manager Rick Clark said last week he doesn’t expect the council to vote on the matter at that meeting. Instead he has directed city planners to revise the proposal. The council will receive and file the Plan and Zoning Commission’s recommendation against closing the streets. That board considered the issue in early January and voted 8 to 5 against the proposal.
“I think what (city planners) need to do is go back to the drawing board,” Clark said. “Obviously, there’s significant concern among neighbors about the proposal. We need to go back and re-look at the proposal and talk to the railroad.
“As far as the process going forward, that’s up to the City Council.”
Senior city planner Jason Van Essen said in an email Thursday: “We are going to revisit the details of the proposal to see if more can be done to address the concerns that have been raised.” He did not elaborate.
Union Pacific Railroad officials have asked the city to close a portion of Hull Avenue west of Dixon Street and areas of Southeast 34th and 36th streets where they cross train tracks. A fourth closure, at Scott Avenue near Kemin Industries, also was planned. That one is an undeveloped crossing; the land has been vacated, and the city has erected a fence there.
Railroad officials have said they need to improve train movement through the city and reduce vehicle backups at the crossings at Hubbell and East Grand avenues and at East Walnut Street and Dean Avenue.
The proposal has met with fierce opposition from some residents and some businesses that would be affected. They contend the neighborhoods will become isolated if they should be flooded, and they believe that emergency response time to their neighborhoods would be lengthened if the streets were closed.
Cherie Mortice, a resident of East 22nd Street near Hull Avenue, has led a petition drive against the street closure there. She has gathered more than 400 signatures since last summer.
Mortice said many people in her neighborhood feel the city hasn’t kept them adequately informed about details of the proposal.
“From the beginning it seemed like city planners weren’t inviting us to the table,” she said. She added she plans to invite Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie to meet with her neighborhood about the issue.
“I think city planners have been taken aback by the (residents’) reaction,” she said. “I’m hoping they’re willing to go back to the drawing board and understand there needs to be compromise.
“The railroad can’t take away a road we pay for with taxes and not offer us anything.”
A city traffic engineer has said that about 3,300 area residents would be affected by the closures and about 19,000 fewer drivers would be delayed by trains each day.
Mortice said she has talked with the Garton Elementary School principal and with owners of about 20 small businesses on nearby Delaware Avenue.
“There are a lot of businesses that are very concerned. They are very much linked to our neighborhood.”
Cynde Rayman, president of the Laurel Hill neighborhood, where Southeast 34th and 36th streets are located, calls the proposal to turn the streets into dead ends a “non-solution.”
“If this proposal goes through, I foresee that the freed space (on railroad tracks) will also be filled with more railroad cars, creating even longer trains,” she said “This process would continue until fewer and fewer intersections would be available to the citizens for travel by car.”
It would “cut more neighborhoods in half, restricting local businesses, and creating hazardous conditions for all but the railroad,” she said.
Des Moines City Councilman Brian Meyer said last week he has been opposed to closing the streets since the idea surfaced.
“I am still opposed to any closings,” he said. “I just don’t see the need in it and I think it’s unfair. A big concern is blocking those people in.”
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