Supervisors decide not to waive subsequent hearings in street reclassification

Although no one showed up to oppose a public hearing to reclassify Indian Street to a Level B road, the Jasper County Board of Supervisors chose not to waive the subsequent readings. Typically, the board of supervisors will speed up the process if there is no one at the meeting to advocate against the action.

Opposition was indirectly shared through the county engineer, who informed the supervisors that one property owner was less so against the reclassification of the road but the closing of a nearby bridge over Alloway Creek. Skyler Morris thought the county should replace the bridge to give him better land access.

Hesitation from Supervisor Thad Nearmyer also made the board rethink its decision to adopt the reclassification on the spot. The newly elected supervisor did not feel comfortable waiving the readings at this point in time. Since his fellow supervisors were OK holding it off, they decided to go through all three readings.

County Engineer Michael Frietsch said Morris is the trustee of the surrounding land on both sides of the street. He explained to the owner that the county is not obligated to begin the process of replacing the bridge because there is still access to the nearby properties to the east and to the west.

“We can, by rights, also consider vacating this stretch of right-of-way,” Frietsch said to the board of supervisors. “However, I’d say at this time we’re not prepared to do that because we kind of have to figure out what we have for utilities in that corridor. I would advise we reclassify it as a Level B at this time.”

Afterwards the county engineer said he will figure out who owns the utilities in that corridor and then possibly speak with Morris to vacate the road. Supervisor Brandon Talsma asked the county engineer if he thought Morris would entertain that idea since he would then be able to build his own low water crossing.

Frietsch felt Morris would be receptive to the idea depending on utility findings.

Currently, the affected portion of Indian Street — 0.8 miles south of North 67th Avenue East then east-southeast approximately 0.56 miles to Immigrant Avenue — is classified as an Area Service System A road, oftentimes called a Level A road. If approved, the road would become an Area Service System B road.

Level B roads do not meet the same maintenance standards as Level A roads. Frietsch said that means the county does not put any rock on the road and crews only blade it about once a year. Level B roads are still open for travel. Level C roads, however, are closed off or gated. Signs indicate if a road is Level B.

Talsma asked if the county could reclassify the road to a Level C instead in order to prevent off-road vehicles from tearing it up further. Frietsch explained the code requires a full section of road in order to be classified a Level C. But portions of roads can be classified to Level B, which is the case for Indian Street.

Frietsch noted Indian Street has not been maintained as a Level A road and has been more so treated like a Level B road by county crews for many years.

The road is located northwest of Kellogg and southeast of Mariposa Park.

As a heads up to supervisors, Frietsch said there are about 10 more roads in the county that will also have to be reclassified in the near future.

“We’ll be doing this quite a bit,” he said. “…This is just a warmup.”