McGregor eying reconstruction of brick streets around Triangle Park in 2025

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

The brick portions of First and A streets, around McGregor’s Triangle Park, could be reconstructed in 2025. 

The city council, at its May 15 regular meeting, approved a preliminary engineering report for the project, which project engineer Alex Jaromin from Davy Engineering said is the first step prior to design and eventual construction, and a requirement of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and funding agencies.

With work on the extensive Main Street project to conclude this year, Jaromin said this stretch around Triangle Park is the last priority section of sewer for the city to improve. The existing sewer is cracked clay pipe, leading to inflow and infiltration issues similar to Main Street. 

“And not only are there issues with the sanitary sewer, but the items people see—the condition of the brick streets themselves. If we’re going to replace the sewer, it’s time to replace the street surface, much like Main Street,” Jaromin told the council.

Alternatives could include spot repairs and no dig lining, he added, “but really, with the condition of the street overhead, replacement is the proposed alternative.”

Work would include replacing the existing sanitary sewer main on A Street, which conveys sewage for a majority of the city to the main lift station.

“There is also a very long sanitary sewer lateral underneath the bricks going to Main Street that serves Backwoods. We’re proposing putting in an extension of sanitary sewer so you have a much shorter lateral run to a sewer main and not a long stretch. You could add some additional sanitary sewer laterals because it is such a big lot,” Jaromin explained.

There is currently no water main underneath the brick, but the project proposes to loop a dead-end water main on First Street to Main Street.

Above ground, the brick pavers would be removed, salvaged and reinstalled on sand bedding with a concrete subbase. The historic structure, which is a contributing item to McGregor’s National Register-listed downtown historic district, will be maintained, Jaromin stressed. 

“[The State Historic Preservation Office] is going to want to see that replaced with like bricks, whether we can salvage bricks on the existing street or we also have salvage bricks from Main Street that could be utilized for the project,” he said.

Additionally, the sidewalks around Triangle Park and adjacent to A and First streets will be removed and replaced at ADA compliance, as well as new curb and gutter installed. Two new inlets on the north side of the A and First Street intersection will promote better drainage.

“Drainage improvements will eliminate any ponding, which causes deterioration over time with freeze and thaw,” Jaromin said.

The estimated project cost is just over $1.2 million along with contingencies, a large portion of which Jaromin hopes will be financed by a $500,000 CDBG grant. McGregor Municipal Utilities would be expected to cover nearly $62,000 for the water main. Since it is not replacing existing water main, this portion would not be eligible for Iowa’s Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund, according to Jaromin.

The project is operating on a spring and summer 2025 construction timeline, driven by an Oct. 1 CDBG application deadline.

“It’s smaller scope, so it wouldn’t be as long as the Main Street project, but still pretty heavily involved. A different type of construction with the brick streets,” Jaromin said. “Being an historic brick street, there’s also a lot of permitting, environmental hoops to jump through. We’ve started initial talks with DNR and the funding agency SRF on this.”

Zoning amendment discussed

The council discussed a proposed ordinance amendment that would delete garages and storage garages in R-2 single family residential and R-3 mixed residential zoning districts. Mayor Lyle Troester said the impetus is to encourage construction of homes on vacant lots.

“There are a number of—Main Street especially—properties we’d like to have houses on,” he said. “We have a lot of homes going to Airbnb. We need B&Bs, we need places to stay, but we’re losing residents. We’re short on housing and we need the tax income.”

McGregor Deputy City Clerk and Economic Development Lead Brandi Crozier also saw a need.

“People buying lots just to not have somebody next door to them or to have a larger yard is great for them, but it’s not really great for us. We don’t have the ability to grow very easily in McGregor because of all the state and federal land around us. It’s a blessing and a curse,” she said. “As things get tighter and we have to stretch dollars, we have to start looking at how to grow our property tax revenue as well.” 

Troester said the amendment would not apply to adjoining lots where the property falls under one tax bill. For example, a property owner could construct a garage on a lot if they have a home next door. 

The mayor also understood some spots in town are too small or geographically unique to build a home.

“I’m in a conundrum. You’re looking out for the town, but you also have a person’s right on their property. I need to understand how firm this is. If you put it into effect, can someone go to planning and zoning or board of adjustment and get a variance?” he wondered.

City manager Denise Schneider suggested that, rather than deleting the provision altogether, list garages as a special exception for case-by-case situations. 

“Then they’d have to go to the board of adjustment and request a special exception to build a garage on a vacant lot,” she said.

The council will continue review at an upcoming meeting.

Limited parking time proposed at several locations

The council approved the first reading of an ordinance related to parking regulations. The biggest changes include establishing 15-minute parking at five locations: 154 Main St. (in front of People’s State Bank), 230 Main St. (in front of McGregor Pharmacy), 334 Main St. (in front of McGregor Public Library), 416 Main St. (in front of McGregor City Hall) and 107 Second St. (in front of the post office).

“Normally, I’m not a big fan of limited parking in front of businesses, with certain exceptions, depending on what the business is. These businesses are frequent in and out establishments,” said Mar-Mac Police Chief Robert Millin. “It’s only during normal business hours too. It doesn’t affect weekends or holidays.”

Speed bumps suggested 

The council discussed a proposal to install speed bumps on Walton Street after citizen concerns arose that the city was favoring Ann Street when bumps were placed there at the start of phase two of the Main Street project.

“I’m getting yelled at because we’re babying Ann Street,” said council member Janet Hallberg. “Walton Street has been an issue, and we’ve talked about it before. There are kids on Walton too. There’s a certain company who goes through Walton to get to work and they say how, as soon as they hit the corner, they’re going 55 by the time they hit the end of the street.” 

“We only have a certain amount of cops and they can’t be in 15,000 places at once, so this is something we can do to slow people down and help out people,” she continued.

Not discounting speed complaints on Walton Street, council members Mel Wild and Charlie Carroll felt Ann Street is different, though.

“Ann Street is so congested, and kids are walking home from school. There’s no space there,” Wild said.

“Walton is a lot wider and it is a county highway coming in there. I think it’s a little different situation,” Carroll added.

“Let’s just put speed bumps in the entire city of McGregor then?” he wondered. “We’ve got speed limits that need to be enforced.”

Millin also held off on the proposal, stating that he will put a speed sign on Walton Street first, then evaluate the data collected.