McGregor considers ordinance revisions to curtail trailer, RV parking
By Audrey Posten
The city of McGregor is considering revisions to its parking regulations to curtail trailer and motor home/RV parking in certain areas, and to limit the length of time vehicles can remain continuously parked.
Mayor Lyle Troester, speaking at the Sept. 18 city council meeting, said the issue came to a head because of trailer and overnight parking in the riverfront lot by Big Buoys Tiki Bar.
“People are parking their trailers, probably many of which have a cabin at Indian Isle. It takes up valuable space for potential clients who are going to go in and support the business. A few steps away, we have the [First Street] parking lot with lots of room,” he said. “And then overnight parking issues where there’s a trailer or truck. If you back a trailer in and leave the truck there as well, it takes up a lot of room.”
McGregor Deputy Clerk and Economic Development Lead Brandi Crozier said parking concerns have become more pronounced due to the increase in business on the riverfront.
“And those patrons don’t just patronize that business; they’re moving up the street. If we don’t have spots available there, you may be missing out on opportunities for that patronization,” she told the council. “I started going down and doing car counts, particularly on the weekends, and we do have people parking there not just one night, but often multiple nights in a row or the whole weekend.”
The council approved the first reading of an ordinance that would prohibit a person from parking a vehicle for a continuous period of more than 24 hours in the Main Street Riverside Lot, and would also prohibit trailer and motor home/RV parking. There would additionally be no parking on the boat ramp from the railroad tracks easterly to the river’s edge.
The amended ordinance won’t just impact that parking lot. Trailer and motor home/RV parking is additionally barred in the B Street Parking Lot and Main Street Parking Lot (227 Main St.) on either side of Steve’s Silver Dollar and in the Municipal Parking Lot lying easterly of Iowa 76/Main Street, north of the railroad crossing. Trailers will not be allowed on Main Street between A Street and the Mississippi River end of Main Street.
Trailers and motor homes/RVs will be allowed to park in the First Street Parking Lot by McGregor Municipal Utilities, but for no longer than 48 hours. The same time frame applies to standard vehicles.
In addition to the Main Street Riverside Lot, no one can park a vehicle for a continuous period of more than 24 hours in the lots on either side of Steve’s Silver Dollar.
The council will consider the ordinance further at its October meeting.
Riverfront parking
spots disputed
Another item on the agenda addressed riverfront parking as well, as the council authorized the city attorney to send a letter to the owners of the Riverview Inn property requesting they remove rope that’s cordoning off parking spaces.
“It’s an issue because it’s roping off an area of parking on the riverfront that’s contested,” said mayor Troester. The owners previously told the city they leased the area from the railroad.
Troester said records from the county “do not show a record of lease from the railroad that would include the parking.”
The letter asks the owners to remove the rope and trailer parked in that spot. If not, it would be impounded.
“I think it’s not a very welcoming sight coming into McGregor, having it roped off. It’s valuable parking. It would be nice to have this done before the leaf season,” Troester said.
Update on Main
Street project
Alex Jaromin, project engineer with Davy Engineering, updated the council on the Main Street construction project, which is nearing “the home stretch.”
According to Jaromin, main line paving for phase 2B, from Fifth Street all the way up to Seventh Street, has been completed. Now, the contractor’s intention is to focus on the Main and Seventh Street intersection “and then move their way up to the extents of the project,” Jaromin said.
There are plans to open the intersection by St. Mary Catholic Church the weekend of Oct. 4-6 to allow fall leaf traffic to get through and off the narrow C Street detour. The opening will be temporary, though.
“Because they won’t have final line striping and joint tarring done by then, they will close that area back up to Fifth Street again and keep on working until final completion,” Jaromin said. “It’s a safety issue. They don’t want to worry about cars flying through.”
Weather permitting, Oct. 11 is the projected reopening date for all of phase II.
“[Contractor] Portzen [Construction] is confident they can make that deadline, weather permitting,” Jaromin said.
SOO Green franchise considered
The council approved the first and second readings of an electric franchise ordinance with SOO Green for an underground transmission line.
Raj Rajan, vice president of project development at SOO Green HVDC Link, said the line will connect the Midwestern electrical grid to the Northeastern grid to convey low-cost electricity generated by wind power in northwest and north central Iowa to the Chicago market.
The project, which will go through railroad right of way, has already been approved by affected railroads and the Iowa Utilities Commission. Iowa statute also requires SOO Green to get municipal franchises from all the municipalities the line will pass through. Fifteen of 24 municipalities have fully executed franchises, according to Rajan.
In Clayton County, the project corridor starts near Monona, then has a small section on Highway 18 because of constructability issues in the Bloody Run section of the railroad, before joining back west of Marquette. It will go through Marquette and McGregor and all the way down to Sabula, along the river.
In McGregor, Rajan said the line will be installed along the railroad corridor, on the east side of the tracks.
Although municipalities cannot collect franchise fees because SOO Green does not generate revenue or have business within the communities, they can recover fees for administering the franchise. Iowa statute also requires transmission providers who invest in transmission infrastructure to pay property taxes, totaling $7,000 per mile, per year, according to Rajan. An economic impact analysis shows that, in Clayton County, the project will generate $9.4 million in tax revenue for all the taxing districts over a 25-year period.
“The useful life of the project itself is 60 to 80 years, but Iowa statute only allows us to get a 25-year franchise,” Rajan said.
Construction is slated to start in 2026.
Council intends to
appoint mayor
Also at last week’s meeting, the council announced its intent to appoint a new mayor at its Wednesday, Oct. 16 meeting. Mayor Troester announced his impending retirement earlier this month. Any individuals who are interested in the position will be considered at the October meeting.
