A crossing here, a crossing there, a crossing nowhere

Frustration over a proposed crosswalk on Highway 18 resulted in a contentious Hartley City Council meeting on Monday.

Members of the Hartley Recreation Trail Committee engaged in a heated debate with the council and local property owners about the location of the crossing. Once the dust settled, the council agreed to continue discussions with Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn officials about improving pedestrian crossing conditions on the highway near the elementary and high school.

"I don't believe anybody is against a crossing at all," said Council Member Nick Galm. "I just know that from what the DOT has told us, it's going to take several years to get accomplished."

The rec trail committee in 2022 received $20,000 from the Empower Rural Iowa Grant Program to install a system using Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) for a pedestrian crossing at Highway 18. The area near the school was targeted due to the high number of children crossing there each day.

Rec trail committee member Dave Vander Broek told the council that discussions with the H-M-S school board fizzled out earlier this year, which led the group to find a different location in town. The committee originally favored creating a RRFB crossing at North Fourth Avenue West near St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Brew Oil, while the school board favored placing it at an existing uncontrolled crossing area one block west on North Sixth Avenue West.

According to previous discussion at other meetings, both options presented various challenges.

"It seemed to us that it was going to a bad place," Vander Broek said, citing lagging progress with school officials. "They didn't show evidence to us that they were interested in pursuing it, so we just thought that it's not going to work there."

Sights eventually shifted from the school area to a new location by Fanning Field on North Third Avenue East, where the proposed RRFB crossing would connect the south side of Highway 18 to an area by Dollar General. A sidewalk would need to be installed on the north side in the city right-of-way stretching east and west from Dollar General to Fiesta Foods, cutting through four residential properties. Committee members explained that Iowa DOT officials prefer to direct pedestrian traffic to areas where they can walk safely on an established path, hence the need for new sidewalk connecting essential businesses like the grocery store, pharmacy and general store.

Jen and Ty Waddell own one of the affected properties and were against the sidewalk proposal. They feared snow removal in the wintertime would be a monumental task, as DOT plows repeatedly throw snow and ice chunks into the right-of-way each time there's accumulation on the road.

They also had concerns about liability with the sidewalk being so close to the highway.

"Bottom line is we don't want it," Jen Waddell said.

Rec trail committee member Justin McCarty said the city can do with the right-of-way as it sees fit and suggested that a sidewalk be installed regardless of the property owners' desires. He believed pedestrian safety needed to be prioritized more in Hartley, as many people walk on the highway or cross it daily.

He feared a fatality would occur someday if conditions weren't improved.

"It just speaks to the whole community that the city isn't willing to use the right-of-way that is their right to use to do essential things for services of the city to address the safety issues of people having to cross Highway 18," he said.

The council pushed back against McCarty's assertion and believed the sidewalk issue differed from typical right-of-way uses for utility lines and other necessary functions.

"I'm just not in favor of forcing it on property owners," said Council Member Ron Hengeveld. "I'm just not, at all."

"We don't just say, 'Hey we're taking your land and we're putting a bike trail on it,' " said Council Member Greg Cotter.

Available space within the right-of-way may further complicate future sidewalk construction. Engineer Wes Boyer, who has been assisting with the project, noted the DOT has yet to confirm how far back the proposed sidewalk needs to be from the highway curb. Cotter questioned whether it would be too far back to viably install a sidewalk in the first place.

"If the DOT can't give us answers on where within the right-of-way it can be or can't be, and if people don't want it, what are we even voting on?" he asked.

An extensive back and forth ensued, but none of the entities budged on their positions. Vander Broek feared the city would lose out on an opportunity to improve both pedestrian infrastructure and safety. The trail committee will lose the grant if the crossing is not finished by June 30, 2024.

"We can just not do it, we'll be out $8,400 [in planning expenses], and you won't be out any money," he said. "The only thing you'd be out is around $30,000 in opportunity to do something."

Ultimately, the council came to a consensus to restart discussions with school officials about a RRFB crossing near the elementary and high school. Mayor Rodney Ahrenstorff said he talked with members of the H-M-S administration on Monday, and they were agreeable to re-evaluate all options to improve student safety.

City Administrator Roxann Swanson said after Monday's meeting that she was not confident details could be finalized fast enough to meet the RRFB grant's deadline of June 30, 2024. She explained various planning steps need to take place between the city, school and DOT to ensure any new RRFB crossing meets guidelines. She also noted things like culverts, ditches, trees and other obstacles in the proposed area will create added hurdles for planning and construction.

She said the city will keep working with the school to develop the best plan possible. She also noted the school has added more in-town bus stops so fewer Hartley students have to walk to school and cross the highway.

"We definitely want to continue working with the school on the crossing, wherever that may be," Swanson said. "It's challenging to retrofit a grant to a project rather than developing a project and then applying for a grant. There are a lot of things to think about that can't really be rushed."