Government Notes: North Liberty eyes opening new Centennial Park event center in 2025

North Liberty is getting ready to begin design for its new event center and outdoor stage part of the Centennial Park Next Stage project.

The project is anticipated to go out for bid next year, with construction scheduled to start in July 2024. A soft opening is scheduled for October 2025, according to documents in the North Liberty City Council agenda from last week.

The North Liberty City Council last week heard an update on the phasing plan and timeline for the $16 million project.

The council also approved a services agreement between the city and architecture firm Shive-Hattery for the first phase. Four project phases are proposed.

The first phase, estimated at $8.8 million, will focus on the event center and stage referred to as Centennial Center. The city previously said Centennial Center will be the “heart of the park.”

The 13,000-square-foot event center could accommodate events with attendance of up to 300 people and include an outdoor stage for free and ticketed events.

The outdoor, 2,700-square-foot stage could entertain audiences of 500 to 10,000 people for school concerts, dance recitals, touring artists, diverse performances and more.

The city will need to borrow $3.5 million for the first phase. Additional funding sources for the first phase include pandemic relief dollars, fundraising, state grants, franchise fees and other sources. The city applied for a Destination Iowa grant but did not receive one.

North Liberty has started its community fundraising campaign for the project.

“There’ll need to be additional discussion in terms of funding down the road,” City Administrator Ryan Heiar told the council. “Obviously, one of them is going to be the franchise fee and whether or not this group wants to consider increasing that fee. I’m hoping to have that discussion a little later this summer.”

Franchise fees are passed through utility companies as add-ons to customer bills. More than 200 Iowa cities — including Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids — use the franchise fee for gas and electric, according to the Iowa Utility Association.

North Liberty’s franchise fee is 2 percent. All franchise fee revenue in the city is allocated to park capital projects.

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The phases after the Centennial Center can be completed in any order.

The second phase will include the splash pad, picnic shelter, playground expansion and east parking expansion.

The third phase will be the open air pavilion, expanded paved area and extension of power and site lighting.

The fourth phase will be an honor garden and north parking expansion.

North Liberty expanding parking lot at Penn Meadows Park

A project expanding the parking lot at North Liberty’s Penn Meadows Park will do more than just add parking spots, according to the city.

“This is not just a parking lot — this is pretty cool,” Mayor Chris Hoffman said last week.

The $1.85 million project will improve connectivity and accessibility throughout the area, according to a memo to the North Liberty City Council. The project also will relocate the midblock trail crossing on Penn Street, replace the sidewalks along Penn Street with a pedestrian path, and improve drainage and stormwater quality.

The North Liberty City Council last week approved the plans and cost for the project.

The project is expected to begin this year after summer baseball and softball leagues wrap up.

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Rezoning for commercial building on Coralville’s west side gets final approval

The Coralville City Council last week unanimously approved the third and final consideration for rezoning land on the city’s west side for a multi-tenant commercial building.

The vacant land is located off Highway 6 right between Culligan of Coralville and Bachmeier Carpet One on Merchant Street, to the west of Costco. The City Council first voted on the project in late April.

Advantage Development of Iowa City proposed a one-story, 9,900-square-foot retail building on the 1-acre site. The address of the building would be 3408 Merchant St.

Construction would begin this spring and last through the fall, according to the site plan.

Cedar Rapids to host Resident Appreciation Day

The city of Cedar Rapids will host Resident Appreciation Day from 7:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Downtown Farmers Market.

City tents and vehicles will be set up near and in Greene Square to provide an opportunity for the community to meet city staff and learn more about city programs and services.

The event also will feature games, prizes and giveaways. City vehicles including a fire engine, police squad car, litter and recycling vehicles, Rollin’ Recmobile, a bucket truck and a street sweeper will be available for children to explore.

There will be a bounce house, weather balloon, roundabout play mat and information, golf and swim pass giveaway, City Manager’s 1-Bag Challenge kits, and children’s fingerprinting by the Police Department’s volunteer corps. The Fire Department’s new arson dog, Wally, and the Police Department’s new bloodhound, Ranger, will appear at the event.

Cedar Rapids City Council advances rezoning for new Dunkin’

Plans to rezone property to make way for a Dunkin’ at the former Western Fraternal Life Association building were advanced last week by the Cedar Rapids City Council.

The new Cedar Rapids location is taking shape at First Avenue and 19th Street NE.

Rezoning from traditional residential flex district to traditional mixed-use center district was needed to accommodate parking on the site, which encompasses 124 19th St. NE and 1903, 1907, 1911 and 1917 A Ave. NE.

The applicant, Burlington-based Reif Oil, owns Eastern Iowa Food Service, the franchise holder for the Dunkin’ restaurants in the area. Reif Oil owns the Western Fraternal building.

The Western Fraternal building and much of its parking lot already are zoned to allow this activity, meaning rezoning was not needed to allow for this type of use in the building.

This project marks the ninth Dunkin’ venue in the Corridor. Eastern Iowa Food Service franchise’s first Dunkin’ in the Corridor, at 2905 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids, opened in 2013.

At the new venue, there will be both a Dunkin’ and a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop. There will be a bakery where doughnuts will be made from scratch and inside seating.

Once complete, there will likely be about 25 to 30 full- and part-time employees, Andrea Farley, franchise and operations manager of Eastern Iowa Food Service, recently told The Gazette.

The council will have to OK the rezoning on a second and possible third reading. The City Planning Commission backed rezoning the property earlier this month.

City Council signs off Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust project

The Cedar Rapids City Council last week approved a development agreement for the $19 million redevelopment of a parking lot for another Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust building.

The company will build a three-story, 34,000-square-foot building at 116 Sixth St. NE, across the street from its headquarters at 500 First Ave. NE. The bank will be the building’s sole tenant.

Thirty full-time-equivalent employees would move into the new building, with space for up to 115 employees.

The city will kick in a 10-year, 50 percent rebate of increased taxes generated by the project. The redevelopment is expected to generate $3.4 million in property taxes over the course of 10 years, of which $1.4 million would be rebated to the company.

Construction would start in June and wrap up by November 2024.

Council member Scott Overland, who works at Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust, recused himself from the vote. Council members Scott Olson and Marty Hoeger were absent. The other six present council members unanimously passed the agreement.

Grant Wood AEA leader wins Educational Leadership Legacy Award

John Speer, chief administrator of the Grant Wood Area Education Agency in Cedar Rapids, received the 2023 Educational Leadership Legacy Award from the University of Northern Iowa earlier this month.

The award is given annually to a graduate of the UNI principalship, superintendency or doctoral programs who has demonstrated exemplary educational leadership as a leader of learning.

Mary Jimmerson, superintendent of the West Branch Community School District, said Speer has always lead by example.

“John always did the right thing and those he worked with, including myself, saw that. We appreciated that more than he’ll ever know,” Jimmerson said in a news release from the University of Northern Iowa.

Roark Horn, executive director of the School Administrators of Iowa and professor in UNI’s School of Education, said he’s learned “far more from John than he ever learned from me.”

Horn was a mentor to Speer earlier in their careers and presented the award to Speer on May 9 on behalf of the college and educational leadership team within the Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations and Leadership Studies.

Road construction projects at Prairie

Road closures may affect traffic in the College Community School District.

There will be a road closure beginning today, to through traffic along Sixth Street SW in Cedar Rapids between 76th Avenue and Wright Brothers Boulevard through the end of the fall. The project is a full intersection reconstruction.

Construction on Kirkwood Boulevard will begin June 8, and will close the road to through traffic from Hoosier Creek to Wright Brothers Boulevard in Cedar Rapids. The project is scheduled to be completed before the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.

The construction will add turn lanes to the parking lot of the new fifth- and sixth- grade building in the College Community School District. Only local residents will be allowed beyond the barricades.

Mount Vernon Marching Band to perform Memorial Day

Mount Vernon High School’s marching band — the Marching Mustangs — is performing today in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

The Marching Mustangs also will attend the National Memorial Day Concert on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol, featuring the National Symphony Orchestra. The concert will end with a fireworks display presented by the Presidential Salute Guns Battery of the 3rd United States Army Infantry Regiment.

The parade can be viewed online today at americanveteranscenter.org/avc-events/paradeold/national-memorial-day-parade/watch-parade.

Government Notes is published Mondays and contains updates from area governmental bodies. Gazette reporters Marissa Payne, Izabela Zaluska and Grace King contribute.