Officials hope Mount Vernon Road plan spurs action

CEDAR RAPIDS - Create the right environment, and the market will follow.

That's the goal of a visioning plan that promises to reshape the look, feel and flow of one of the busiest thoroughfares in Cedar Rapids - Mount Vernon Road SE - in the years to come. The so called 'Mount Vernon Road corridor action plan” gained approval from City Council on Tuesday.

'The plan is right on in the fact we don't have to develop,” said Scott Olson, a Cedar Rapids council member. 'We can create an environment that will bring developers to the table.”

City staff had been working on the plan since June, including holding three well attended public input sessions at All Saints School. Similar action plans are slated to address other major roadways and neighborhoods in the years to come.

Mount Vernon Road is one of the city's busiest carrying 10,000 to 20,000 vehicles per day, but locals have complained it isn't pedestrian friendly, it's packed with speeding vehicles and congestion, and has turned into a commercial strip with limited variety. They want it to help set the tone for a friendly neighborhood, rather than take away from it.

The report has three geographic focus areas, including Eighth to 19th streets SE, 19th Street to Memorial Drive SE, and Memorial Drove to East Post Road SE. The city can't build coffee shops and restaurants, which was a request voiced a number of times, but it can create the setting through circulation, character and land use of the area to attract private investors who find opportunity.

Among the first of 23 action items identified in the plan is to bury overhead utility lines and remove timber poles when possible in the next two to three years. Also in the first two to three years, a circulation upgrade to reduce congestion and improved sidewalks are expected to be phased in as part of road projects. While the specifics haven't been defined, streetscaping efforts to improve aesthetics and a reduction of commercial signs are slated to begin in the first year.

Count Dan Alpers of Cedar Rapids among those who were skeptical of the plans and the city's intentions. He said he's been won over.

'I was impressed the city kept us involved, and they kept it local,” Alpers said, noting the city's use of Confluence, an urban design consultant with an office in Cedar Rapids. 'It will bring a level of accountability because the city is aware people like me are buying and will be watching to see it gets done.”

Bill Micheel, assistant city planner, said the plan will be incorporated over several years, but people should see impacts quickly as part of scheduled road projects through Paving for Progress.

In other business Tuesday, the City Council approved a resolution supporting an effort to have the Cedar Rapids Milk Condensing Co. building - more commonly known as the Knutson Building - designated as a national landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. The council is supporting an application to the State Historic Preservation Board to grant the designation to building, which sits at 525 Valor Way SW.

'The Cedar Rapids Milk Condensing Co. is significant in telling the story of the beginnings of commerce and development along the west side of the river in Cedar Rapids,” according to a city memo justifying the resolution.

Historians say the Knutson Building is one of the oldest standing commercial buildings on the west side of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids.

Hobart Historic Restoration, which is restoring the run down structure erected in 1887, sought the designation to qualify the project for state and federal tax credits. Hobart won a bid for a $7.3 million project to restore the building, which sits on city land, and convert it into a small apartment complex. The master plan also calls for a new construction on land next door.

The State Nomination Review Committee will meet on Feb. 10, and it will need final approval from the National Park Service.

Also on Tuesday, the City Council approved a wave of deregulations for the taxicab and vehicle for hire industry to level the playing field with online providers, such as Uber. Among the biggest changes is the elimination of set rates, required hours of service and that companies have a base office.

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