116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Government Notes: Marion City Council revises food truck regulations
Also, Linn County Conservation campgrounds open this week
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Marion officials have revised city ordinances related to food truck operations within city limits.
City Council members last week unanimously approved adding a chapter to the Marion Code of Ordinance regarding mobile food units, which previously had been licensed as transient merchants.
Under the new ordinance, food trucks can apply for an annual license or receive event-specific licenses.
Fees will be waived if the mobile unit is temporarily operating on the property where the vendor’s brick-and-mortar business is located or if the unit is requesting a single-event license for a city-approved event.
As part of the ordinance, mobile units cannot operate in one spot for more than 3 consecutive days and cannot operate within 100 feet of a permanent restaurant or other business serving food and/or beverage items.
Further, they can only operate in designated areas in Uptown Marion unless associated with an approved event and can only operate within designated parks with approval from the city’s Park Board.
Linn County Conservation campgrounds to open this week
Several campgrounds managed by Linn County Conservation will open Thursday for the 2025 camping season.
Campgrounds to open include those at Buffalo Creek, Morgan Creek, Pinicon Ridge, and Wanatee Parks.
Modern campgrounds offer electric and water hookups, as well as a dump station for registered campers. Primitive sites without water or electricity at Matsell Bridge Equestrian Campground also will open Thursday.
A majority of campsites are first-come-first served with self-registration via check or cash, with the exception of A-loops at Buffalo Creek and Wanatee parks.
Visitors are allowed to camp in a park for 14 days out of a 21-day period, and modern campgrounds are typically open until Oct. 15.
For additional information and registration guidelines, visit Linn County Conservation’s camping page.
Marion council sets public hearing on airport runway
Marion City Council members will meet next month to once again discuss the potential sale of the Marion Airport runway.
Council members last week set a public hearing for the matter on May 8. Officials will review purchase offers at that time and dispense further direction to city staff on a potential sale.
The city first requested offers to buy the runway in February for a minimum sales price of $857,500. No bids were received by the March 3 deadline, however, so council members voted to close the runway by June 30 in a move that would have effectively halted all airport traffic.
City Council members subsequently reversed course, however, and on March 20 voted to revise and reissue the request for proposals in light of a late purchase proposal sent to the city on March 6.
The new request for proposals went live Monday with a revised asking price of at least $500,000. Potential buyers have until noon on May 6 to submit their proposals for consideration at the public hearing.
The city bought the runway and a fixed base operations building in 2015 for $1.67 million. In 2020, the city invested an additional $1.8 million in a runway extension project. The rest of the airport property is owned by LuxAir, a company formed in 2015.
Cedar Rapids relaunches micromobility program
Electric bikes and scooters have returned to the streets of Cedar Rapids.
The city last week relaunched its micromobility program with Chicago-based vendor Veo, which annually brings a fleet of e-bikes and scooters to Cedar Rapids in hopes of reducing traffic and vehicle-related pollution.
Users over the age of 18 can rent the devices through the Veo mobile app after ID verification and a safety pop-up. The electric rides are for use on roadways only, and the app will remind users to not ride on sidewalks.
A survey of past program users found that 31 percent of respondents did not have access to a car, and 30 percent said they would have driven a car had the Veo rentals not been available.
This year marks the program’s sixth season. To celebrate the launch, riders can receive a $5 credit through April 30 by entering the code SPRING25 into the Veo app.
Iowa City Council approves City Park Pool construction contract
The Iowa City Council last week approved a $13.6 million contract with City Construction of Iowa City for the City Park Pool replacement project.
City Park Pool will be closed for the entirety of the 2025 season to facilitate the construction.
The new City Park Pool replacement project will include a 5,197-square-foot leisure pool, a six lane 50-meter lap pool, and a diving well.
The city is encouraging pool users to use either the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center pool or the Mercer Aquatic Park Pool. Additionally, both the Coralville and North Liberty recreation centers have outdoor pools during the summer.
Iowa City Transit to add bus driver protection doors
Iowa City buses will get driver protection doors following approval of a contract last week.
The Iowa City Council last week approved a $248,000 contract with Midwest Bus Corporation to add bus driver protection doors to 23 Iowa City Transit buses.
Bus driver protection doors have become an industry standard, according to council documents. They are installed inside buses to prevent direct physical contact between drivers and passengers, minimizing injury risks to drivers in confrontational or emergency situations while maintaining visibility.
A prototype door was evaluated by 15 Iowa City Transit bus drivers who assessed the design and functionality before the city decided on a contract.
Johnson County increases recommended minimum wage to $13.02
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted to increase the recommended minimum wage to $13.02 per hour, up from $12.64 per hour, effective July 1.
The symbolic wage increase has been occurring in Johnson County since 2015.
The minimum wage in the state of Iowa is $7.25 per hour, the same as the federal minimum wage. It has not changed since 2008.
Construction to close southbound I-380 ramps at Hiawatha’s Boyson Road
Area drivers can expect some disruption at the Interstate 380 exit and entrance ramps at Boyson Road in Hiawatha.
Crews this week will close the southbound ramps at Exit 25 so work can begin on the Boyson Road interchange project. The closure will begin Tuesday, April 8, with the exit ramp to reopen by Memorial Day and the entrance ramp to open by July 4.
Drivers looking to use the exit will be directed to exit on Blairs Ferry Road and follow the marked detour to reach Boyson. The entrance ramp will be detoured to Center Point Road and then Blairs Ferry onto I-380.
The Boyson Road interchange will create a “diverging diamond,“ an interchange design in which traffic switches to the left side of the roadway while crossing over the interstate. The switch allows those turning left onto the interstate a clean turn, rather than turning across incoming traffic.
One such interchange already opened at I-380 and Tower Terrace Road, and another is planned for I-380 and Wright Brothers Boulevard.
Government Notes is published Mondays and contains updates from area governmental bodies. Grace Nieland and Megan Woolard contributed.
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