116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
‘Never-ending saga’ between Tiffin and Coralville over sliver of Forevergreen Road continues
Iowa Court of Appeals says land trust must to join the legal dispute
The question of which city will build the final connection of Forevergreen Road -- Coralville or Tiffin? -- remains unanswered as the legal disagreement dating to 2019 between the cities continues.
The Iowa Court of Appeals this week reversed and remanded with instructions a Johnson County District Court ruling from April 2022 that had ruled in favor of Coralville. This means the appeals court overturned the district court’s decision and is sending the case back with specific guidance on how to proceed.
In its 12-page ruling, the court said the Ruth E. Rarick Trust — which deeded 7.46 acres to Coralville to build the road extension as Tiffin was starting condemnation proceedings on the same land — must be brought into the case “so that the issues can be fully and finally decided” in the “never-ending saga of Forevergreen Road.”
The road — which feeds into Tiffin on the west and to North Liberty and Coralville to the east — has brought increased traffic and development to the communities and connects some of the state’s fastest growing cities. The road has been called a “gateway” to the growing communities and “hugely important for development.”
Both cities want to build a connecting road that will finally tie North Liberty to Tiffin without a temporary jog to get drivers around the missing link. But Coralville and Tiffin have different proposals, each saying theirs is better. But both roads can’t be built.
“Before we can answer the questions over the road construction, we must answer the preliminary question of who owns the property,” Judge Sharon Soorholtz Greer said in the appeals panel’s ruling Wednesday. “That question requires input from all the parties to the deed in one proceeding before we can move forward with the remaining issues.”
Coralville, in court filings, has said the land is its public property and Tiffin does not have the authority to acquire a portion of it through eminent domain, also referred to as condemnation.
But Tiffin, in court filings, has called the quit claim deed for the land a “sham” and “an effort to thwart” that city’s Forevergreen Road project. Tiffin does not believe Coralville has ownership authority since the land is not within Coralville city limits.
In the April 2022 district court ruling, Judge Jason Besler declined to address the validity of the deed, saying the trust was an indispensable party to this question.
Judge Soorholtz Greer said the appeals court agrees the trust is an “indispensable party”, but the district court should have ordered it in instead of dismissing the claim.
An indispensable party is an individual or entity whose presence is necessary in a legal action because its rights or interests are so closely tied to the case that a fair resolution cannot be achieved without involving it.
There is also an ongoing legal battle between Tiffin and the Rarick Trust. The trial, initially scheduled for May 2022, was reset to May 2024.
“The various conflicting filings and positions taken throughout the tenure of the case requires that the interests of the Trust, Tiffin and Coralville be addressed in one case,” Soorholtz Greer said.
The Iowa Department of Transportation expedited construction on the Forevergreen Road interchange with Interstate 380 as part of its project to re-imagine the larger interstates 80 and 380 intersection to the south. The work on the Forevergreen Road interchange wrapped up in 2019.
Cathy Cutler, Iowa DOT transportation planner in the District 6 office, previously told The Gazette: “There was dispute between some of the local cities about where that actual connection would be. We said that's up to you to work out. We're going to build our road on land that DOT purchased. We just let the cities work out how to connect that road.”
Forevergreen Road in Tiffin is currently connected to the road in North Liberty only by a temporary road Tiffin constructed in 2019.
The trust’s deed grants the property to Coralville for the construction of the extension of Forevergreen Road. The location of the road must be agreed upon by the trust and the city. If Coralville doesn’t build the road within five years of the deed — by August 2024 — the ownership of the property will revert to the trust.
Coralville has not started its design on the proposed road extension, according to court documents, because it would be a “potential waste of taxpayer dollars to spend money on the design/construction” until a final ruling has been issued.
Comments: (319) 339-3155; izabela.zaluska@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters