Neighbors petition against council location for animal control facility – Newton Daily News

Newton citizens who live near the former Maytag landfill said they should have been contacted before council members decided to use the property for the city’s animal control facility, prompting several neighbors to attend the council meeting Oct. 21 to complain and urge officials to reconsider their vote. on the matter.

Bryan Moomaw, a Newton resident who filed the petition, strongly opposes the city’s plan to build the shelter at 707 W. Ninth St. N. He worries that the kennels will decrease property values ​​and increase traffic too much on the neighborhood. He asked the council to consider an alternative location.

“Would you like to have this in your backyard?” -Moomaw asked.

Connie Grimes, a Newton resident who also lives on the same street as the animal control facility site, noted the potential dangers the city may encounter at the former landfill. He recited a letter from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources sent to the city of Newton suggesting precautions.

For example, the water line connecting to the animal control facility must be made of a material that is impervious to chemicals. Grimes said one detail from the DNR letter had been omitted from city documents, specifically regarding a buried storage tank. In the end, Grimes felt like this project was being rushed.

“I informed the DNR about the tank and they didn’t know anything about it,” he said. “So they have to come and investigate it.”

According to city documents, the proposed site is approximately 14 acres.

Newton City Manager Matt Muckler told Newton News there were two main reasons staff were not required to directly notify neighbors about the location of the kennel: 1) Staff were not recommending the rezoning. of the land and 2) Staff did not communicate with neighbors when Parkview took over shelter services.

By comparison, Parkview is several feet from businesses and residences, but its closest neighbor at the former Maytag landfill is more than 200 feet away.

“If you go out within 600 feet of Parkview, you hit 50 residences and 11 businesses,” Muckler said. “We did not ask permission from 50 different residents and 11 businesses to locate our animal control facility, since it was already a veterinary clinic. But part of what they did for the city was expand their kennel space.”

There are no businesses within 600 feet of the site of the new animal control facility. But there are 17 residences. Muckler argued that the city is transitioning its animal control from a more densely populated area to a much less densely populated area. He said neighbors won’t notice any noise or smell, or even notice it’s there.

Although the Oct. 7 city council agenda, which included action for the final location of the animal control facility, was released three days earlier, residents wanted to be contacted directly about the city’s intentions. In response, they submitted a petition with more than 170 signatures asking for a different site.

They may just get your wish. According to the city clerk, the council will meet at a special meeting at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 25, to consider a location at Westwood Golf Course.

Editor’s note: City council members voted unanimously against having the kennel near the golf course.

While many residents did not disagree with the idea of ​​the city building a kennel, most did not want it near their homes.

Prior to the complaints expressed at the city council meeting, Captain Chris Wing of the Newton Police Department sent a detailed letter to residents. The letter explained why the city needed the animal control facility in the first place and the special city council meeting that followed to get the project underway.

The letter also was candid about the challenges of the property being on the Iowa Registry of Hazardous Waste or Hazardous Disposal Sites since 1984, and included communications from DNR staff showing the city would comply with the state agency’s suggestions.

It is clear from the DNR that no substantial changes can be made to the site. In Wing’s letter, he said substantial changes would include residential use, commercial properties where people work, placing wells or excavating for things like basements or foundations.

Since there will be no excavation related to the animal control facility and the concrete pad where it will reside, the city does not consider this to be substantial. The kennel deck must also include an impermeable vapor barrier, and contaminated soil must be legally treated and reported to the DNR.

Also included in Wing’s letter to neighbors was an approximate timeline of when the kennel and all of its components would be built or installed. He also answered frequently asked questions. Here are some of Wing’s responses to specific questions raised by residents:

• Distance between kennel and residences: “Based on the current proposed location, the kennel would be 250-275 feet from the nearest individual residence. All other residences are at least 410 feet from the proposed kennel site. Parkview Animal Hospital’s current facility is 70 feet from the nearest residence.”

• The dogs will be outside and make noise: “The dogs won’t be outside very often. The proposed facility is for temporary confinement until the animal can be transferred to a shelter or recovered. “Outdoor time will be limited to when his kennel is cleaned… Noise levels should not be a major concern.”

• Why isn’t the city required to clean up the site? — “If the city intended to allow this property to be developed for the potential uses mentioned above, then we would have to go through a process to obtain environmental covenants. Before receiving those agreements, we would have to complete the cleanup activities.”

• Residents should have been contacted: “This property is zoned agricultural, so there was no approval and notification process through planning and zoning required by city code. “Staff understands the importance of being a good neighbor and…will work with the neighborhood to mitigate disruption.”

• Number of dogs in the facility: “There could be three to four dogs in your facility at any given time or there could be zero. There is no consistent pattern for when dogs are in the facility. Dogs that are not claimed after seven days are taken to the Iowa ARL for adoption. The average length of stay… is 48 to 72 hours.”

• Community service officers will be overwhelmed: “We expect our CSOs to manage this facility under the direction of the police captain, and this approach will reduce the city’s dependence on general fund taxpayer dollars to the greatest extent possible.”

• Hire a part-time employee: “At City Council direction, the city will propose a part-time kennel assistant position that would average 10 to 15 hours per week. The police department is also working with Newton High School for internship opportunities with students interested in veterinary careers.”