Pump station near Iowa Speedway Drive could be the site for city’s dog pound

Dec. 27—Out of the 17 locations that could be used to house the City of Newton’s animal control facility, only about seven were considered “good” sites by the police chief. Of those seven potential areas, council members only really showed interest in two and instructed staff to find more accurate cost estimates for future action.

Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess introduced all of the possible locations where the city’s modular animal control facility could be built on during a presentation at the end of the Dec. 16 council meeting. The final two locations he shared in the presentation received the most praise and attention from council members

The pump station northeast of the intersection of Iowa Speedway Drive and Lincoln Street was the most liked by council members. In addition to being one of the cheapest options at a roughly estimated $40,000-$50,000 of work needed to prepare the site, it is also equipped with all of the needed utilities to operate.

Other favorable factors include the gated entry and the closest residence being 700 feet from the proposed kennel location. Fencing around the kennel would still be needed so dogs can get exercise. Currently, the land is zoned for commercial use and would require a review from the planning and zoning commission.

“I didn’t even know this was there,” Burdess said. “It wasn’t on my radar.”

Another option was an area near the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Burdess said the site is located just across the bridge along East Fifth Street South that goes across Interstate 80. It, too, is a gated area, but it would still require the additional fencing for dog exercise. The closest residence is 700 feet away.

While access to electricity and water is no problem, the site would need an underground holding tank for wastewater. The site would also need leveling and removal of a debris pile. The land is zoned agricultural and would need approval from the planning and zoning commission. It is estimated at $50,000-$65,000.

“Again, I’m kind of looking for maybe you’ve got a No. 1 or maybe a top two for us to go back and get you some really, really hard numbers,” Burdess said. “We’ll come back probably the second meeting in January at the earliest — at the latest, the first meeting in February — and get a vote and get this going.”

Following the end of his presentation, a citizen spoke up and asked where the pump station was located. Like the chief, they did not know exactly where it was located. Council member Randy Ervin said it is out in the middle of nowhere, and he mentioned that officials had a chance to look at all these sites.

“We’re not taking this lightly,” Ervin said. “I think there are some people that think we’re just throwing darts at a map and seeing if that works. And that’s not true … You would be hard pressed to find any better place than the Iowa Speedway pump station. Out of sight. Out of mind. No residents close by.”

For Ervin, this was his No. 1 choice. Council member Steve Mullan concurred and said his second choice would be near the wastewater treatment plant. The pump station is something council member Joel Mills first discovered when driving a motor cycle around town. Up until now he had forgotten about it.

“So this is out of sight, out of mind. I don’t know if we’re entertaining some kind of security camera system as well, but we might want to because it is so out of sight out of mind. So far that this is probably the No. 1,” Mills said, noting the wastewater treatment plant site might be more convenient travel wise.

Mills thanked city staff for providing a thorough report and allowing city council to consider other locations. Council member Stacy Simbro said his only concern with the pump station area is the Iowa Speedway traffic during race weekends. Burdess said there are options the city has at its disposal during those times.

“There are some temporary holding kennels that we can purchase to put in a city building that is self-contained and can easily be cleaned,” Burdess said. “That may be a good thing for backup anyway in the event we get snowed in or snowed out. Regardless of whichever one we can have something in town.”

Elected officials did not vote on the matter but rather gave city staff consensus on what options they liked best. It was clear both the pump station on the southeast edge of town and the wastewater treatment plant were the top contenders. Newton Mayor Evelyn George also commended city staff for their efforts.

“I’m glad we took the time to evaluate more locations,” she said.

Other locations were considered by staff to be in the top seven best choices, including: an area near North 19th Avenue East/East 31st St. N., the 1600 block of Highway 14 North, the 500 block of West Seventh Street North, the 3000 block of North 11th Avenue East and the west entrance of 30-Acre Park.

However, there were a number of locations that Burdess called the “bottom 10″ choices, many of which would not be allowed by county zoning codes or state regulations. They were also all less than 300 feet from the nearest residence, such as the former Maytag landfill that caused an uproar with neighbors.

Newton City Council held a special meeting in September after learning Parkview Animal Hospital would be dissolving its animal control agreement with the city, thus ending its sheltering services. A kennel was purchased at this special meeting for about $84,000. A location was not settled on at that point.

By October, the council decided the most cost-effective option would be to have the kennel installed on a concrete pad poured at a former Maytag landfill site. Neighbors petitioned hard against this location, saying the noise and potential environmental issues when installing utilities would disrupt the neighborhood.

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