Cool Event at VU After Hours Event

The picture that is attached to this blog entry is a laser metal cutting demonstration taking place at Ideal Industries in Vinton. Ideal Industries does many different metal fabrications using a press, roller, plasma cutter and laser cutter. It was a great demonstration of a unique business in Vinton. The demonstration took place during a heavily attended After Hours event co-hosted by the city’s chamber of commerce, Vinton Unlimited, and Ideal Industries. The After Hours events take place at a different Vinton business each month. Usually, they are only open to members of Vinton Unlimited. As shown by the laser demonstration, you usually get more than your member dues worth at these events. So, we encourage you to seriously consider becoming a member. Call 319-472-3955 for more details!

Dollar General Ribbon Cutting

This morning, we did the ribbon cutting at the new Dollar General store. Several people were there to start shopping. This is a great new venture for the whole community. Come and check it out!

The picture shows Vinton Mayor John Watson and Vinton Dollar General Store Manager Sue Lockridge cutting the ribbon as Vinton Unlimited President Dan Engledow watches.

New Dollar General

Several months ago, we were disappointed that Roy’s Grocery Store closed on K Avenue (Highway 218). While we were mourning this loss, the Dollar General people saw this loss as an opportunity. The Dollar General store in Vinton operated out of a small building that once housed the former True Value hardware store. The parking was atrocious and cramped as was the limited space inside the store for customers and items for sale. Now, with a quick remodeling, the former Roy’s is now the new Dollar General. Even though the remodeling only took a few months, the picture below shows the exterior looks great. Even better, the interior is bright and inviting. The old days of not finding a parking space and squeezing by other customers are gone!

Vinton Veterans Memorial Airport

The picture with this entry shows the entrance sign and a few buildings of the Vinton Veterans Memorial Airport. The airport serves six businesses that are based out of the airport as well as the community as a whole. The airport will become quite busy in a about a month as crop dusting season starts. Every weekend, when there is good weather, the Paradise Skydiving company takes customers into the sky to participate in skydiving. To find more information on what is happening at the airport, visit their website at: http://www.flyVTI.com/

A New Beginning

Once again, Vinton is beginning again following last year's windstorm. On Saturday, May 19th, several community members came together to plant tree at the Vinton Public Library and a couple of the city parks. We hope that this will inspire all residents with a renewed interest in planting more trees to replace those we lost last year. The picture shows Mark Pingenot from Trees Forever and City of Vinton Parks employee Brian Elwick demonstrating the proper method of planting a tree.

New Restaurant in Vinton

We have a new Mexican restaurant in Vinton called La Reyna. I have been told that this is translated to "the queen" in English. This restaurant has been open for a couple of weeks after some high anticipation from Vinton residents. The restaurant had to learn how to cope with the overwhelming crowds when it first opened, but now appears to be doing quite well. The restaurant moved here from Iowa City after the owners had started a salsa business in Columbus Junction. This picture shows Carlos Legaspi. He and his wife, Carmen, are co-owners of the restaurant.

Continuing Cleanup

The City of Vinton is continuing with the cleanup following the devastating windstorm of July 11, 2011. The picture shows logs that have been cut by a logging company employed by the city parks and recreation department to clear an area near the sledding hill. The department is not paying for the work, rather the logging company pays for the logs taken from city property. This money will be used to remove trees that the logger can't get to and to replace trees lost in the windstorm.

New Century Begins Construction

New Century/Farm Service has begun work on their regional service center on West 13th Street. The construction represents an approximate $6.5 million investment. Dry fertilizer will be hauled in by rail and truck and then taken out by truck. The City of Vinton will soon begin a $1.6 million road improvement project from Highway 218 to the site to handle the expected increase in traffic.

Golf Cart Use in Vinton

It's warmer outside and this means we'll see more golf carts on the streets in Vinton. Use of the carts are permitted throughout Vinton except on those streets that are also state highways. This includes C Avenue, K Avenue and portions of 1st Avenue and 3rd Street that are part of Highway 150. Golf carts are allowed to directly cross these streets. Other regulations for golf carts can be found under Chapter 77 of the city code at www.vintoniowa.net.

Spring is in the Air!

Sometimes I can't believe how fast time flies. I cannot believe that winter is already gone and spring is here. We had a relatively mild winter with only a couple of major storms. That is fortunate for our city, since it saved on the snow removal budget.

Now that spring is here, we see construction activity returning. The city is making repairs to the 800-900 block of East 4th Street and on the south apron at the airport. We are also working with Iowa Homeland Security and FEMA in the managing of the properties the city purchased through the buyout program. There will be at least a couple of new parks created through this process, so please get out and enjoy them!

We also see a lot of activity downtown. The other day I heard the comment that if you want a store front downtown, you better hurry! We see businesses filling empty storefronts and buildings being rehab. There is continuous traffic downtown on weekdays and on the weekends. A new restaurant is planned and a bakery will be opening soon.

We have also noticed some increased interest in home building and additions. During my first couple of years here, we were seeing 10-12 new houses being built each year. Last year, we only had a couple largely due to the recession. This year we have 3-4 in the planning stages already.

Our town meeting for the comprehensive plan is on May 3 at 7:00 PM at the Vinton-Shellsburg High School Commons. The high school is located on 21st Street. We want the plan to be representative of the community as a whole. In order to accomplished that, we need you to attend this meeting. We will be talking about the future of the city and what you would like to see happen.

City Starts Comprehensive Plan Process--Seeks Name

Do you ever feel you don’t have a say in the future development of Vinton? Would you like to express an idea or opinion when it comes to looking at the future of your city? Well, here is your chance to express those ideas and opinions.

In November 2010, the City of Vinton was awarded a 50 percent matching Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) through the Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) to complete a comprehensive plan. The city will be undertaking the process beginning in February 2011 and is currently seeking possible names for the process of developing this plan.

So, what is a Comprehensive Plan, also referred to as a “comp plan”? A comp plan is a plan that serves as an overall guide for the future development of Vinton. It covers many different areas, including, but not limited to, economic development, housing, the future layout of streets, and the location of parks and trails.

According to Chapter 414 of the Code of Iowa, the comp plan serves as a guide for the zoning and development of city. Vinton has zoning, but never had completed an actual comp plan. This was legal since case law has determined that a comp plan is not required. However, it is certainly prudent to have such a guide for future growth and development.

The lead committee will be the planning and zoning committee, as required by state law. However, public input will be sought through a survey and at public meetings and hearings. There will be a core planning committee, established by the City Council, consisting of the Planning and Zoning Committee and several other members from other parts of the community, such as developers, industry leaders, and community officials.

The process of putting a comp plan together takes about 12 months to complete. Some of the work has already been completed since we had a visioning program four years ago called Vinnovation. A master trail system plan has been developed and a Great Places application with ideas for a park by the Cedar River Bridge is also in the works. Instead of having several different plans with ideas spread out all over, this plan will serve as a central depository for all these ideas and visions to assist the city leadership when it plans for future development and prepares its annual budget.

If you have an idea for the name for the city’s comp plan, please send me an email at alent@vintoniowa.net.

Budget Time Again

Now that it is November, it is time again to start looking at the budget for the next fiscal year that starts July 1, 2011. I am glad that there won't be any major projects dealing with flood recovery from the 2008 flood. We are finishing some things such as the neighborhood historical survey and nomination, obtaining an aluminum barrier system for the flood protection wall around the main sewer lift station and the development of the greenspace from our recent buy-out acquisitions. I wouldn't look at these as flood-recovery projects, but rather development projects that will improve the image of the city and help prepare for any future flooding.
One major project that we expect to undertake is the development of a comprehensive plan. A comprehensive plan is just what the name implies. It is a plan that looks at several different components in the city (housing, land use, etc.) to guide future decision making when the city leaders planning and prioritizing future funding. One of the key factors in a successful plan is public input. We hope that many residents and business owners will become involved in the development of the comprehensive plan so the city leaders will have a clearer idea of what is desired by the residents. Please watch for notices of future public meetings and get involved in this effort!

Another Page Turned

Today, the last of our buy-out houses from the Flood of 2008 was demolished, in effect, turning another page in the recovery from that devastating event. The picture that is included with this entry is where the house that was located at 101 West 2nd Street once stood. The building once housed a bait shop and antique store. This property, along with other properties to the west of it, will be brought together to form a new riverside park next to the Cedar River bridge. It will be a wonderful location to relax and enjoy the outdoors. It is also within easy walking distance from the downtown area. A great welcoming site for visitors to our city.

Investing in Economic Development

The picture that is included with this blog is the downtown building where the Vinton Eagle office was located and in previous years was home to other businesses including a pool hall. The building received extensive damage in 2006 when the neighboring American Legion Hall burned down. The previous owner was unable to make repairs to the building due to other personal commitments. A new owner recently took over and, under the title of his development company, has made significant repairs and improvements in just the past few months. Just in time, too. Cedar River Ink was looking for a new home and took up residence in the building. Several other office spaces will be available at this location on the first and second floors. The improvements that have been made to this building are a good indication of the steps forward that the City of Vinton has been experiencing in economic development.

A Once in a Lifetime Adventure

Residents of the Vinton Community have always felt a deep connection to the historic Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School. There will be some legislation soon to change the focus of the school and move away from its residential program. Recently, some students from the Braille School were given an airplane ride at the Vinton Veterans Memorial Airport. This was a great service by the pilots who offered the rides - giving the kids an experience that few of us would even realize they would enjoy. To see the story about the rides, click here.

Planning for the Future

This past legislative session, the state legislature passed a bill that was promoted by the Rebuild Iowa Office (RIO) and called for local government to use 12 smart planning principals when planning for development. Because of this, the RIO is making a grant available to share in half of the cost for a comprehensive plan using these principals. Comprehensive plans are, by definition, comprehensive and cover a lot of areas in a city when it plans for future growth.

The City of Vinton is looking at several economic development opportunities. The chance to develop a comprehensive plan could not come at a better time for us. We will involve the general public in the plan development, but the planning process will largely be governed by our planning and zoning commission and city council. Look for advertisements about future community meetings about this plan. It will be your opportunity to help guide our city in the direction you feel it should grow.

Moving to Vinton

Need an excuse to move to Vinton? Check out this great article that recently appeared in the Our Iowa magazine. Click here.

Last of the Buyouts-Now on to Final Demolitions

The City of Vinton just closed on the last three buy-out properties from the 2008 flood. We are excited about moving forward and the possibilities that will come from making much of this space into park areas - especially the lots down by the river. We already have a pavilion that was converted from a residential garage. That area and the Community Gardens area will have a dedication ceremony Tuesday afternoon. We have 15 house that still need to be demolished. There have been some "bumps in the road" with federal regulations dealing with asbestos disposal, but we are getting those smoothed out. Once the asbestos is removed, we can then move on to demolition. The demolition of the remaining houses should be started in September.

Welcoming New Residents and 10th Street Work Begins

I am about to go to the Ray House, which is one of our historic homes in Vinton, to meet some new medical professionals here in Vinton: a new dentist, a medical doctor, and a chiropractor intern. It's good to see that a small town like Vinton would have something to attract young professionals. It adds new blood to the community. Vinton has a lot to offer from our parks and aquatic center to our local theater where you can see 3-D movies for only $3 each.

The picture above shows the beginning of work on 10th Street. The construction was supposed to start on July 1, but there was some delay due to rain. Now most of the rain has managed to miss Vinton, so they have begun to remove the old street and replace the two sewer manholes. Next, they will install a subdrain that will take all the water from under the new street and funnel it to the storm sewer on 8th Street.

Accomplishments

There were a couple of things that happened this week that say a lot about the people in Vinton. When they say they are going to do something, they do it. First, we had a grand opening for a new hotel. In addition to the privately built hotel, the city built a street extension to provide access to the hotel. We knew this type of development was going to be good for the city - we said we were going to do it, and it got done. The hotel has now been open for more than a week and has been about half-full during the week, which is good news.

The second thing that happened was that the Palace Movie Theater installed a new digital movie system. This is a huge step. The group of people who run the theater decided they wanted to do this despite the huge cost. They knew that the people of Vinton would realize the huge benefit it would be and would rally with donations to pay for the system. The citizens of Vinton did. Last night, the Palace Theater showed Shrek 4 for its first digital 3D movie. Better yet, the 3D tickets are being kept at a low $3 per person cost!