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.