Local farmer weighs options as IDOT reveals final Highway 330 design

BAXTER — Local farmer Larry Cleverley remained defiant Monday night of an Iowa Department of Transportation safety upgrade to intersections on Iowa Highway 330 that will take his organic farmland north of Mingo.

The IDOT presented its final plans during a public meeting at the Baxter Community School to restructure two four-lane highway crossings into a diamond interchange.

The $14.4 million interchange design has been deemed the safest option by the IDOT to mitigate fatalities at the Highway 330 intersections with U.S. Highway 65/Iowa 117 and Jasper County Road F17. It would connect highways 117 and F17 with Highway 65 North using a bypass, allowing traffic to cross Highway 330 via an overpass. The one-mile stretch of highway has seen 121 crashes since 2003, resulting in 11 deaths. IDOT officials say these figures make the intersection one of the most deadly in Iowa. The most recent fatality occurred in March when a Des Moines man was killed in a two-vehicle crash.

Cleverley took his fight public as the IDOT began to move toward the diamond design. Permanent state and county easements needed for construction would take 58.92 acres of Cleverley's family land, including his house and certified organic farmland located south of the highway.

The farm was purchased by Cleverley’s grandparents 87 years ago and his home built by his grandfather. The organic land is Cleverley’s primary business and source of income, and he said Monday he is researching a legal battle if the IDOT moves forward with the easement process. The organic farmer said he thinks he has a case in a fight against the IDOT’s use of eminent domain.

“What we do adds a lot to the public. On our little eight acres of vegetables we sell 2 to 3 tons of salad greens every year. That’s 40,000 to 60,000 salads in metro Des Moines,” Cleverley said. “Plus the tens of thousands of pounds of produce every year that we sell and the people we have out to the farm. We invite our customers out and the kids so they can see where their food comes from. We add a lot to the public well being.”

Cleverley said he plans to take his fight to the Iowa Transportation Commission and is also on Tuesday’s Jasper County Board of Supervisor’s agenda to speak about the highway project.

A conflict warning system designed to detect oncoming traffic and warn motorists with flashing lights was installed in May to improve safety at the intersection. Cross-traffic stop signs and a speed limit reduction from 65 to 60 mph have been integrated in the last six years. Monday was the fifth public meeting about the highway safety improvements since 2009.

Mark Holms, IDOT acquisition relocation supervisor, said approximately 70 acres of easement will be required to construct the interchange, and 12 landowners will be affected. Maps displayed in Baxter, detail the proposed easement locations, including more than half on Cleverley’s family land.

Holms said there will be a six-week public comment period now that the final plan is released before the IDOT begins to negotiate with landowners. He estimates the easement process could take up to one year. Bridge construction and grading is scheduled to begin in 2017, with additional grading and paving to be completed in 2018.

IDOT engineer Scott Dockstader is in charge of the project. He said that a less invasive, j-turn design alternative presented at the initial public meeting was perceived as a “temporary fix” by the public and ultimately dismissed. The j-turn would have taken less private land, but required drivers to backtrack for a distance before crossing the highway. Dockstader argues the final design comes down to the safety of motorist traveling the Highway 330 corridor.

“Seventy acres and two homes is a significant amount of impact,” Dockstader said. “But it’s our job to balance those impacts with the safety of the traveling public. And given the unforgivingness of these two intersections I think this is a good project that everybody is supportive of.”

Cleverley’s sister Ellen Rhoads will also see her home displaced due to the interchange’s construction. She agrees the intersections are dangerous, but would like the IDOT to gather data from the new warning system or reconsider the j-turn alternative before taking her land.

“We’re upset, too,” she said. “We’re going to lose our home and a lot of the land my grandparents worked hard to buy and farm, all those years will be gone. We’re not going to just lay down and let them run over us.”

Local government entities in Baxter, Colfax and Mingo, have endorsed the diamond interchange. Baxter Mayor Steve Smith said he and the city council have not received requested information about the project from the IDOT and have been disappointed in the department’s communication regarding the diamond interchange. But Smith said the city is in support of the redesign.

“Safety is No. 1 no matter what,” Smith said. (Busing students) is a big issue with parents and we want to support the parents.”

Curt Hansen is the Baxter Community Schools board president and farms 1,900 acres of row crop with his son. As a crop producer, Hansen understands Cleverley’s opposition, but he said the school district supports the interchange and considers it the safest option for commuting Collins-Maxwell/Baxter students and families.

“As a school district we have to be concerned about the safety of students,” Hansen said. “I empathize with the landowners in that area but, I’ll say again, how do you put a value on someone’s life?”

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@jaspercountytribune.com