March 19, 2024

Artifacts, species present new challenge for $15M interchange

Former lawmaker requesting U.S. Army Corps public hearing

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MINGO — When the Iowa Transportation Commission voted 4-3 in May to push forward with the Iowa Department of Transportation’s plan to build a $15 million diamond interchange at the intersections of Highway US 330/65, Highway 117 and county highway F17, Mingo organic farmer Larry Cleverley decided to put his fight with the IDOT behind him.

The project calls for 60 acres of Cleverley’s 220 acre family farm to be put in the construction right-of-way, including 30 acres of timber and all of his USDA-certified organic fields.

But a June 3 joint public notice from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has gained the attention of a former Jasper County elected official who plans to request the federal agency hold a public hearing before issuing a permit to the IDOT.

Former Iowa State Sen. Dennis Black first walked the Cleverley family’s property in 1968, while negotiating a 90-acre virgin timber acquisition adjacent to the Cleverley farm by the Jasper County Conservation Board for what is now Ashton Wildwood Park. Black is a naturalist, once the conservation board’s director and has degrees in forest management and natural resource economics.

Cleverley’s family and Black have found prehistoric Native American artifacts, including pieces of woodland clay pottery, arrow points and paleo atlatl dart points near a creek which dissects Cleverley’s property. Some of the pieces, Black says, are estimated at 7,000 years old.

“I have walked the creek adjacent the property for 45 years, picking up an arrow point here and there, pottery shards, hammer stones and other lithic artifacts of a civilization that existed up to 9,000 years ago,” Black said via email. “I have been fortunate in finding several paleo points, which were propelled on a shaft using an atlatl.”

The Iowa Department of Transportation has deemed the interchange the most viable option to increase safety on the one-mile stretch of Highway 330, which includes deadly intersections at Highways 117 and F17 in northern Jasper County. It’s the site of more than 121 crashes since 2003, and 11 deaths. The project is part of the IDOT’s five-year Iowa Highway Transportation Plan and is slated to begin construction in 2017. But first IDOT has to acquire the necessary federal and state permits.

The Corps of Engineers is responsible for regulating waterways under the Clean Water Act and protecting wildlife in the area under the Endangered Species Act before issuing permits for projects like the interchange. The IDNR also has an obligation under the Clean Water Act, and any certification of the project would ensure it met Iowa’s Water Quality Standards.

But the Army Corps will consider a number of factor’s before issuing the permit including conservation, economics, aesthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, cultural values, food production, fish and wildlife values plus more. These considerations are part of a public review process, and Black believes many apply to the project site. Cleverley has also been arguing many of these publicly — in particular food production and aesthetics — since the IDOT first proposed the diamond interchange as an option in 2009.

Black is advocating to implement traffic control signals, stop lights and rumble strips on the intersections as the less invasive and less expensive alternative, although a December 2014 report issued by the Center for Transportation Research and Education at Iowa State University states traffic signals would see a much smaller accident reduction potential than the interchange.

But Black argues the current designs were also pitched as safe by the IDOT 16 years ago.

“No amount of money can buy or build its way out of traffic accidents,” Black said. “IDOT designed the existing intersection which was pronounced to be the epitome of safety when the four-lane highway was constructed in 2000. It was the solution to safely get folks back and forth between Marshalltown and/or the Tama casino and Des Moines.”

Flashing yellow warning lights have been added by IDOT in recent years to try to mitigate crashes in the interim. Cleverley advocated for a J-turn option, explored by IDOT at a cost of roughly $1.5 million. But the unusual traffic control, which has never been tried in Iowa, was met with resistance by area residents at multiple IDOT public meetings between 2009 and 2014.

Black and all interested parties have until the end of the public comments period July 2 to request the hearing with the Army Corps.

Black and Cleverley family members are not the only people to find prehistoric artifacts on or near the interchange right-of-way. The Newton Daily News obtained portions of a 2014 report by the state archaeologist’s office Highway Archaeology Program at the University of Iowa detailing findings in and around the proposed IDOT right-of-way. The team recommended 13 sites for investigation of which nine were tested.

According to the report, two of the sites near the right-of-way meet the qualifications standards for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places. The report states one site appears to be a seasonal base point where Native Americans from the late Paleoindian period retooled hunting weapons and gathered other materials and observed game animals. The other has two linear hearths, like fire kilns, hypothesized to have been used for pottery making.

These two sites have been recommended for avoidance or mitigation by the state archaeologist, and, according to the Army Corp press release, are outside of the IDOT right-of-way and will be avoided.

But Black said he is “appalled” the state archaeologist did not recommend all sites be avoided.

“I am appalled that the state archaeologist would consider the site not significant in the Native American aspect, required prior to the state DOT coming in and decimating 60 acres of certified organic farmland that was created by Larry Cleverley through years of hard work,” he said.

Wetland impact

The Army Corps statement also cites “unavoidable impacts” to 0.92 acres of emergent and sapling shrub wetland, approximately 341 feet of intermittent stream and 1,841 feet of perennial streams. A portion of the wetlands impacted are previously mitigated — meaning they were created to replace wetlands taken by another development project in the past.

As part of the permitting process, IDOT will purchase 1.4 acres of wetland credits from the Elk Creek Wetland Mitigation Bank.

But the lost streams will not be rebuilt in Jasper County. To compensate for the stream loss, the IDOT will use a site in Story County to restore approximately 4,000 feet of perennial stream. The Army Corps is requiring 3.8 acres of riparian buffer to be created on the site and 15.8 acres of existing buffer will also be preserved. The park would be called the ISU Research Park Stream Mitigation Site and would be deeded to the Story County Conservation Board.

At Cleverley farms on June 16, the organic farmer was preparing beets and arugula for a Des Moines restaurant run.

“It’s a typical day,” he said.

But that same day, the farmer was planning septic installation for a new house on anther part of the property. It’s meant to replace his existing house IDOT will remove for the interchange. The state agency has agreed to pay for the new house as part of its right-of-way agreement, he said.

Cleverley hopped in a gator and drove into a pasture surrounded by rolling hills, a ravine and 30 acres of timber staked in the IDOT right-of-way. He pointed a stake showing the edge of the right-of-way on the top of the hill across the deep ravine. To build the interchange, Cleverley said, a concrete culvert will be constructed to maintain water flow, but earth would fill the ravine to level the land for construction. A new 262-foot-long by 40-foot wide bridge on Highway 65 will also be built over Highway 330 as part of the interchange.

Threatened species habitat

Army Corps district staff also performed a preliminary review of the IDOT application for potential impact on threatened and endangered species on the site. The federal agency is responsible for enforcing the U.S. Endangered Species Act standards.

Northern long-eared bat — a threatened species — can be found within one mile of the project boundary, and the Army Corps said the area was also surveyed for the Indiana Bat. No long-eared bats were found in the project right-of-way, but the Army Corps and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agree suitable habitat for the threatened animal will be impacted.

But Cleverley claims there is evidence of bats roosting in 30 acres of timber scheduled for removal in the right-of-way. The farmer said a Central College biology professor visited Cleverley farms in fall 2015, and attempted to net bats. Cleverley said the professor did not find bats due to fall migration but claimed he found evidence of bats roosting in dead trees.

The professor declined to comment for this story.

“The IDOT says there’s no long-eared bats there, and they never even tried to net any,” Cleverley said.

Former Sen. Black is also trying other methods of intervention outside of the Army Corps public hearing. In a recent interview, Black expressed his intentions to meet with IDNR director Chuck Gibb to discuss his concerns over the interchange. Black said he has not yet discussed this project with any member of the IDOT and has not contacted the agency about the interchange.

Colfax-Mingo and Baxter Community School Districts both issued letters of support for the diamond interchange in spring 2015, but Black argues the districts' approval — although rooted in concern for the safety of commuting students — is misinformed. Black also predicts the project will exceed IDOT's projected budget.

“(The schools) came out in favor of it because they have absolutely no idea what the final project would destroy. That’s my point to everyone. You cannot mitigate the type of destruction that will exist at this site,” Black said. “And let’s just talk briefly about cost. (IDOT) has already spent or committed $2 million. That’s already committed and not a spoonful of dirt changed. They say $15 million — it will exceed that.”

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com