March 28, 2024

D&D projects accumulate

City council’s new No. 1 goal increasing in visibility

As frigid early-winter temperatures began to dip, hardening the muddy demolition site of the defunct Mid-Iowa Motel, two crew members loaded excavator buckets full of debris and splintered tree branches onto the dump box of a truck awaiting to haul the remains off the property.

When they decided enough waste had been stored in the back of the truck, the duo split up; one worker hopped into the driver’s side of the fully loaded truck while the other stayed behind to clean the mud and grime off the grousers. The driver carefully steered the rig onto First Avenue, traveling eastbound to assumedly dump the junk off-site as passersby watched the demolition progress from inside their vehicles or on foot.

There is still plenty of property left to demolish. The main office building and individual hotel rooms still stand. The decrepit lodging facilities had worn out its welcome in Newton, becoming an unsightly and dangerous property which has garnered close to 88 calls to the local police department regarding disputes, unwanted guests, theft, drugs and harassment, among others.

According to city documents released in early November, the demo team is expected to finish the $69,216 Mid-Iowa Motel job by the end of December. The former motel was sold to the city for $200,000 in late summer 2018 as part of its Dangerous and Dilapidated (D&D) Program.

As of late, D&D has been a consistently reoccurring term or action item in council agendas. In addition to the former Mid-Iowa Motel and former Jasper Winery properties approved for demolition in the Nov. 5 city council meeting, the city also acquired blighted apartments at 124 E. Fourth St. N. and a covered parking garage structure at 115 E. Fourth St. N. for the combined purchase price of $178,890.

Other recent council-enacted D&D items include the granting of D&D 2.0 funds to help pay the owner of a private demolition of 312 S. 11th Ave. W. and the approval of a D&D Private Acquisition and Demolition Grant to help assist property owners’ purchase and demolition of a dilapidated home at 1600 E. Fifth St. S.

Acknowledging there is no particular time of the year D&D projects to occur more frequently, Newton City Administrator Matt Muckler said the process tends to go in cycles. However, if he were to pick out one constant factor between most D&D undertakings it is the city’s collaboration with willing and accommodating partners or property owners.

“A lot of times the properties are presenting themselves to us rather than us going out looking for properties,” Muckler said. “Really, the purchases are based on if someone is ready to let go of the property at what we consider is a reasonable amount because we have to watch every dime that we’re spending on that program.”

Which is partly why the city created its D&D 2.0 program earlier this year, assisting in the private purchase and demolition of a dilapidated property or full renovations by offering grant award incentives. A traditional D&D program is typically a demolition.

D&D 2.0 eliminates the city’s need to purchase the ramshackle properties and instead allows building owners a chance to improve the structures. Muckler said the city does not want to “buy up all this property” and would “rather facilitate conversations between companies that do renovations and property owners.”

Over time, demolitions are a necessity, especially in regard to city rejuvenation purposes. Homes left to decay and remain abandoned and unmaintained — the most common residential cases Newton sees — become prime candidates for the city’s D&D program or D&D 2.0.

The importance of Newton’s D&D program, Muckler said, is it gives the city a new footprint to build new housing or a new commercial property and can also “really revitalize the community.” Muckler said the city has found success with its D&D initiatives, citing sections in and near downtown Newton like the Jewel Tea condos project as some of the more noteworthy works.

After the Newton City Council’s latest meeting Dec. 3, in which members of the council approved its upgraded list of 2018-2020 goals, the No. 1 priority was D&D program funding, which ultimately affects the town’s housing and commercial developers and the ensuing economic growth.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com