March 29, 2024

Landowners’ debate to vacate public road turns to Level-C compromise

Board approves hire of asst co attorney, sheriff's deputy

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An ongoing dispute between two rural Jasper County landowners is going back to the drawing board after the board of supervisors killed a request by Mike and Jodi Lanphier Tuesday to vacate a roadway near the intersection of East 40th Street South and Ranch Avenue, southeast of Reasnor.

Erin Clanton, attorney for the Lanphiers, repeated her clients’ compromise offer to neighbor and farmland owner Carl Lust to re-classify the roadway in dispute to a Level-C road and agree to an easement allowing him continued access to his land through a gate near the Lanphiers’ property.

After the request to vacate died due to the lack of a motion Tuesday, the board set a series of public hearings over the next three weeks to consider the Level-C proposal.

According to county ordinance, a Level-C road is limited public assess and must be indicated by signage and a locked gate. Everyone who is approved access to the road would be granted a key.

“We have looked at the suggestion from the last meeting of turning this road into a Level-C. The Lanphiers would be agreeable to that as a solution to this,” Clanton said. “As long as it meets the terms or your ordinance so the gate that would be installed and the access rights meet your ordinance.”

Michele Brott, an attorney for Lust, said Tuesday her client rejects the Lanphiers’ offer and claims a court of law would view an action vacating the road as “an abuse of discretion.”

“What I’m hearing here is a solution to a problem that hasn’t been articulated,” Brott said. “The Lanphiers’ request to vacate this road, apparently, has a duel reasonings that conflict each other: 1) that it’s not used and 2) that it’s feared it will be used too much. ... What I understand here are two folks who don’t necessarily enjoy sharing the same land and enjoying the same space, however, that’s not justification to vacate a road.”

Currently, the portion of East 40th St. South in question is split into a Level-B public road in front of the Lanphiers’ home and a Level-C road leading to Lust’s farm/conservation acreage. According to Mike and Jodi Lanphier, they’re concerned about traffic on the road if it remains unaltered, fear of theft, being disturbed by people knocking at their door and people parking at the gate, which they consider part of their yard.

Lust is also trying to reach a deal with the nonprofit group Pheasants Forever to open part of his property to the public for hunting. The Lanphiers are concerned about an increase in public traffic and said this is the genius of this dispute. It’s not Lust’s intent to develop the property or create public hunting ground that her clients dispute, Clanton said, it’s about the access point that would be directly near their home.

Lust said he’s working out a system for Pheasants Forever to have a different public access point away from the Lanphiers’ property. A Level-C locked gate, he argues, would make it difficult for his friends, the IDNR, Jasper County NRCS and anyone he’s given permission to access his land. The Lanphiers said their neighbor could distribute keys to those individuals and agencies.

“I want control over who’s on my property. I think that’s my right as a landowner, and I lose that right if there’s another gate up there,” Lust said.

The Board of Supervisors spent another 30 minutes Tuesday trying to, in the words of Board Vice Chair Doug Cupples, “play peacemaker” and mediate a dispute over the road between the two rural neighbors. After mutiple meetings with the board since December, the remains at an impasse.

The public hearing for the proposed change to a Level-C road is set for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 29.

In other action Tuesday, the board:

• approved the hire of an assistant county attorney, sheriff’s deputy and a shared maintenance technician for the county maintenance and conservation departments.

New assistant county attorney Anthony Leon was hired at a standard rate, $70,000 annual salary. Jacob Arrowood will begin at a shared maintenance technician at a rate of $17.93 per hour.

Newly hired sheriff’s deputy Corey Van Kooten was approved at a pay rate of $25.03 per hour. According to Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty, Van Kooten has been serving as a reserve deputy and will attend the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in April.

The supervisors approved each hire 3-0 and the new employee will fill existing vacancies in their respective departments.

• approved the appointment of Pamela K. Keenan as Jasper County Deputy Recorder. Keenan was present for the unanimous appointment Tuesday. She said she began her career in county government in 2012 as a clerk in the auditor’s office.

• approved the vacating of a portion of two roadways — a north-south lying street on the west side of block 13 on the original plat of the town of Galesburg and a portion of East 40th Street South. According to county engineer Russ Strutt, the vacations will not affect the traveled portions of any road, and the action will “clear them off the books,” eliminating the need for regular maintenance for roadways not currently in use.

The board also set 1 p.m. Feb. 26 as the date and time for the county’s 5-year program meeting for secondary roads construction beginning in fiscal year 2020.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at 641-792-3121 Ext 6530 or mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com