City of Ely, Iowa
New & Happening!
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Check out what’s New, what’s
Happening and other upcoming stuff in Ely
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Community Events
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Citywide
Garage Sales.
The 2008 edition of the annual Citywide Garage Sale was May 3rd. It was a great day in Ely, even though it
was rainy and chilly. Huge thanks to
everyone who hosted a sale, attended a sale and bought stuff. Special THANK YOU to everyone who visited
the Library’s book sale, and Parks Board plant/garage sale! |
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Ely
Clean-Up Day. This year’s “Ely Clean-Up Day” will be Saturday
May 17th from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
This is your opportunity to dispose of large/bulky items for
free. We will have a collection
station at the City Maintenance Building on Main St. for residents with a few
smaller items to dispose of. Larger
loads will require a courtesy voucher available at City Hall, and need to be
taken to the Linn County Landfill on County Home Rd, north of Marion. For more
information, call City Hall at 848-4103, or click here. |
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Visioning Committee to Look at Ely’s Resources. Several residents of
Ely have been taking an in depth look at various aspects of Ely that may
affect landscape enhancement planning. Members of the Ely visioning committee
will meet on May 13, 2008 at 7:00 pm at Ely City Hall/Community Center to
compile the results of community inventories recently taken as part of the
visioning process. Participants will discuss
discoveries they made about Ely and what opportunities and constraints exist
in terms of landscape change. The results of the visual quality, natural
resources, and cultural and historical events or places will be mapped on a
large aerial map of Ely so that the committee can identify relationships
among Ely’s features. All residents are
encouraged to attend this meeting to take part in the mapping exercise and
the discussion. The Visioning Program
is a transportation enhancement planning program that assists members of Iowa
communities in creating roadside enhancement plans. The program gives
residents a chance to participate directly in the design process and
encourages public involvement. Residents who want more
information or who are interested in participating in the visioning process
should contact the local committee chair Tim Grimm: Ph: 319/848-4181 or Roger
Hunt Trees Forever filed coordinator at 319/728-2064 The Iowa’s Living
Roadways Community Visioning Program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of
Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Extension Landscape
Architecture and Trees Forever. |
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Living Roadways Visioning Survey. Iowa State University’s Department of
Landscape Architecture is assisting the Transportation Visioning Committee to
graphically illustrate the community's vision. Your household may have been
randomly selected from the telephone directory to obtain your views on
community design and enhancement, which are important to the successful
completion of this project. Kindly take the time to complete this online
survey; it takes only 15 minutes to complete. You can take the survey online.
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City
Council’s Two-Year Goals. On
January 28, 2008, the City Council conducted a goal setting workshop to
identify goals for the next two years (through 2010) and to prioritize
projects and activities. The three
highest priority new projects were:
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The City of Ely will be flushing
fire hydrants April 7th – 21st. This is regular scheduled routine
maintenance. While being done, from time to time you may notice some discoloring
of your water. Although the water may look a little different, it will be
safe to drink and creates no health risk. When you are doing laundry, it is
your responsibility to check for water discoloration before adding clothing.
The discoloration will affect the brightness of your laundry. If you notice
discoloration let the water run until it runs clear. Call City Hall (848-4103) if you have
questions or concerns. |
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Wastewater Treatment Facility. Construction of the Ely Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) is substantially complete, some work remains on the existing lagoons. The new Ely WWTF began treating wastewater in early December, and has been performing very well. This is a mechanical wastewater treatment plant that replaces the lagoon system Ely has used for years. The new mechanical treatment plant is designed with the capacity to treat sewage for at least 3,000 people, with the ability to expand fairly easily to provide capacity to support additional growth in Ely. The new plant will meet existing water quality standards, and even more stringent standards the DNR is expected to adopt in the near future. Look at a picture of the “treatment wheels” in the east tank; or here for a picture of the area “between clarifiers”. |
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Ely City Park. The Ely City Council and
Park/Recreation Committee are working to build a first rate park in Ely that
would include recreational fields & trails, playground, shelters, an
aquatic center, and many other features.
The park parcel is roughly 20 acres, and located north of the end of
Hillcrest St. and east of Northgate Drive.
The Ely Park is intended to offer a wide variety of recreational opportunities
when fully built out. The City
commissioned a Park Development plan to show put together the likely layout
of all the parks eventual features; including: baseball/soccer fields, tennis
courts, basketball courts, sand volleyball and other sports areas, concession
stand and shelters, a recreational trail that meanders throughout the park
and a swimming pool/aquatic center.
The estimated cost to build the park with all features but the
aquatic center is $1,915,000, the aquatic center is expected to cost
$2,600,000, so the estimated cost to build everything shown in the overall
park development plan is $4,515,000. The graphic schematic of the Park Plan is
available here.
Park Survey Results. Recently the Ely City Council conducted a survey to get an idea of how much interest and support is to build the Ely City Park shown in the Park Plan. Click here to see the results. A big Ely Thank You! to everyone who responded! |
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Ely Blog. The “City Hall Blog” is new to the Ely website. This blog’s purpose is to present more detailed information on
stuff that’s happening in Ely city government, and to allow (dare we say
encourage?) comments and discussion.
We will try to keep the topics timely and hope the discussion will be
open and lively.
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Hoover
Valley Bike/Recreational Trails. We are working with Linn County and the
Linn County Trails Association to extend the Hoover Trail through Ely,
connecting to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
The Linn County Planning Dep’t facilitated a community open house to
discuss options for bike trail routes through Ely. Linn County decided the railroad right-of-way is the preferred
route for the Hoover Valley Trail from Wright Brothers Blvd., through Ely to
Dows Street. The Ely Park and
Recreation Commission recently began plans for a trailhead with shelter and
parking area at the north end of Ely City Park. |
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Hillcrest/Highland
Project. Ely’s application to the Iowa Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) for one half of the cost of this project was
not approved, again. |
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Recently
Enacted Ordinances: Ordinance #193: Establishes regulations
related to adult oriented businesses.
The ordinance establishes location regulations, site development
standards and certain operating standard for covered business
establishments. Enacted April 9,
2007. Ordinance #194: Revises the City Code
to require fences to be installed around swimming pools that are 24” or more
deep and designed to be in place for at least six months a year. Enacted March 12, 2007. Ordinance #195: Establishes that a
preliminary plat is valid for two years after approval, with the possibility
of a single 180 day extension if approved by the City Council. Enacted March 12, 2007. Ordinance #196: Designates
No-Parking areas and prohibits through truck traffic (except for emergency,
municipal and waste collection vehicles) during July through September of
2007 during the State Street Bridge project.
Enacted May 14, 2007. Ordinance # 197: Establishes speed limits on Jappa Road
from it’s intersection with Dows Street to the north city limits. Enacted June 11, 2007. Ordinance #198: Prohibits outdoor burning
of residential waste in Ely. This
ordinance rescinded an exception to a general prohibition on burning that
allowed the burning of residential waste in the backyard. This ordinance bans
the burning of residential waste whether done in the open or in a burning
barrel. Enacted August 13, 2007. Ordinance #199: Increases compensation of City Council
members to $40 per meeting, and the Mayor to $4,000 per year. Enacted October 10, 2007 Ordinance #200: Requires property owners
who request a building permit for work $10,000 or more in value to install a
sidewalk, if no already sidewalk serves the property under the following
conditions: ·
The value of the work
to be done under the building permit is $10,000 or more; ·
The lot is adjacent to
a public street and curb and gutter are available; ·
Sidewalks have not been
installed abutting the public street for the property prior to the request
for building permit. This ordinance was enacted November 12, 2007. Ordinance No. 201: Re-zones roughly 20-acres adjacent to
Ely’s north city limits and roughly 500 feet west of State Street to “R-2
Multi Family Residential”. Enacted January 14, 2008. Ordinance No. 202: Increases the amount allowed of petty cash allowed at Ely City
Hall and the Ely Public Library to $150.00.
Enacted February 11, 2008. |
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