Marion revises snowplow priorities
Staff writer
A block-long street where senior citizens live will be moved to a higher priority for snow removal after Marion City Council and department heads talked about snow clearing during a Monday work session.
Interim city administrator Mark McAnarney asked public works director Tim Makovec to bring a map of emergency snow routes and talk about the city’s priorities for clearing snow.
Makovec told council members the city cleared emergency routes, including Eisenhower Dr., Cedar St., Main St., 3rd St., Freeborn St., Roosevelt St. and Lawrence St. before doing other streets.
Other residential streets are then cleared, with either north / south or east / west streets being done first.
Interim police chief Zach Hudlin said he thought that Victory Ln., part of a senior housing development, should be a higher priority for public safety concerns.
McAnarney asked whether other senior communities should be considered as well, but Hudlin said the others were located on streets already are on the high-priority list.
Makovec agreed to add Victory Ln. to the list of roads cleared first.
Architect Ben Moore, project designer Taylor Helpingstine, and preservation consultant Christy Davis gave a presentation on development of a Marion historic District.
The city initially began working to develop a historic district in 2019, choosing more than 44 buildings to nominate in an area that included Main St. from Walnut to 5th Sts., 3rd St. from Valley United Methodist Church to Marion City Library, and adjoining areas.
When 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic hit, progress ground to a halt because public gatherings were discouraged.
The consultants said preparation and submission of a nomination as a historic district would take a year to a year and a half.
The process will involve public meetings; meetings with the state historic preservation office; making a draft nomination; redrafting the nomination after comments by the state office; gathering public comments; sending back a final draft of the proposal; and review by a state historic sites review board.
If the city’s downtown is designated as a historic district, Davis said, it opens a door to state historic tax credits of 40% of project costs and federal historic building rehabilitation tax credits of up to 20% of rehabilitation costs for buildings used to produce income.