At a recent Carroll County jail project meeting, representatives from Shive-Hattery, the architectural design firm spearheading the project, brought up a topic that requires collaboration with the City of Carroll. The latest design includes two garage doors on the lower-level of the three-story structure for traffic flow in and out of the enclosed garage. Before the November 2018 referendum vote on the jail, city leaders voiced concerns over the originally proposed design, saying that they would lose parking spots for the new library and police station. In a pro-active effort to address this, the supervisors approved the addition of another level, adding parking for county vehicles. This created a loss of only two parking spaces, but again, city leaders voiced their concerns with that plan. Architect, Mike Lewis, says City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver, had asked about the possibility of only having one garage door.
Lewis says there are three crosswalks in that single block. If the city would remove one of them, they would get back their two parking spaces and the jail could have two Main-Street facing doors. Pogge-Weaver says they have additional concerns beyond parking. There are right-of-way modifications that need to be addressed. He says the city has made a major investment into the streetscape and crosswalks and they are also worried about “stacking” traffic on one of the busier streets in town.
He adds they want to be good stewards with the county, but still maintain optimum traffic flow on Main Street. Acting Chair, Rich Ruggles, says instances of such delays would be rare as it is their understanding county and city authorities who will routinely be using the garage doors will have remote access. Two supervisors, Pogge-Weaver and Mayor, Dr. Eric Jensen, met last Friday and they believe there are some compromises that can be made, creating a win/win situation for all. These are being discussed at a meeting with Shive-Hattery today (Tuesday) in Des Moines.
