It may be news to some Marshalltown residents that the city actually owns a piece of land on the west side of Albion as part of the ongoing Iowa River’s Edge Trail (IRET) project, and during last Monday night’s meeting, the council officially approved drafting an agreement to transfer a small portion of it back to the city of Albion by a unanimous vote.

Public Works Director Heather Thomas explained that the city of Marshalltown currently owns the former railroad running through Albion including the 0.149 acre area where it crosses Stanley Mill Street, which was purchased as part of an agreement with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) and TRAILS Inc. for future trail development. Attorney Luke Zielinski of the Brick Gentry law firm in Des Moines said he has been working with the city of Albion on the matter.

“This issue has been brought up, I believe, numerous times over the last 25 years, but every time something gets undertaken to fix it, something falls through and it’s never been taken care of,” he said. “So we’ve been working with the neighboring property owners on Stanley Mill Street and the city of Marshalltown as one of those property owners.”

The property owners, he added, technically each own a portion of Stanley Mill Street, and the city of Albion is asking that the portions making up the road itself be dedicated to the city as a public right of way. Councilor Jeff Schneider then asked if permanent easements would be set aside for the trail area in hopes of avoiding future problems.

“We can certainly set aside an easement. That is not a consideration that we have, but that is something the city would be more than willing to do,” Zielinski said.

Schneider felt an easement stipulation would be needed to secure his vote. During the public comment period, Leigh Bauder asked how much the city of Marshalltown paid for the property it now owns, and Zielinski responded that the assessed value for the entire former railroad the city owns is $10,400. He did not, however, know how much the value of the 30 feet the city of Albion wanted to take the title to was.

Thomas said the purchase price from the railroad company was $294,000, and TRAILS Inc. reimbursed the city of Marshalltown $300,000 for its purchase. Councilor Melisa Fonseca asked if there were any other considerations to take into account before making the transfer, and Thomas replied that retaining an easement and setting clear expectations of who is responsible for which costs would be important.

“We can go in there anytime and put in a trail. The trail’s at our cost. If they ever do anything, who’s cost is it to address and make sure that the trail gets connected back up? If they would do anything to their road for improvements, just clearly outlining who’s responsible for what costs moving forward,” Thomas said.

Councilor Mark Mitchell felt the city of Albion should be responsible for purchasing the property they need and maintaining it themselves. Councilor Sue Cahill also wondered if the city of Albion was “all in” on the trail project, to which Schneider responded that historically, city leaders there have been “extremely supportive” of it.

“I haven’t talked to their current council very much, but yes, they really want to see this trail. It’s gonna be a huge economic driver for their community,” he said. “So I don’t doubt that, unless something’s changed (that) I’m not aware of. As long as we can get a permanent easement through here that’s agreeable to everybody, I think I’d like to move forward with this.”

Schneider then motioned to do just that and have the attorneys for each city draw up an agreement with a minimum purchase price, and he volunteered to sit in on any meetings as needed. Councilor Gary Thompson then asked Zielinski if the matter was more of a housekeeping issue than anything else, and he explained that the action arose when a property owner along the road was attempting to sell their home, prompting confusion about what they actually owned.

“To assist that person, that’s what kind of spurred this on to just have the city clean it up (and) get title to the street they’ve already been using and maintaining as a public right of way,” Zielinski said.

The original motion passed by a unanimous 7-0 tally.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

maharry@timesrepublican.com.