Jewell City Council looks at a planned zoning change and updated on Main Street Project.

At a recent meeting the Jewell City Council learned of a possible request for a zoning change has been made. The council learned of an interested buyer of the Wiese property who would like the zoning changed from R-1 (single and two-family  residential) to R-2 (multi-family residential). Jewell mayor Mickey Walker wanted to inquire if there any initial opposition to the change. There was no opposition from the City Council The council members will touch base with neighboring property owners. Depending of the offer is accepted, the zoning committee will meet to discuss the change and give their recommendation to the the Jewell City Council.

There were two requests made for the Main Street Project. One from Christina Denekas, the owner of 627 Main Street made a request for the approval of one concrete step outside the shop door. The other request came from Jewell Farm and Home on a ramp with 6-foot frost footings and a width of 4 feet 6 inches and a step height  of 6 inches.. An engineer with Snyder and Associates recommended paying Jet Drain an amount of $129,606.56 for work completed through June 3,2024 which is approximately 20% of the total construction work. A  resident request would be at the cost of the owner they are simply requesting the City to approve the change. The council approved all of the requests,a change order and payment for the project.

The Jewell City Council set June 24 for two public hearings. The first one is to amend the budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year and the other is for the sale of Lot 4 in the Edgewater Estates Third Addition to the city of Jewell.

Jewell city council member Steve Butler  gave an update to the council regarding the School Resource Officer (SRO). The South Hamilton School approached the City of Jewell requesting a School Resource Officer. The expense of the officer would be covered by the school, but the officer would be employed by the Police Board. The Police and School Boards both seem in favor of having an SRO. There are still details being worked out by both boards with further discussion at  a future city council meeting.

Stratford Complete Communications currently pays franchise fees, while Metronet and Alliant Energy do not. The Jewell City Council was given some information to look over before the next meeting.

Jewell JADE president Ken Outzen was present to request permission to use the Jewell City Park  on August 26th  for the Culpepper Merriweather Circus. The council approved the request for the appearance by the circus.