Johnson County supervisors approve two farmstead subdivision plats, $283,695 jail-repair contract and multiple agreements

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Thursday, March 13, 2025, to approve two farmstead subdivision applications, a $283,695 professional-services agreement to stabilize the building envelope at the county jail, several historic poor-farm land-use amendments, a memorandum of understanding on next-generation endpoint protection, and routine consent items.

The board opened and closed public hearings for both subdivision applications after staff reported the proposals complied with the county’s development rules and recommended approval. The first, listed in the staff record as PCC-twenty four-twenty 8639 for “Seneca Farms Subdivision,” would create a three-lot farmstead split on a roughly 63-acre parent parcel west of Seneca Road NW; staff said the site lies in the agricultural future-land-use category, is subject to the Swisher fringe-area agreement notification requirements, would defer stormwater review to building permit stage, and that the county health department must be satisfied on water and wastewater before building. The planning-and-zoning commission recommended approval. The board adopted the resolution 5–0.

The second subdivision application, PCC-twenty five-twenty 8647 for property east of Solon on 100th and 80th Street, proposed a two-lot farmstead split with a roughly 5-acre buildable lot and a 5-acre outlot from a roughly 40-acre parent farm. Staff told the board that Solon reviewed the proposal under the Solon fringe-area agreement and that the county engineer had no objections; planning and zoning recommended approval 4–0. The board adopted the resolution 5–0.

Item 5 on the agenda was a professional services agreement with Acxiom Consultants for phase 2 of a building-envelope stabilization project at 511 South Capitol Street (Sheriff’s Office and Jail). The board approved the $283,695 agreement by unanimous vote.

Under item 6 the board read into the record and adopted a set of historic poor-farm land-use agreement amendments and related small contracts and amendments, including amounts where specified: an amendment of $530 for Simon, Adam and Mary Blythe; $950 to Alfred Matibot/Africondo Foods LLC; $0 agreements with IC Compassion and Iowa Valley RC&D doing business as Grow Johnson County; $740 to Carly McGandrews; $460 to Nasir Mohammed; and $460 to Lee and Melinda Turnbull. The group motion to adopt items 6A–6G passed 5–0.

The board also approved a memorandum of understanding with the State of Iowa Department of Management to use a next-generation endpoint detection-and-response service for managed endpoints (transcript referred to the product as "cloud strike"; the commercially known product is CrowdStrike). The MOU was adopted 5–0.

Votes at a glance: Consent agenda: payment of county claims totaling $1,739,516.85 — approved (motion carried 5–0). Seneca Farms Subdivision (PCC-twenty four-twenty 8639): preliminary and final plat for a three-lot farmstead split on ~63 acres — resolution adopted (5–0). Marcus Divoki subdivision (PCC-twenty five-twenty 8647): two-lot farmstead split east of Solon (5-acre buildable lot + 5-acre outlot from ~40-acre parent farm) — resolution adopted (5–0). Professional services agreement with Acxiom Consultants, $283,695, phase 2 building-envelope stabilization at 511 S. Capitol St. (Sheriff’s Office and Jail) — approved (5–0). Historic poor-farm land-use agreements (items 6A–6G): multiple small amendments/payments (amounts listed in minutes) — adopted (5–0). MOU with State of Iowa Department of Management for next-generation endpoint detection and response (transcript: “cloud strike”) — approved (5–0).

The board’s staff reports for the subdivision hearings emphasized that both proposals complied with the county’s Unified Development Ordinance land-use rules for farmstead splits, that stormwater management would be reviewed at the building-permit stage, and that health-department requirements for water and wastewater must be met before development. For Seneca Farms staff noted the site’s access to a gravel road with an estimated 50 daily trips and that the county engineer had no objection because farmstead splits are exempt from road-performance standards; for the Solon-area parcel staff noted access to a paved road with an estimated 290 daily trips and that Solon reviewed the subdivision under its fringe-area process.

No members of the public addressed the board on the subdivision applications during the hearings. Several supervisors gave routine reports later in the meeting; those reports did not change or condition any of the approvals taken earlier.

Next steps: subdivision plats will proceed under the conditions noted by staff (stormwater review at building-permit stage; health-department compliance for water/wastewater). The professional-services agreement and MOU will be implemented by the relevant county departments per their contracting and intergovernmental procedures.