Urbandale council adopts 2025–2030 capital improvements plan after public debate over Aurora Avenue ‘Complete Streets’

The Urbandale City Council on Tuesday approved the city’s 2025–2030 Capital Improvements Program, a planning document that funds design and sequencing for streets, stormwater and parks projects including a proposed “Complete Streets” redesign of Aurora Avenue and related corridors.

The vote followed a public hearing in which residents, bicycling advocates and business partners gave mixed reaction to the Aurora/70th Street Complete Streets proposal. Council member Bridget (chair of the CIP committee) told the council the CIP committee “unanimously approved the document” after detailed review and public hearings, and staff provided a new exhibit showing the portion of total construction dollars that are stormwater-related versus what the stormwater utility actually funds.

The action matters because the CIP guides bonding, debt service and the next municipal budget; the council’s approval provides staff direction to include the plan in budget preparation. Finance and city staff emphasized that the CIP is a planning document and that some stormwater needs shown in the plan are not yet funded by stormwater utility revenues.

Residents who spoke during the hearing urged differing outcomes. Tom Small, who lives near the proposed corridor, said he supports the Complete Streets project on safety grounds and cited collision figures he had collected: “From 2017 to 2022…there have been at least 42 total crashes and sadly 1 fatality,” he told the council, urging the city to reduce speeding and crashes. Betty Salmon, an Urbandale resident of 40 years, also backed the proposal and asked the council to “give this a chance,” saying communities typically come to appreciate such changes after implementation.

Cycling advocates framed the change as a safety and economic benefit. Larry Loss, representing the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, described his own crash in Urbandale that left him with two surgeries, 17 days in the hospital and two months away from work; he said well-defined bike lanes “lead to clear and predictable environments for all users” and that cyclists will use dedicated lanes when available.

Other speakers raised concerns focused on traffic capacity and school-area safety. Jason Cook, who identified concerns about the Aurora Avenue segment near two Urbandale schools, warned that reducing Aurora from four lanes to two without lowering posted speed limits could increase backups at school drop-offs and spur driver frustration. He argued that “reducing these lanes will actually make the lives of Urbandale residents worse, not better,” and asked the council to reconsider designs.

Council members and staff acknowledged those concerns while reiterating the planning nature of the CIP. Council and staff said the packet now includes a new front-schedule exhibit that quantifies stormwater-related construction costs and how much is currently funded; that exhibit will be included in future packages. The council also thanked the CIP committee and staff for the length of review and public engagement.

Votes and next steps: the council opened and closed the public hearing, then approved the CIP (council correspondence identified as council letter 8-044) to carry forward into budget work. The plan approval does not commit the city to final project designs; staff will return with project-level details, funding strategies and bonding requests during the budget process.

Community context and implementation risks: council members noted there was not unanimity on the Complete Streets concept but characterized the CIP as a planning tool to guide subsequent project-level discussion. Staff said some stormwater projects shown in the CIP are not fully funded by the stormwater utility and will require further budgeting or alternative funding; the exhibit added by staff is intended to make that gap clear.

The council also held a second public hearing later in the meeting on a separate development agreement and voted to continue that hearing to the next regular meeting, leaving that matter open for additional public input.