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Planning director requests $11,000 for roundabout design, proposes plat‑scanning project
Summary
Ed Raver, Dubuque County planning and development director, told supervisors the zoning office needs a one‑time $11,000 design budget for a John Deere‑supported roundabout enhancement and asked to fund digitization of legacy plat records held in about 21 filing drawers.
Ed Raver, the county’s planning and development director, briefed the Board of Supervisors on zoning activity and two one‑time capital requests during the Feb. 3 budget session.
Raver said the department is a staff of roughly four people that provides support to the Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustment. He summarized 2025 activity, including about 48 zoning certificates for single‑family homes with a cited total value near $54 million, 26 zoning commission cases (20 rezones from A1 to A2) and three large subdivisions that recently began moving through the approval process.
Raver asked the Board for two discrete one‑time appropriations. First, he proposed roughly $11,000 to hire a landscape architect to produce certified plans and safety‑compliant designs for aesthetic work in two roundabouts (a John Deere partnership would provide materials and installation). “We had been approached a couple years ago by John Deere to collaborate with them on a project to maybe enhance the roundabouts,” Raver said, explaining that the planning expense is needed to meet safety specifications and permit installation.
Second, Raver requested funding to complete digitization of legacy plat case files that were not included in an earlier records project; he said the backlog equates to roughly 21 filing‑drawer equivalents and a vendor estimate was prepared based on sample drawers. Raver characterized the plat scanning as a one‑off modernization step that would reduce staff time spent handling large, irregularly shaped paper records.
Why it matters: the items combine small capital outlays with potential community visibility (roundabout landscaping and sculpture) and administrative efficiency (digitizing records). Supervisors asked clarifying questions about costs and partners; Raver said John Deere had offered to install materials and that the county’s primary expense would be the certified design work.
The board did not vote on either item during the session; Raver will provide additional detail as requested by supervisors.
