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Clive receives strategic-plan updates: Alice's Road progress, $14M flood grant, DART on Demand and a debate over the festival water slide
Summary
City staff updated the council on major infrastructure and planning items including near-complete Alice’s Road work, a $14 million University Boulevard flood-mitigation grant with a three-year acquisition timeline, DART service changes, and a council debate about running the Clive Festival water slide amid irrigation-stage restrictions.
City staff delivered an expansive strategic-plan update covering transportation, parks, flood mitigation, regional transit and public-safety collaboration, and the council discussed whether a planned water slide at the upcoming Clive Festival should proceed amid a Stage 2 irrigation restriction.
Staff said work on Alice's Road Corridor Phase 1A (Boston Parkway roundabout) is nearly complete and Phase 1B pavement and landscaping remain on schedule for the construction season; staff also reported an additional $1,000,000 federal allocation dedicated to Phase 4. Separately, the city noted a $14 million grant for University Boulevard flood mitigation; staff said acquisitions with identified commercial property owners are underway and that the grant imposes a three-year window to complete acquisitions and demolitions unless staff accelerates the work.
On transit, staff described DART updates: Phase 1 of the bus garage is complete, Phase 2 is planned at a cost of roughly $55 million with federal funding and no levy increase, and a new DART On Demand microtransit service will begin Sept. 28 with two fixed routes serving Clive. The council heard a brief report on Safe Streets for All funding for a University Avenue corridor study in partnership with West Des Moines and the MPO.
Council members pressed for details on an education campaign tied to the recently adopted ordinance for personal transportation devices; staff and the police chief described school outreach by the SRO, backpack flyers and social-media distribution. The council also discussed event optics around water use at the Clive Festival after staff said regional nitrate levels and heavy rains had delayed a move to lower irrigation restrictions. The mayor and several council members emphasized leadership by example and weighed a modified, lower-flow slide as a compromise; staff said a decision would be made by the following Tuesday to accommodate public expectations set by social-media notices.
Members also raised persistent safety concerns about panhandlers in narrow medians—particularly at 86th & Hickman and 86th & University—and discussed the legal and practicality constraints of local ordinances. Staff and the police chief recommended multijurisdictional coordination with Urbandale and West Des Moines because several problem medians and routes are shared across city boundaries; councilors agreed to start by seeking shared direction among the three mayors.
Other updates included completion of demolition at the Bruce Engine property, progress at Ann Park (sod and new courts), tree-program results, a resolved irrigation-metering billing glitch with customer notices sent, and a failed response to an RFP for Indian Hills greenspace visioning that staff will follow up on. The meeting closed with routine reports and adjournment at 6:55 p.m.
