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Black Hawk County approves MOU with Waterloo to study relocating county roads facility
Summary
The board approved a memorandum of understanding with the City of Waterloo to evaluate swapping Longfellow property for city parcels and study relocating the county roads facility; staff said an RFP for architectural services will be issued within 30–60 days.
The Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors on July 21 approved a memorandum of understanding with the City of Waterloo to explore exchanging the county's Longfellow roads facility property at 1329 Longfellow in return for city parcels that could support a new county roads site.
Kathy Nicholas, Black Hawk County engineer, told the board the current Longfellow facility includes original mechanics bays built in 1959 and several additions, and said the county has budgeted for replacement work through local option sales tax funds. "Some of the spaces [are] inadequate; we cannot lift up our dump boxes in the original portion of the Mechanics Bays," Nicholas said.
Noah Anderson, community planning development director for Waterloo, described possible replacement parcels near the Waterloo Air and Rail Park and said one parcel on the map could be up to about 15 acres with grading, roads and utilities already in place. Anderson said the city envisions residential infill at the Longfellow site if the land is exchanged.
Nicholas said the MOU allows the county to phase relocation as funding becomes available and that staff is preparing an RFP for architectural services, expected to be released in roughly 30 to 60 days. The board approved the MOU by resolution and voice vote.
The MOU does not commit the county to a final site or construction schedule; next steps include refining site selection, beginning design work and preparing cost estimates and bids. The county will continue coordination with Waterloo staff to finalize a development agreement if both parties agree to move forward.
