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The new water tank is shown at Grandview Park. Sioux City councilmembers discussed fencing in the $7.5 million investment at a retreat meeting at the Siouxland Expo Center on Wednesday in Sioux City.
SIOUX CITY — The Sioux City Council discussed fencing in the new Grandview Park water tank with either chain-link or wrought iron fencing, during a retreat meeting Wednesday at the Siouxland Expo Center.
Sioux City Utilities Director Brad Puetz told the council the tank structure itself is nearly complete.
"They painted, I believe, the second coat yesterday, or they're on the second coat. But, after the painting is done, they're done and gone," he said. "The waterlines are within feet of the tank ready to be connected and, after that, it's just a matter of a little bit of beautification and getting a retaining wall up and getting everything in place."
Since the city's investment is roughly $7.5 million with the new tank alone, Puetz requested feedback on installing a fence. He said all of the city's other water assets are protected by fencing.
Two previous tanks in the park were built in the 1890s. The south tank was taken out of commission in 1993, after bulges were discovered in the structure. Throughout the years, prominent artists, such as Paul Chelstad and Mark Kochen, have painted images onto the concrete walls. Music fans, who were inspired by the annual Saturday in the Park festival, which uses the park as its venue, also left anonymous art.
"We've had discussions about painting on the tank, I'm perfectly fine with that. I think it should be controlled," Puetz said. "I think we should consider very strongly the possibility of putting a fence around that tank. It shouldn't affect any park activities."
Mayor Bob Scott asked Puetz about going with chain-link fencing, rather than wrought iron, which is the type of fencing that surrounds the city's wastewater treatment plant.
"It's not even attractive around your sewer plant, I'm sorry," Scott said. "You pay five times as much for wrought iron."
Councilman Alex Watters said he expects that there will be some pushback from residents about the fencing.
"A lot of the graffiti or murals that were on that previous tank were celebrated," he said. "There were people that were doing their senior pictures there."
City Manager Bob Padmore stressed that city staff is OK with professional artists painting murals on the new tank.
"What we're not OK with is people who then take it upon themselves, if they see a nice new painted water tower, to just start doing things on their own and declare it art," he said.
The council also reviewed a draft of the city's 2022-2026 strategic plan and talked about drilling a new well. Finance Director Teresa Fitch gave councilmembers a status update on projects funded with American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
The city has $40.6 million in ARPA funding to spend on water, sewer and broadband projects, as well as public health and negative economic impacts. The city has until Dec. 31, 2024 to allocate the funds and an additional two years to spend them.
Currently, $1.8 million is slated to go toward infrastructure for an affordable housing development, but the city hasn't identified a site for the development. A site near West Middle School and a site in Woodbury Heights are being examined.
"We want to create affordable housing, but affordable housing doesn't mean low income housing. It means starter homes for people that don't meet any guidelines for low income on a starter house," Padmore said.
The city's initial plan was to allocate $5 million in ARPA funding to Outer Drive water pressure and storage. Fitch said the matter will be brought back to the council with a request to reduce the amount to $4 million, so $1 million can be moved to the well replacement program.
Puetz said he thinks it will be "very difficult" to get the funding for the water pressure and storage project under contract before the ARPA deadline.
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City Government & Features Reporter
Butz, a Drake University graduate, has been at the Journal since 2005, covering a variety of beats, including public safety, health care and city government. She has won state and national awards, primarily for coverage of addiction and mental health.
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The new water tank is shown at Grandview Park. Sioux City councilmembers discussed fencing in the $7.5 million investment at a retreat meeting at the Siouxland Expo Center on Wednesday in Sioux City.
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