Ironwood prohibits dumping snow in residential areas

By LARRY HOLCOMBE

lholcombe@yourdailyglobe.com

Ironwood — The Ironwood City Commission adopted an ordinance prohibiting the dumping of snow in most residential districts at its meeting Monday.

The evening began with a public hearing on the proposed ordinance where seven people spoke in favor of the measure. Most of them live near a vacant lot in a northside neighborhood that a private contractor has been using to dump snow. The contractor had a permit from the city to do this, but the neighbors complained of excessive snow melt, early morning noise and garbage left after the snow melted.

City Manager Paul Anderson said he was working with city staff to find a suitable site on public property for such contractors to dump snow. He said they are looking at a spot near the city’s compost site that abuts the Miners Memorial Heritage Park. He said they’ll have to come up with procedures for unlocking the gate and pushing the snow back. He said earlier attempts to open the city’s snow dump areas to private use were not effective.

The city’s yard waste compost site is free to residents of the city during late spring, summer and fall, while contractors dumping yard waste are charged a fee.

Monday’s new ordinance prohibits snow dumping from non-adjacent properties in R-1, R-2 and R-4 residential districts, as well as a C-1 Neighborhood Commercial district, that could include a neighborhood grocery or a small professional building such as an attorney’s office, according to Community Development Director Tom Bergman.

Mayor Kim Corcoran said it is important that the city continues its search for a place for contractors to dump snow.

The commission also:

—Agreed to a $13,280 change order and $13,466 payment for continued work by Flowtrack Mountain Bike Trails of Marquette on constructing a mountain bike trail in the Miners Memorial Heritage Park. Anderson said work is scheduled to be completed in late August.

—Authorized the calling for bids for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Lead Service Line Replacement project. Anderson said the city received $3 million in ARPA funds from the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy for the work. Work is expected to occur in 2024 and 2025.

—Approved application for a state Rural Development grant for $50,000 and allocation of $20,000 cash match, for a total of $70,000 to complete a strategic housing study. Bergman said the grant would help study housing needs, partly by talking to employers, as well as project what building out one or two housing sites on public land would look like.

Anderson updated the commission on several ongoing projects, including:

—Phase 1 water plant project continues to move toward an Aug. 3 loan closing with USDA-Rural Development.

—Utility line work has been completed on the Hemlock Street construction and work is now moved to reconstruction of the roadway.

—Angelo Luppino will begin mill and overlay work on portions of Lowell Street and Luxmore Street around Aug. 2.

—A downstate crew was soon to begin a crack sealing project in the Norrie and Jessieville neighborhoods.

—Bid documents are being pulled together for Curry Park campground electrical improvements.

Anderson informed the commission that they are going to be filling some Department of Public Works positions in the weeks to come, including an equipment repair person, DPW lead person and an equipment operator.

He also said the Code Enforcement and Public Safety have worked together to send out 240 blight notices in 2023. While the vast majority of the notices have been cleaned up, “we are continuing the state-mandated process on the remaining properties out of compliance,” he said, adding three non-compliant properties will be going through the public hearing process for blight at the next meeting.