County supervisors pass new subdivision street ordinance

By a 3-2 margin, the Winneshiek County Board on Monday approved a new ordinance regulating streets in county subdivisions.

The ordinance replaces a previous proposed ordinance which would have halted the practice of having the county accept maintenance of the streets by accepting the streets into the county road system.  Developers complained about the previous proposed ordinance.

Under the new proposal, subdivision streets would be accepted into the county road system if the streets met all the provisions of the Winneshiek County subdivision code.  Then the county would be responsible for plowing snow off the streets and fixing potholes, but any major maintenance would be paid for by the neighboring property owners or the county would vacate the road.

Supervisors Les Askelson, John Logsdon and Bill Ibanez voted in favor of the ordinance on Monday, while supervisors Dean Darling and Steve Bouska voted against it.

The vote came following the third public reading of the ordinance.