The council agreed with Development Director Ariel Bertran that plans to demolish the former Hilltop School located at 915 High St. can proceed. The cost for demolition is $90,000.

The demolition of the school is the latest example of the city’s more aggressive action to rid the city of nuisance properties.

“This work reflects the city’s stepped-up approach to nuisance abatement and our commitment to proactively addressing unsafe properties to protect public safety and maintain the quality of our neighborhoods,” Bertran said.

Like most cities in the country, Webster City was once divided into wards for city council representation. Sometime in the late 19th century, there were five city wards, each represented by a council member. Today, council members are elected “at-large,” meaning they represent the entire city, not just a ward. Originally, each ward was to have an elementary school.

The first school east of the Boone River was named the Fifth Ward School. Later it would be called East Side School, and after a 1946 fire, was renamed Hilltop School. In 1948, Zitterel-Mills, of Webster City, completed construction of a row of modern classrooms on the south side of the original building. Francis Lind was appointed principal.

On Jan. 4, 1989, Superintendent of Schools Bill Garner outlined a plan to meet upgraded standards for elementary education in Iowa. One of the new regulations required a media center, and media center attendant in each attendance center. In plain English, each school had to have a library and full-time librarian. Given declining enrollment of those years, the district judged it couldn’t afford to build and staff new libraries at Lawn Hill and Hilltop schools, and both were closed. For a while, Project Head Start was centered at Hilltop, then it was proposed to become a center for study of outdoor nature. Eventually it closed altogether.

In other action, the council:

n Set a public hearing date of March 2 at 6:05 p.m. for a first reading of an action to enlarge the city’s Riverview-CBD Urban Renewal District. The measure will extend the district south along Superior Street to Closz Drive from its present boundary at Ohio Street. The purpose is to capture TIF revenues generated by redevelopment of several properties along Superior, including the former K-Mart building, and redevelopment of the former Doc’s Stop by Brew Oil, Storm Lake.

n Approved a second reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 46, Article V, Division 1, Section 46-207 of the city code, extending the downtown district in which parking is prohibited from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. A first reading was approved at the council’s Jan. 19 meeting. Since there was no public commentary or objections, the council voted to waive the required third reading and also adopted and passed the measure into law.

n Approved a second reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 46, Article 1, Section 46-1, and Article IV, Division 1, Section 46-150 of city code, prohibiting use of engine and compression, “Jake” brakes within the city limits of Webster City. The measure is in response to complaints of excessive noise created by semi-trucks on U.S. Highway 20. As with the downtown parking ordinance, above, the council waived a third reading, passing and adopting the measure as law.

Homes in some of the city’s newest neighborhoods are adjacent to U.S. Highway 20, and traffic through Webster City on that road has increased an estimated 14%, or about 1,375 vehicles per day, since 2017.

The residents in this area are not just imagining there’s more noise from trucks and their brakes. Enforcement of the statute will mostly rely on truckers seeing signs and avoiding using the noisy brakes while passing through Webster City.

The council’s next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 16 in the council chambers at city hall, beginning at 6 p.m. All meetings of the city council are open to the public.