The City Council approved the plans for a new indoor athletic facility for the Solon Community School District (SCSD) during the regularly scheduled March 4 meeting, along with several routine city business agenda items.

The proposed indoor training facility will be located near Solon Middle School. The building is mainly intended for student athletic training use. City Engineer Dave Schechinger added that the complex will host a large turf fieldhouse along with a plethora of various other spaces such as offices, storage areas, and restrooms.

“It’s primarily turf,” Schechinger said during the meeting. “There’s a fieldhouse and then there’s an attached support space. In the fieldhouse it’s mostly turf with a little bit of perimeter around it and a couple running lanes on one end of the building.”

School officials indicated the space will mainly serve Solon High School programs but could also become available to different youth teams and groups when not in use by official school programs.

The council approved the site plan through Resolution 26-09 after discussion about parking, landscaping, and overall building design. According to city staff, no additional parking will be added at the complex because the students using the facility will already be utilizing the parking spaces at the high school.

Schechinger said that the project meets Solon’s height requirements despite the building’s tall projected peak, as the height calculation averages both the peak and the wall height.

Council members also discussed the building’s exterior materials, which will be a brick base with metal siding. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the council’s approval of the new facility.

The council also approved the first reading of an ordinance vacating an alley in the Anders subdivision.

“This is a property request from the adjoining property owners,” City Attorney Kevin Olson said. “Once this is done, the alley will be split in half, and each property owner will receive their portion.”

The city will note the changes and property owners will have to reimburse the city for both publication and recording costs. The council also approved the first reading of an ordinance recodifying the city’s code of ordinances. Olson said the update will help modernize how Solon ordinances are stored and accessed.

“Iowa law requires you to either do supplements annually or recodify every so often,” Olson said. “This will create a new code book and a website where the current ordinances will be updated regularly.”

During the public comment session, Solon resident Toni Russo addressed the council about a recent water discussion that was held at the Solon Public Library. Russo said the event drew attendees from across Johnson County but noted that no city officials were present.

“I was disappointed,” Russo said. “I think it was an important meeting. Water is now an enormous issue, and we’ve got to start talking about it.”

Russo added that community member’s opposition to the potential Macbride Point water connection has been mischaracterized.

“The issue is not how much water we have,” she said. “The issue is that we object to our water infrastructure and tax dollars being used to subsidize development in northern Johnson County.”

The council also approved regular routine items including the consent agenda, bill, and reports from the different city departments.

The Public Works department reported on the construction of the new city hall, saying that the project is nearing completion and that a new turf grooming machine for recreation facilities is expected to arrive sometime next month in April.

“We’re pretty busy right now,” Public Works Superintendent Kris Richardson said, noting staff training, equipment upgrades, and upcoming infrastructure work.

Richardson added that the city plans to begin the First Street water main project soon, which is expected to last for around four days.

The council also set a public hearing for April 1 regarding an amendment to the city’s urban renewal plan.

The meeting concluded with council members thanking Library Director Liz King for her service to the community now that her time with the city is coming to an end.