By: Donovan W. Mann – [email protected]
Humboldt, IA – City official continue to discuss the idea of vacating city right of way in the Wheatland addition in Humboldt.
The City of Humboldt continues their discussions on vacating a stretch of city right of way in the Wheatland addition. During the Humboldt City Council meeting on July 20, there was a public hearing held to further the discussions on how to fix a property line issue in the Wheatland addition. City Administrator Travis Goedken says discussions were centered on the idea of vacating two areas of city right of ways.
Goedken does confirm the area the city is looking to vacate. In a “long story short” explanation, the city administrator says the city is mainly looking at an area that exists on paper as Risvold Street. He says the city is considering vacating the whole stretch of city right of way and adjusting the property lines. When looking at it in a grid form there are two “columns” of parcels. The plan would be to take the 30 feet of Risvold Street and split it between the two columns of 50 feet each.
With how the area is platted now there is a house that currently sits in the city right of way. Goedken says the house is attempting to be sold by Marline Thompson of Thompson Real Estate and the Thul Estate. With the house sitting on city right of way it affects the title and makes the sale more difficult. The city administrator says the issue would be fixed if the city vacates Risvold Street and is able to adjust the property lines.
As previously reported by KHBT this problem was created in 1975 when a land survey was done for the Wheatland addition but forgot to include Risvold Street and another area existing on paper as Averson Alley. In 2014 the problem was first brought forward and Goedken says the process has been long as they moved forward to fix the problem. He also says the process relies heavily on voluntary participation from all property owners in that area.
The discussion on vacating those city right of ways in the Wheatland addition will be continued by the city going forward. No action was taken by council on this matter in their meeting.