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Read comments (24)Barry Cornish, the town's mayor, received a permit earlier this year to build a 112-foot by 42-foot building on a lot at the northwest corner of Linn and Pine Streets several months ago.
The design, he said, is a "dressed up Morton building," and he plans to use it for personal storage.
Some neighbors, however, feel this kind of building shouldn't be built in a residential area.
Joe Swain, who lives next to the lot where Cornish plans to build, is bringing the issue back to the Craig City Council.
The council is holding a special meeting 7 p.m. Thursday to address the issue.
"I didn't think this is the right place for this kind of building," Swain said. "I talked to neighbors and they said the same thing."
At the council's regular Oct. 1 meeting, Swain and more than 15 residents were present to hear the council out on the issue.
"That's a machine shed in my eyes," Swain said later. "How big of a door does this open for other people to put in big buildings? All of a sudden you'll have machine sheds where houses used to be. We just don't want to have a machine shed town."
Cornish said the building is "not a big tin machine shed."
Morton buildings have been used for everything from homes to churches, he said.
Cornish also said he cleaned up the lot the building would sit on.
"It was a big mess. This building will make the town look better and bring in more tax money for Craig," he said. "It won't lower the value of people's homes."
At the special meeting Thursday, Swain intends to share a list of signatures petitioning the council to bring the issue back to vote.
"We need 60 percent of the people who live within 600 feet of it in order to have the council vote for approval, and at that point, the council would have to pass it by 75 percent," Swain said.
The 600 foot rule includes 40 parcels of land, he added.
Part of Swain's complaint is that the agenda for the June meeting where Cornish asked for and was granted a building permit was not posted in advance of the meeting.
"The date and time of city council meetings is always posted on the city sign," Cornish stated.
The agenda for these meetings, he said, is not posted on that sign. Instead, it's usually written in the mayor's book he brings to meetings.
"It's the way the city has always done it here, and I've been here for 26 years," Cornish said.
Iowa law requires city councils to give notice not only of the time, date and place of each meeting, but also its tentative agenda at least 24 hours in advance.
Meeting minutes, Cornish said, are available at the Iowa State Bank in Craig and Craig City Hall after meetings.
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put hogs in it also, make it a full blown farm Barry
Hi Hootsy..in resonse to your last comment...it is simply a residential lot that Mayor Cornish is so adament about putting a building on that he does not see the REAL picture..it is hard for the people of Craig to allow a storage unit to go where a family dwelling with a 2-3 car garage should go. And yes we are concerned as to what it will do to the value of the real estate in the town. Also what are you going to do when in a few months someone else comes along and wants to build a BIG shed...how is this going to be handeled??? If you let one come in you're going to open the door for others......If Mayor Cornish really wants to please the people of Craig he needs to build somewhere more reasonable for the type of facility he wants.
hometown girl, you say Mayor Cornish has changed his plans 3 times, why do you think that is?, he is trying to please the people of Craig and everytime he does it, it is never good enough,you are always jealous, seems to me this isnt about the mayor building a shed devaluing property, it is about the townspeople of Craig being jealous of the mayor, you speak of his never ending bank roll, you are worried about church parking and the view of the church,maybe you should go to church and review the 10th commandment 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
,
I totally agree with "battle of the walletts". Mayor Cornish has changed his building plans 3 times.How are we to know if he will really follow through with the plan if it gets approved??? The citizens of Craig better be watching this one close as he may try to slip something up on us. It is about who has the thickest wallett and it looks like Barry has a never ending one!
its interesting to say the least the politics, citizens were told to obtain a petition for objection to building this machine shed for residents within 600 feet. the initial meeting indicated signatures had to be land owners of surrounding property not renters of the home. the 60% was met. Now the Oct 14 meeting, guess what, the criteria is now changed...valid signatures can only be 'resident land owner whose names are on the deed', to clarify this: those signatures can only be the 'resident owner, RESIDING, in the house' whose name is on the deed. Futhermore this is the 3rd revised downsized building plan that was presented and will have a resident living quarters now. It's a known fact, one petitioner was told if he signs the petition, the mayor would no longer do business with their family. So he took his name off the petition. Now what does that tell you about fairness and justice and you all being represented by 'your' mayor?? Its all about who has a thicker wallet...sad...i feel for you all on the other side of the field.
Sounds like the Mayor has an Admirer who is more interested in a Vendetta then the interest of the Community of Craig.
Kudos to Mr Swain....thanks to him we were saved from a massive "machine shed" in the center of our town. Let's hope that the new proposed one that Mayor Cornish is brining back to the Council will be more in line with existing residences. It looks like our council is not going to vote on the side of the people of Craig and the Mayor is going to get his way again!!!
I see that the City of Craig has a surplus of new housing that the tax revenue of a New Shed would not be needed.
If your think the sight of a new building in Craig would be bad what about 1500 feet to the west where there is at Cattle Lagoon.
At the last council meeting that I attended on 10/1/08 and was recorded by Mr. Joe Swain.
Mr. Cornish stated and I Quote:
That he would post permanent signs at his expense saying that?
Parking for all Church Services
I would also like too remind everyone what these lots looked like for SO LONG before Mr. Cornish started cleaning them up to better our community!
bcfarms, At the last meeting you said you had no plans to let the church having any parking. Just like a person in office to change his mind during a election
theboatman
whats wrong with a new building. If it is going to be a storage shed give the people a chance to rent out spots to store stuff in for the winter time. I know for a fact that storage places for the winter is wanted buy lots of people who don't have the room to keep it over the winter.
Theboatman
One other thing I just thought of, Joe Swain got his building approved this exact same way in the April meeting, and did not have any problems with getting his OK from the council which is right on the property line and should be off of it by 5 feet because he never got written permission from his neighbor(which is me)and I am not raising a fuss at the present time. Joe was just at the meeting last month and wanted to buy the lot north of his rental house and was asking how big of a storage building he could build, He wasnt to concerned about making a machine shed town then I dont know why he all of a sudden changed his tune.
I already have a rental unit in Ireton where I am storing my stuff right now. I would like to have my personal property closer than at Ireton and then I could rent out more units at Ireton, I have not been mayor for 26 years, but have lived in town for 26 years, I have been mayor for 10 years on and off but not consecutively. The last stick built home in Craig was 1974, that is 34 years ago the one before that was in 1966. There has been some modular houses moved in but there isn't even a basement under them, so don't tell me we will be hampering future growth. If someone is building a 3-400,000 house they are not building it in Craig. I also plan on black topping the east parking area which will create extra parking for the church. If the people of this town don't think I am doing a good enough job being mayor they can vote me out next time my job comes up for re-election. I just wanted everyone to know more of my side of the story,
thanks for your concerns, Barry Cornish
There are 5 tin sheds that I can think of so I dont know why one more would matter, Someone talked about having the shed on the outskirts of town and where it is going is pretty close to the outskirts right next to Joes property, which I dont understand why he would care in the first place because last I knew he lived in Akron with his new wife. Hootsy
The building should not be located where proposed. Seems pretty obvious to me… and I suspect anybody else that doesn't "owe" something to Barry or want a little extra space to store something. Not a commercial storage unit? Give me a break. Landowners, your right to protect your property from devaluation of this sort is the foundation of our democracy. Letting something like this go through not only causes devaluation within 600 feet but this reckless control of city growth will prevent and turn away any hope of future growth.
Barry -- be honest with the folks you represent… sell the property to Swain and build your commercial unit on the main road. Save face while you still can.
Jet down Hootsy there has been lots happening in Craig. House addition and nice garage in 2007, several new garages-2008,07,06,and 05 that come to mind. Several new grain bins, a new 40x60 building in 02, a new house in 2000, new house in 1973 all built in appropriate sites. So as you can see it's not that the citizens of Craig are against new building it's that is needs to be placed in the correct location-on the edge of town??? away from family homes and the local Church that has been there nearly 100 years!
Mayor Cornish has not been Mayor for 26 years...he has served several terms on and off since he purchased his Craig home in 1984.
So let me get this straight, your mayor of 26 years cleans up an old trailer and trees and wants to build a brand new Morton building and all the townspeople are afraid it will devalue their property,maybe they are just worried the shed will look better than their houses. Like be prudent said, just be thankful someone wants to build something in your town, When was the last time you had a brand new construction? Hootsy
The poor guy has been there 26 years give him a break!!! Come on this is farm country don't ya think you might see more Morton buildings around!
The poor guy has been there 26 years give him a break!!! Come on this is farm country don't ya think you might see more Morton buildings around!
Fantastic news to report. Someone wants to build something new in your town. Be thankful!!
vote him out
I'll put a lazy $20 that he wont be mayor after the next election
Having been at the meeting on Oct 1 I saw first hand America's political freedom in action when fifteen people walked into the City Council meeting to ask questions about a proposed building that is an oversized garage or a "dressed up Morton building" in the Mayor's description. And the Mayor continually hides behind a copy of the minutes of the June meeting when the permit was issued, stating that this is on display at the Bank which is after the fact. If Iowa codes had been followed the citizens of Craig would have been at that meeting and this issue would have been resolved already. When your the Mayor you can do whatever you want even though this may not be the concensus of the town's people that you represent. I always felt the Mayor and council members should have the townspeople in their best interest. I hope that they will vote with this in mind at their meeting on Thursday night.