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A long tube of trash cans helps guide debris from the upper levels of the Harvester Building to a truck below in downtown Ottumwa. The new owners are renovating the historic structure and are planning a skywalk. Courier photo by Mark Newman.
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Ottumwa City Council OKs first step for skywalk
OTTUMWA — The Ottumwa City Council has voted on it once and another vote is coming, but it’ll always be up in the air.
“It” is the skywalk that could connect the city parking ramp in the 100 block of East Second Street and the Harvester Building, corner of Market and Second streets.
Ottumwa Planning Director Dave Shafer told the council this week that Parkview Plaza, Inc., bought the Harvester Building, formerly known as the Hofmann Building. The corporation has submitted a proposal for constructing a pedestrian walkway that would connect the second level of the building to the second level of the parking ramp.
The council unanimously approved a resolution for a public hearing on the skywalk agreement and easement. The hearing will be 6:30 p.m. Aug. 5, during the next regular council meeting.
Councilwoman Shannon Addison said the city officials wanted to take the matter “to a public forum for citizen input.”
“We’re looking for public comment. We want to know how citizens feel about this,” she said Thursday.
Councilman Keith Caviness said the council “had no opposition to the potential to put the skywalk” there.
The council did discuss a parking space being lost to the skywalk and the city’s air rights over the driveway between the structures, according to Caviness.
The councilman also has a business downtown and he “appreciates more activity” in the area.
“People like the Schwartzes are making downtown alive again,” he said.
Tim Schwartz of Hotel Ottumwa said the skywalk will make parking “more accessible for the existing offices and for future apartment tenants.”
“The parking ramp isn’t used to capacity and this [skywalk] will help utilize the existing parking,” Schwartz said. “This is a good thing and we’re excited about it.”
Schwartz said the skywalk from the Hofmann Building’s second floor is “close to the same elevation” as the parking ramp’s upper level.
“Our thought is have the skywalk covered but the plans aren’t finalized yet,” he said. “The city has been very accommodating and easy to work with.”
Schwartz told the Courier July 1 that his family plans to change the building’s name from Harvester to “The Hofmann Lofts.”
“[The skywalk] appears to be a very positive request, an appropriate and fair one for Mr. Schwartz,” Shafer said Thursday.
Cindy Toopes can be reached at (641) 683-5376 or via e-mail at cindy@ottumwacourier.com.
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