In recent years, city officials and other local groups in Manchester, Iowa have been proactive about growing and improving their community. In particular, aggressive strategies to stimulate housing development and investments in tourism have started to pay off, as new housing subdivisions pop up and the recently-developed whitewater park in the middle of town attract visitors from throughout the region.

One of the challenges facing the City of Manchester is the development of subdivisions outside of the city boundaries, which means that the City provides some services to county residents without receiving the full benefits of counting them in their population. Additionally, development that occurs just outside the city boundaries can inhibit the ability of the city to grow and, because Delaware County does not having zoning ordinances, could potentially be done in a disorganized manner with substandard results that is inefficient for extending city services (i.e. sewer and utilities) and can detract from first impressions of the community.

For these reasons and more, the law allows for cities to regulate development a certain distance outside of their official boundaries. State of Iowa code states that zoning powers “may be extended by ordinance by any city to the unincorporated area up to two miles beyond the limits of such city, except for those areas within a county where a county zoning ordinance exists.�

The Manchester Strategic Growth Plan developed by a graduate planning team recommends strategies and actions that prevent disorganized and sprawling growth within the two-mile buffer area (i.e., outside the
city’s corporate limits) of Manchester, all while accommodating the needs of the projected population changes within the city. The efforts of this plan focus on important opportunities to advance growth
through the year 2030.

This plan contains information essential for planning the two-mile area surrounding Manchester as well as within the city boundary. Overall, the plan promotes growth in appropriate areas to protect against sprawling development and the loss of prime farmland and natural areas. It identifies two groups of land as undesirable for development. First, the land with a high Corn Suitability Rating (CSR), that should be preserved for agricultural uses, and second, the land that falls within the 100-year floodplains that put properties and their residents at risk.

Following that, the Planning Team investigated the existing opportunities for infill development & redevelopment within the city to accommodate its growth, where the city services and infrastructure already exist, and when land in the city is not available, the plan then provides suggestions for future beneficial annexations that address the cityâ€s needs.

This plan also provides policy recommendations to prevent disorganized development in the two-mile buffer area beyond the city limits through establishing extraterritorial zoning power. The Manchester Strategic Growth Plan will serve as a guide for future planning and development to manage growth and make the most efficient use of the areaâ€s resources.

The West Delaware County Community School District (West Delaware CCSD) is based in Manchester, Iowa and serves the communities of Dundee, Greeley, Manchester, Masonville, and Ryan. The district operates three schools, all in Manchester.

The school district ranks among the top in the state of Iowa. They have award winning arts and athletics programs and offer unique programs such as Delta V coding school, apprenticeship programs to HS seniors, and a pre-school. They are the only school district that offers e-Sports (partnering with Hawkeye Community College on this endeavor).

The community is supportive of the school district. Most of the involvement comes from parents and businesses in Manchester. Despite the accolades the West Delaware CCSD has received, students are leaving during open enrollment. Open Enrollment is the process by which parents/guardians residing in an Iowa district may enroll their children into another Iowa school district under the terms and conditions of Iowa Code section 282.18 and 281–Iowa Administrative Code 17.

When parents opt for open enrollment, the result is a loss of funding to the district. West Delaware CCSD superintendent Dr. Kristen Rickey has done some informal research to better understand the reasons why parents decide to enroll their child in a different school district. Dr. Rickey has data of where people are going in open enrollment. The data needs to be analyzed for key insights and implications as part of the research into getting at the root causes for why parents are opting for open enrollment. The district feels they need a marketing communication plan to increase the publicâ€s awareness of all the great things the school district offers.

In order to better understand and address this issue, marketing students used existing data and additionally surveyed families within the district and those that have open enrolled out of the district. The team used this information and other best practices to create a public relations and marketing communication plan to increase the publicâ€s knowledge and awareness of all the things the school district offers. The marketing team also provided an implementation plan to help West Delaware CCSD manage the recommendations.

Manchester Municipal Airport is located at 1561 Early Stagecoach Road. Runway 18/36 runs perpendicular to Early Stagecoach Road, and as such, Runway 36 has a displaced threshold of 305†due to clearance. Closing the portion of Early Stagecoach Road adjacent to the runway area would assist in reducing the displacement threshold.

The project entailed determining the best location for rerouting Early Stagecoach Road, while providing access to the airport and adjacent farm land. The airport, on the west reaches of the city, lays just north of Early Stagecoach as it runs to the northwest. Rerouting the road will allow the city to decrease the current displacement threshold of 305†for runway 36.

As part of this project, the team created a site plan – consisting of vertical and horizontal alignments, cross sections of the road, a corridor surface, and material volumes, determined the existing and final grading cut or fill requirements, and manage stormwater drainage and runoff. Final cost estimates are also provided in the final report.

Shelly Park Redevelopment has a couple design challenges. The City of Manchester’s goal for the park redevelopment is to include pedestrian access from the parking lot behind the buildings downtown, to Franklin Street and the store frontages. Pedestrian access includes ADA compliant walkways. Existing retaining walls for the flower beds and the gazebo area are showing their age and are deteriorating. Park redevelopment needs to take into consideration the existing gazebo, needed shade and picnic areas, as well as riverfront visibility.

The engineering planning team began with the objectives given by the clients, which include the design of new retaining walls, inclusion of an ADA accessible sidewalk, maintenance of needed shade in the day and adequate lighting after dark, an incremental reduction in flood threat and designing around how people now interact with the Maquoketa River from Shelly Park, particularly since the creation of the whitewater park. In addition to making the park functional for all residents and visitors, the engineering team designed new concepts to reimagine the use of the space, including an amphitheater and replacing the deteriorating gazebo with a modern new concrete lookout over the river. Design renderings and cost estimates are included in the final report.

In 2015, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources conducted a map update of the Cityâ€s waterways along the eastern portion of the City of Manchester. This revised study resulted in 239 new parcels being placed within the floodway or floodplain. The revised maps have raised a number of problems for homeowners. This ranges from reduced property values to having to purchase flood insurance when they were not required prior to the study being completed.

The Waterway and Dry Run Remediation and Redevelopment should look at cost/benefit analysis for ways to reduce the base flood elevations, removing/redeveloping properties located within the floodway, and redevelopment efforts for areas affected by buyouts and removals.

The student engineering team was tasked with minimizing flood risk and cost to the residents of Manchester. The updated FEMA flood maps show that sections of the town are now at elevated flood risk relative to previous assessments. Increased flood risk impacts the community both directly (flooded structures) and indirectly (elevated flood insurance or reduced home values). Additionally, the impacted area is a relatively low-cost residential area, so displaced community members could be unable to relocate. To ensure public safety and minimize financial burden, the team worked with Manchester officials and engineers at Fehr Graham to reduce flood peaks and update storm infrastructure.

The primary aspect of the team’s approach was creating detention basins to provide storage. This helped decrease flood peaks downstream by delaying the movement of water, creating more uniform flows. This approach required a large footprint, but it also minimized concerns for downstream impact and delayed the need for future upgrades.

Beyond the detention basins, the team included several recommendations for further investigation, including bioswales along Main Street and in city parks, a green roof design for West Delaware High School, and “daylighting” a buried channel so that flood potential is not magnified by choke points along the tributary. The daylighting recommendation considered the need to remove a handful of properties from the waterway. Designs and cost estimeates were included in the final report.

The Manchester Fire Department recently acquired a lot behind the fire station and have an interest in using the space to construct a storage facility and pave the remaining area for a parking lot. The new building should have similar characteristics of the existing fire station, while not detracting from the residential neighborhood. Storm water runoff from the site will need to be managed and controlled.

Infrequently used equipment currently occupies space in the existing fire station that could be better utilized for everyday needs of the department. The new cold storage facility will serve as the primary location to store this equipment, including but not limited to a boat, a trailer, kayaks, and ice water and rescue equipment. The department initially proposed a 30″æ30†storage facility in the northwest corner of the lot; however, this configuration would not have been adequate to meet their storage requirements. Two building size alternatives were considered and presented to the Manchester Fire Department as well as multiple locations corresponding with maximized parking designs.

The main challenge faced during this project was striking a balance between maximum storage space and maximum parking spaces on site. An additional challenge was keeping the overall project costs to a minimum in order to make implementation of the designs feasible. Constraints for this project included restrictions on the buildingâ€s placement location due to city codes and setbacks requirements. Finally, an oak tree in the northwest corner of the site required protection. No construction or changes to the site are to be implemented within a 15†radius of this tree in to protect the roots. Additionally, during construction, the tree and its protected radius should be roped off to avoid any heavy vehicles driving above and damaging the roots.