Troy Mills Village Plan (PDF)

LINN COUNTY VILLAGE PLANNING Village of Troy Mills Revitalization Project • Identifying Linn County’s historic rural villages. • Establishing revitalization and development strategies. • Cooperative visioning between community-based organizations, area residents, local business owners and local government. Linn Count Village Planning PAGE 2 Project Overview Linn County has several rural villages that historically served as small, but vital community centers. Troy Mills has been identified as one of these centers. Linn County Planning and Development staff are working toward the establishment of a revitalization strategy which accommodates the cooperative visioning of several Troy Mills community-based organizations, area residents, local business owners, and local government. The development history of Troy Mills reveals its importance as a social, cultural, and economic core for its residents as well as for those in neighboring communities. Although businesses currently operate in the Troy Mills commercial district, there are also empty storefronts and vacated lots, remnants of former commercial successes. Working to establish a redevelopment strategy for Troy Mills, the planning process will reveal opportunities for Troy Mills to regain its former vitality in commercial, residential, and cultural endeavors. To accomplish this, Troy Mills area residents and Linn County Planning and Develop- ment staff identified several planning initiatives that: support the shared-vision process, identify needed public facilities and services, develop consensus for present and future land use, define village character and support financial incentives that eliminate barriers to the rural village development process. Over the past few months, Linn County Planning and Development staff have visited Troy Mills, assessed its physical characteristics and determined its potential for future redevelopment and revitalization. In addition to this process, a set of Troy Mills Village Public- Input Meetings (called charrettes) were held where participants identified qualities and concerns for Troy Mills. Results of the preliminary study and public input workshops together reflect major issues confronting Troy Mills village today. Results from these meetings will di- rect future concepts and development guidelines for the Village of Troy Mills. Linn County Village Planning PAGE 3 Inside This Document Project Overview 2 Table of Contents 3 Village Location 4-5 Village Growth Sequence and Development History 6-9 Village Character 10-11 Physical Characteristics 12-14 Community Focus Areas 15-17 Development and Design Characteristics/WSR 18-19 Design Elements 20 Troy Mills Village Public Input Meeting #1: Qualities/Concerns 21-22 Troy Mills Village Public Input Meeting #2: Action Plans 23-24 Troy Mills Village Public Input Meeting #3: Action Plan Strategies 25-26 Community Clean-up 27 Streetscape Planning 28 Flood Preparedness 29 Flood Damage Reduction 30 Housing Developments 31 Conceptual Development Plan 32 Study Conclusions, Next Steps and Final Recommendations 33-34 Credits: This project was made possible through the support of the Linn County Board of Supervisors, Linn County Planning and Zoning Commission and through the assistance of Troy Mills community mem- bers and Linn County Planning and Development Staff. Brochure design, layout, and photography by Kimberly K. Dickey, Project Coordinator. Linn Count Village Planning PAGE 4 Location: Village of Troy Mills T-intersection in Troy Mills Aerial Photo of Troy Mills Village in 2003 Troy Mills is located in a rural area of Spring Grove Township (5-86-7), Linn County, Iowa. The village is intersected by two well-traveled, hard surfaced two-lane roads: Troy Mills Road (Main Street), and Coggon Road. The two roads meet to form a T-intersection at the core of the Troy Mills Village commercial district. Coggon Road (east bound) channels traffic to nearby Coggon, Iowa and beyond. Troy Mills Road (north and south bound) channels traffic in the direction of and through Troy Mills from nearby Walker and Central City, and easily provides access to nearby I-380 and subse- quently Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The topography of the surrounding region is characterized by the floodplain of the Wapsipini- con River. The river channel hugs the southern and western portions of Troy Mills Village. Commercial and residential areas of the village sit somewhat elevated in a bank-like fashion above the Wapsipini- con River. All other areas surrounding Troy Mills Village are characterized by agricultural farmland, with minimal to moderate rolling timbered hills to the northeast and northwest. Linn County Village Planning PAGE 5 Village Boundaries In an effort to establish or define our project study area, we considered both real and perceived boundaries for the Village of Troy Mills. ‘Real’ boundaries suggest that the village strictly encompasses areas laid out according to surveyed and legal Meets and Bounds. ‘Perceived’ boundaries suggest that the village stretches beyond boundaries identified as ‘real,’ into what can be referred to as an ‘area of influence’. Thus, the project study area for the Village of Troy Mills was defined as that which falls directly and indirectly within a one half mile ‘area of influence’ of the center of Troy Mills Village. The center of Troy Mills Village is located at a three-way stopping point: where Coggon Road and Troy Mills Road form a T-intersection within the village. All things in regard to Troy Mills, radiate from this point. This definition serves a dual purpose. First, this definition accommodates the notion that the Troy Mills community extends beyond what any plat map depicts: beyond commercial and residential corridors, into rural areas, and nearby towns and cities. Second, by incorporating the use of this definition, the scope of our study was effectively narrowed as community focus areas, destination nodes and corridors, open-space, infrastructure, topography and land-use trends were identified within this one half mile ‘area of influence.’ Overall, use of this term adds to the definition of village character, and raises issues in regard to future planning for the Village of Troy Mills. These will be discussed further in subsequent portions of this document. Linn Count Village Planning PAGE 6 1869 Plat Map 1906 Orthogonal Grid Layout 1914 Plat Map 1895 Orthogonal Grid Layout 1933 Sanborn Insurance Map 1907 Plat Map 1921 Plat Map Linn Count Village Planning PAGE 7 The Village of Troy Mills was originally platted in 1869, though an orthogonal grid layout for the Village of Troy Mills was not available until pub- lished in 1895. The village layout depicts 8 formal blocks with 8 lots each. 1954 Assessor’s Maps adhere to the original layout for the Village of Troy Mills and comparatively show little growth for the village through time. Since 1954, the Village of Troy Mills has experienced minimal growth along northern, southern and eastern edges of Troy Mills. Current aerial photography for the unincorporated Village of Troy Mills reveals that while the number of structures on lots may have in- creased, numbers of lots and lot sizes have remained for the most part static over time. Re- cords document only periodic structural updates, and structural replacements due to flooding of the Wapsipinicon River. Spring 2000 aerial photography. Unincorporated Vil- lage of Troy Mills, Iowa. Village of Troy Mills Growth Sequence Linn Count Village Planning PAGE 8 Development History Troy Mills village history reveals that its settlement was the result of three fishermen’s ability to keep a secret. While building a dam for the purpose of trapping fish on the Wapsipinicon River in the early 1850’s, Amos Long, Henry Holman, and Andrew Whissennand sought the perfect location for a saw mill. For an entire year, until they could together raise the $60.00 assessor’s fee to register a claim in Dubuque, Iowa, the business idea remained undisclosed. The village of Troy Mills was founded in 1853, the 21st town in the state, and by fall of 1854, the saw mill’s construc- tion was underway and completed in 1855. The saw mill at Troy Mills Village is said to have pro- duced the best oak building materials in the township, with a daily output of 200’ of lumber for a day’s work. Plentiful natural resources such as water and timber were what first attracted early set- tlers to the area. In years to follow, the Village of Troy Mills offered much more to its rural inhabi- tants. A short decade’s time brought a three-story limestone saw and grist mill, called Hoosier Mills, which also housed an on-site store where ground wheat, buckwheat and corn could be pur- chased. Housed at the same site, both were intermittently in and out of operation through the 1920’s, until the building was eventually sold to businessmen from Delhi. Their business intentions converted the mill into an electric power plant, providing electricity to the village of Troy Mills and surrounding communities. Iowa Railway and Light Company eventually took over the property, and in time sold the property only for it to be deconstructed in 1932. Portions of the foundation are extant and have been incorporated into a residential structure located on the previous mill site. Linn County Village Planning PAGE 9 Other early village developments brought the Hoover Wesleyan Church in 1851, a general store in 1865, and a five-span wooden bridge across the Wapsipinicon in 1870. This bridge was eventually replaced by a three-span steel girder bridge in 1887, and once again replaced in 1950 with a standard 445’ continuous span extant bridge. A school and a hotel were added in 1871, and a drug store in 1872. Troy Mills Village supported a general store, a bank, a hardware store, a grain elevator, and a post office. In 1898 a new Methodist Church was dedicated to the Village of Troy Mills and in 1900 a new two-story building was erected to house the International Order of Odd Fellows (est.

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