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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Helping fund an initial study to silence trains in Ottumwa made its way onto the agenda at the work session for the Ottumwa City Council Monday night.

Tim Schwartz with Ottumwa Progress Incorporated discussed the benefits of turning Ottumwa into a quiet zone.

"I think that there are certainly some benefits to it, obviously there is a quality of life improvement for people, not just for those along the corridor but for everybody, I think it impacts everybody."

Schwartz said a quiet zone would improve the property values near the tracks and could attract more people to live downtown.

Councilman Mitch Niner supports the idea, but with issues such as streets and sewers needing repairs now might not be the time.

“I think we have a commitment to our investors that we already have downtown. We have people without a bridge on Davis Street. I think we have a lot more priorities to handle right now instead of going this way."

An early estimate has the project around $300,000, but that is based on what Burlington Iowa did in achieving their quiet zone.

Councilman Keith Caviness supports the idea. He said that when the time comes for the project, the city and OPI should look at private investors. Councilman Caviness said he would be willing the support the project as a financial investor, but first the study needs to be done.

"The bottom line is I think if there is something we could do that is reasonable on a financial standpoint to eliminate or decrease that volume I we should consider it."

Other items on the agenda included Ottumwa’s involvement in joining nine other cities in filing a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency.

They say the EPA made and enforced rules without following due process and abiding by the rules making process.

The council debated investing $25,000 to join the lawsuit. It could end up saving taxpayers tens of millions on the ongoing 17-year sewer separation project.

The city also briefly looked at highway expansion plans in southeast Iowa.