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3-2 vote OKs business zoning by HS
by Rick DeClue · News · May 12, 2016
By a three-to-two vote, the West Branch City Council approved rezoning a 12.77-acre parcel located across from the high school at the southeast corner of County Line Road and West Main Street.
After two more readings in favor, the parcel would change from R-1 single-family residential to RB-1 residential/commercial.
Council members Jordan Ellyson, Brian Pierce and Mary Beth Stevenson voted “yes”, with members Colton Miller and Tim Shields opposed.
The property owner, KLM Investments, LLC did not disclose specific plans or potential buyers for the large parcel at the May 2 meeting. Yet in response to the concern about the nearby school, KLM’s Brad Larson said the proposed rezoning does not allow convenience stores with gas stations.
Larson said he sees the potential for what he described as “business professional lots.”
He said this ground is less desirable for single-family homes than the rest of the Meadows development.
The approval also covered a similar rezoning of another .82 acre parcel north of Main Street that will back up to the western boundary of the proposed Lynch Heights subdivision.
Miller and Shields both questioned potential uses of the larger site that might attract students across the busy stretch of Main Street. Miller was also concerned about the impact on Cedar-Johnson County Line Road, which he said, “can barely handle the traffic it has now.”
He also said the city does not know what plans Johnson County has for Herbert Hoover Highway as it enters the city from the west, particularly with the “ridge” that causes visibility problems as eastbound traffic slows from 55 miles per hour to the city’s posted 35 mph limit.
“We won’t get any help from Johnson County,” Miller said. “The county is years away from addressing plans for this section of the highway.”
Both Larson and representatives of Cornerstone Realty said there is demand for professional office space. Rezoning would make this parcel marketable now, rather than 10 to 15 years from now if developed as single-family homes, they added.
Larson said the Meadows will ultimately have seven or eight phases of houses before it reaches it’s western boundary. Development of the second phase is just beginning.
Mayor Roger Laughlin, supported by city attorney Kevin Olson, said the city will continue to have control of the site through allowed uses and other required approvals, such as site plan and construction reviews. Laughlin cited an assisted or independent living facility as something he would like to see here or somewhere in town.
“We are not tying ourselves,” Stevenson agreed. “We’re just providing flexibility.”
These two parcels were joined on the agenda by approvals for second and third readings of three other zoning requests, plus plans for redeveloping the Croell Redi-Mix site downtown, as the city council continues to look at ways to promote housing and other growth in West Branch.
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