Iowa City City Council to Investigate Zoning Policy to Slow Glut of High Density Apartments

Supporters of saving three buildings on East Washington Street, especially the building at 521 East Washington that currently contain the and , showed up in force to voice their displeasure about the plan of Allen Homes Inc. to bulldoze the buildings to make way for an apartment building.

Unfortunately for them, the council members maintained the city's that there is little, legally, that the city and city council can do about it.

The council members did not discuss the issue during their formal meeting, but did express their opinions on it during a work session beforehand.

"I don't like it at all, but I know there's not a lot we can do about it except express my disappointment that we didn't see that this would happen a long time ago when we could have done something about it," said city council member Connie Champion.

Mayor Pro Tem Susan Mims agreed that the city council needs to be careful when it comes to its zoning policies.

"Once its zoned, we lose control of an awful lot of things," Mims said.

City Planner Bob Miklo explained to the board that unlike the planning and zoning process where the city can have some say in what goes where, if a property owner presents a site plan for a property that is up to snuff, the city has little regal recourse to prevent it.

Miklo explained that a site plan may be sent to planning and zoning where more public comment can be gathered, but the site plan requirement still applies.

"If the site plan meets the code planning and zoning has to approve it, they just can't arbitrarily deny it," Miklo said.

Jeff Davidson, Iowa City's director of planning and community development, said that the city has heard the concern surrounding the multiple occupant apartment buildings that have become prevalent downtown.

"There is just a general feeling that it has led to some destabilization of neighborhoods," Davidson said.

Davidson proposed to the council that city staff can look out how to change the city's zoning rules to discourage the building of high density apartments, especially near older, established communities. He said staff could be ready to suggest some changes as soon as this spring.

Despite the city council members saying that they could do little to prevent the destruction of the buildings, numerous advocates for the Red Avocado and Defunct Books still chose to spoke to the council on the matter.

"A high percentage of people in this town are in complete disagreement with this," said Brandon Ross, of Iowa city. ""When something is wrong it's just plain wrong. I want you to stand up, we all want you to stand up."

Caroline Dieterle, of Iowa City, asked for council to try to find a loophole to stop the project.

"You would up your popularity by about 5,000 percent in this city if you could somehow find a way to stop this monstrosity from occurring," Dieterle said.

Jason Bradley, owner of a property at 505 E. Washington Street, a building that is adjacent but not affected, said that even if this action can't be prevented, the city could take it as a cue to prevent something similar from happening in the future.

"I just hope that this is at least a learning experience for future development," Bradley said.