Iowa City will wait a few more months to consider rezoning a controversial plot of land along Governor Street for 84 apartment units.
The Iowa City City Council chose to delay a vote for a fourth time on Tuesday, June 17. The council twice delayed a vote before passing the first two readings in May. They also deferred a vote at their first meeting this month. If the rezoning is approved again by a six-vote supermajority of the council, it will become official.
TSB Holdings, LLC, the company owned by Tracy Barkalow, requested the rezoning and worked out many of the conditions and the prospective future of the property with city staff, who is a co-applicant on the rezoning. He’d like to convert about 5.5 acres in the 900 block of North Dodge and North Governor Street into a singular zone that would allow for the development of two 42-unit apartment buildings.
MMS Consultants requested the most recent delay to allow the team more time to develop a site plan and other aspects. Some of those details would only be subject to staff approval and would not come before the council again once the rezoning is approved.
MMS Consultants’ Jon Marner said that the company wanted to iron out and coordinate site plan details, sidewalks, building designs, and more with city staff. MMS Consultants is working on the plans for the landowner, TSB Holdings, LLC, the company owned by Tracy Barkalow.
“We’re trying to line everything up together so we can have one unified packet,” Marner said. Site plans are only subject to staff approval, not the approval of the council.
The council unanimously opted to defer on Tuesday, the second straight meeting where it did so. The potential rezoning, which first appeared on the council agenda on April 1, has been met with pushback from the Iowa City community.
The council needs a six-vote supermajority to pass the zoning change because at least 25 area residents signed and delivered protest petitions to the city in April.
Land has a controversial history
Barkalow has owned the property, sandwiched between the parallel one-way streets of Dodge and Governor, for nearly two decades and has tried to rezone it before.
A 2011 project that would have built 18 multi-family residential units was vetoed by the city council, 6-0. The project “received a significant amount of opposition from neighborhood residents,” according to the staff report.
That led to a legal battle that eventually reached the Iowa Supreme Court in 2018. The court halted the city’s enforcement of its new zoning ordinance and allowed multi-family development to proceed.
The court ruled that Iowa City was largely permitted to exercise its ability to rezone the property as it had, but also said that TSB’s project should have been allowed to proceed, as some parcels were specially designated in a 1987 ruling with the then-landowners to allow multi-family units.
City has made no mention of Barkalow’s sale offer
Barkalow previously suggested that the city purchase the land from him at a fair market rate, though no city staff or councilors have addressed the option publicly. Barkalow’s May 5 letter to the city included an attachment that listed 902-906 Governor Street, an apartment complex on the west side of the property, for $9 million.
Realtor.com shows the same slice of property is now listed for $5.65 million and indicates that the listing was updated on May 20.
Making room for ‘Goosetown’ apartments
Planning and Zoning Commission documents from February describe Barkalow’s proposed Governor Street project as “Goosetown Apartments.”
Preliminary plans call for each building to be three stories tall. A first-floor layout shows plans for eight one-bedroom and eight two-bedroom apartments. Each apartment in the first-floor plan would have a porch. The two-bedroom apartments will have access to two bathrooms.
A lower level would be reserved for parking.
The two buildings would be largely exact copies of one another, with the first facing north and the second facing northeast.
Planning & Zoning emphasizes affordable housing need
During a consultation with the Planning & Zoning Commission before its formal meeting on May 6, the seven-member board emphasized the need for housing in Iowa City, saying it should not turn down an opportunity to expand the supply even if it is not specifically designated as affordable.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-1 to approve the rezoning, matching the council’s vote distribution during its first two votes of approval on the project.
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Council delays Governor St. rezoning as consultant finalizes details for future apartments
Reporting by Ryan Hansen, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
