No consensus on the Chauncey: Iowa City Planning and Zoning splits vote

A rezoning request for the proposed Iowa City tower known as the Chauncey has failed to receive a stamp of approval from the city's planning and zoning commission following a split vote.

Following a three-hour Thursday meeting, Iowa City's Planning and Zoning Commission voted 3-3, with commission members Carolyn Dyer, Charlie Eastham, and John Thomas opposed and Paula Swygard absent, to approve recommending a rezoning of approximately 27,200 square feet of largely city-owned property on the corner of College and Gilbert streets from public to commercial.

The Iowa City Council is next to vote on rezoning the site, which would allow for the construction of the 15-story Chauncey.

'What I do see is it's something that perhaps can bring a benefit to the community here and I don't know that it's going to do all the damage that people are talking about,' commission chair Ann Freerks said. 'I know I'm going to make a lot of people unhappy ... but I think I'm going to vote in favor of this.'

Other members of the commission were not as convinced.

'I can't see any reason why this building needs to be here,' Commissioner Dyer said.

Several members of Trinity Episcopal Church — which has been located across Gilbert Street from the proposed Chauncey site since 1871 — spoke against the rezoning, arguing that the building's height would block natural light for the church and that it would further reduce already sparse downtown parking options.

'I do have a genuine regard for the cautious nature that people from Trinity have voiced when approaching this particular parcel,' Eastham said. 'I give credit to those cautious.'

On the flip side, Nancy Bird, who spoke on behalf of the Iowa City Downtown District, said the district's board was in support of the rezoning based on the residential and commercial spaces, as well as the cultural amenities, detailed in the Chauncey plan.

Proposed as a 15-story mixed-use tower, the Chauncey would include two floors of 19,000 square feet a piece, lower-level parking, a 35-unit hotel and eight floors of apartment units. The Chauncey's first two floors would include 100- and 150-seat movie theaters, two six-lane bowling alleys, a cafe, art and sculpture galleries and an outdoor patio.

It was more than two years ago that the Iowa City Council picked Moen Group as the preferred developer for the city-owned site.

Last year, the Iowa City Economic Development Committee recommended approval of $14.2 million in public assistance for the roughly $49 million tower.