Council rejects Kum & Go proposal

CEDAR RAPIDS - The City Council last night rejected Kum & Go's proposal to build a convenience store at the current site of the Vernon Inn restaurant at Mount Vernon Road and Memorial Drive SE.

After an hour-long public hearing, none of the seven council members in attendance were willing to make a motion in favor of Kum & Go's request to change the city's future land use map and zoning.

Without a motion or comment, the matter “died,” announced Mayor Ron Corbett.

The council received a petition with 326 signatures opposing the Kum & Go proposal. Two weeks ago, City Council member Monica Vernon said she was opposing the plan, believing the company was trying to jam a highway-like convenience store into an established residential neighborhood.

About 30 neighborhood opponents attended Tuesday night's meeting, with about a dozen making the case that an around-the-clock, truck-stop like store didn't belong where the Vernon Inn now operates. Kum & Go had planned to purchase and demolish four homes to make the footprint of the site larger for the store. Store officials also said their design would add trees to buffer the neighborhood and would add better water management than the neighborhood now has.

Basil Hadjis, owner of the Vernon Inn, was among those who spoke at last night's public hearing. Hadjis said his 36-year-old business had struggled since the flood of 2008 and he told his neighbors that the Kum & Go project was a “wonderful opportunity” for him to sell his property.

He said he probably would close Vernon Inn regardless of whether Kum & Go built a convenience store on the site.

Kum & Go had asked the City Council on Monday to put off Tuesday night's vote to give store officials time to address any new neighborhood or council concerns. But the council said it was ready to vote.

New council member Scott Olson, a commercial Realtor who is a local consultant for Kum & Go, did not attend last night's meeting. He's on a vacation scheduled a year ago, he said last week. He added he would not have voted on the Kum & Go proposal. Kris Gulick was the other council member not in attendance.