Marion Council holds off on Tower Terrace Road change

MARION - Amid a crowded room, the Marion City Council voted 4 to 2 Thursday to table removing a limitation on the hours businesses cam operate in a commercial district along Tower Terrace Road.

The commercial district, south of Tower Terrace Road and between Tenth Street and Irish Drive, abuts residential single-family homes. The people who live there told the council extended hours , would encourage businesses, such as bars, to operate until 2 a.m., too close to their homes.

Both plots of land are owned by Mooney-Engle Land Co., the developer that also owns land along Tower Terrace and Alburnett roads in Marion.

The land was zoned Planned Development Commercial until 2013 when developer Tim Mooney asked the city if the land could be rezoned to a general commercial, which covers most businesses from office space to restaurants or even used car lots, according to Tom Treharne, the city's planning and development director.

Mooney and Dan Engle worked with the Planning and Development Department to rezone the land. The 'catch” in the ordinance, though, was that the businesses in the district couldn't be open beyond 11 p.m., unless each new business received permission from the city for extended hours.

However, in 2014 when a bar and restaurant wanted to locate in the space, a hearing was held on the idea. Residents were unhappy, and the proposal was denied.

This June, following a public hearing, the City Council asked the Planning and Zoning Commission to consider the area's zoning and make a recommendation.

Commissioners recommended that a portion of the district, between Irish Drive and Third Street, could have the hours limitation removed.

Mooney said in a council work session Tuesday that he had talked to many restaurant owners and other businesses who aren't interested in operating along Tower Terrace Road because of the time restrictions.

If hours were extended past 11, he said, businesses would be able to catch the crowds after events at the nearby Linn-Mar schools and other traffic along the expanding Tower Terrace Road.

Nearby residents said they knew there would most likely be future businesses near their homes but don't want the type of businesses that are open past 11 p.m. More than half a dozen residents asked the council not to approve the measure.

'Would you want a Casey's in your back yard?” E. Jon Tracy, who lives in the area, told The Gazette.

Stephanie Reddersen said she would be happy if the neighborhood had a coffee shop or restaurant, as long as its hours were limited.

'When you increase the hours of operation so a bar can go in, that impacts my family and my two kids,” she said. 'If there's loud noises, if a bar is open and gets a permit to operate a loud band late at night every weekend, that's going to impact our lives.”

Others expressed concern with the lack of noise or light buffers between what would be the commercial parking lots and businesses to their backyards.

Tim Isenberg, president of the Linn-Mar school board, said he didn't want Linn-Mar High students driving or studying in close proximity to bars that could move into the area.

However, Mike Pedersen who owns Tomaso's Pizza in Marion, said he turned down an offer to run a restaurant in the district because of the hours restriction. Pedersen said he only has about 3 percent of sales tied to alcohol purchases, but the location near the high school that would bring in late night traffic after football and basketball games is attractive to him.

'I'm not going to go in there if one of the primary reasons that makes that site appealing, if I can't get the hours,” he said. 'The problem is not the conflict between the developer and the residents. The problem is the zoning. I don't see a solution on the table right now.”

Mooney said he's lost many potential deals, including one for a movie theater, after the owners learn of the 11 p.m. restriction.

Mooney, Pedersen, MEDCO President Nick Glew and residents along Tower Terrace Road all asked the council to push for an ordinance encompassing future commercial development all along Tower Terrace Road.

'Along large arterial roads, you have commercial,” he said. 'We're back the third time, It's not because we want to be back. The market tells us what to do. Council needs to deal with this issue.”

While some council members said they would still be interested in changing the time restrictions, council member Mary Lou Pazour successfully called for tabling the issue until the Planning and Development Department

can look into an ordinance for all of Tower Terrace Road.

l Comments: (319) 368-8516; makayla.tendall@thegazette.com