116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Neighbors oppose P&G expansion at former Iowa City Kirkwood campus
Neighbors say it’s not equitable to allow more industry in an area with a larger share of low-income and minority residents
IOWA CITY — If Anne Marie Kraus moved from the house where she’s lived for 40 years on Iowa City’s southeast side, she would miss her raised garden beds, apple trees and neighbors who help each other shovel their sidewalks in the winter.
But she wouldn’t miss the smells drifting from Procter & Gamble, which has two manufacturing plants nearby.
“You can always smell whatever it is they are making,” said the 71-year-old retired school librarian.
Kraus said she has experienced headaches and nausea she attributes to the fumes around the plant that manufactures beauty and grooming products. She’s now thinking of moving because of P&G’s proposed expansion onto the former Kirkwood Community College branch campus on Lower Muscatine Road.
The Iowa City Council next month will consider rezoning 6.8 acres from neighborhood public to general industrial so P&G, a Cincinnati-based multinational company, can complete its planned $6.4 million purchase of the property from Kirkwood, which announced in January 2023 it would close the Iowa City branch campus.
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously had agreed to the rezoning Jan. 17, sending it to the council for final approval.
Neighbors opposed to the expansion say it doesn’t fit with principles of environmental justice, which holds that poor or marginalized communities shouldn’t be harmed by development from which they do not benefit.
The area around the P&G plant at 1832 Lower Muscatine Rd., which is adjacent to the Kirkwood site, has a higher percentage of low-income residents and Black and Hispanic residents than Iowa City overall. Fine particulate matter in the air, lead paint, traffic and hazardous materials storage all are above the 80th percentile in the 1-mile radius of the plant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported.
“That, to me, screams this is definitely and environmental justice issue,” said Tracy Daby, who lives on H Street, two blocks north of the site. “I would hope that it means something to City Council.”
P&G keeps options open for site
One of the main questions from neighbors is what P&G plans to do with the former Kirkwood site, which has several buildings previously used to house classes and other educational programming. The narrow lot is between the existing P&G and a MidAmerican Energy office.
“We don’t currently have existing plans on what we’d like to do with that property, but we’d like to have the opportunity to potentially expand,” Joe Townsend, site engineering leader, said at the Jan. 17 zoning commission meeting.
P&G operates three plants in Iowa City. The one adjacent to the Kirkwood site is the former Oral B plant, where workers make manual and electric toothbrushes, Townsend said. P&G also makes oral care products at the former Menard’s site, on Highway 1, and beauty products at 2200 Lower Muscatine Rd.
“We’ve received multiple correspondence. Some people have gotten the idea there’s chemicals going to be produced there,” Planning & Zoning Commission Chair Michael Hensch said to Townsend about the site adjacent to Kirkwood’s former campus. “Is there any basis for that?”
“No chemicals would be produced there,” Townsend said. “If we were to expand oral care operations, it would be primarily within making oral care toothbrushes or power toothbrushes, which is not a chemical manufacturing process. It’s an injection molding process.”
As an industrial site, owners could use it for warehousing, freight movement, recycling or heavy manufacturing, among other uses.
“The reality is that with that new zoning designation, with them or anyone down the road, anything can happen,” speaker Mary Helen Kennerly said at the meeting. “You just have to trust in our regulatory agencies — and their decreasing strength in our state — that nothing bad will happen to this community. I just want to convey how cautious I think we should be going forward and considering a change like this.”
Chemicals stored, used
P&G has had a plant in Iowa City since 1956, Townsend said.
“We continue to try to be a good steward of the environment and the community,” he said. The company sends no manufacturing waste to the local landfill and is working toward zero greenhouse gas emissions, Townsend said. Recent state environmental inspections yielded no violations, he said.
While P&G may not produce chemicals, it does store large quantities of them at its Iowa City locations, according to Tier 2 reports the company is required to file with the federal government and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Chemicals at the former Oral B site include a cooling liquid that contains phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid, several types of thermoplastic polymer resin and lead acid batteries.
P&G’s beauty care plant, down the road at 2200 Lower Muscatine Rd., has a more extensive list of high-volume chemicals, including benzyl alcohol, citric acid, hydrogen peroxide, liquid argon, perfume and various surfactants used in shampoos and soaps.
Iowa OSHA conducted an unannounced inspection at the beauty plant Nov. 7 after a referral. That visit still is listed as an open case.
P&G spokesman Patrick Blair did not respond to specific questions about the OSHA inspection, whether the company planned to tear down the Kirkwood buildings or whether an expansion would involve a larger workforce.
“While we have no immediate plans for the Kirkwood site, we’re excited about the potential to continue to invest in the community and further serve the world’s consumers from this region,” P&G said in a statement. “As we always strive to be, we will be transparent with the community regarding future plans for the site and will comply with all community regulations and permit procedures.”
‘Few possibilities’ besides industrial, city says
Anne Russett, senior planner for Iowa City, said the rezoning fits with the city’s comprehensive plan and is compatible with the area, which has a mix of industrial and residential properties.
“When we were looking at the rezoning, there are very few possibilities for this site,” she said. “We wouldn't want residential in an area that's pancaked between two industrial land uses.”
As an education institution, Kirkwood wasn’t paying property taxes on the site, but P&G will be taxed as an industrial user, with those payments helping support schools, cities, counties, hospitals and other recipients.
Russett said it’s a good question whether adding more industry to this area fits with an environmental justice focus.
“If the neighborhood has concerns about environmental justice, we're going to be working on a comprehensive plan update soon and that's something we should look at in that comprehensive plan,” she said.
Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters