District judge approves aggressive timeline for Chauncey-related hearing

IOWA CITY - A Sixth District Judge has indicated that he will grant Iowa City's request for an aggressive schedule to sort out a pending petition against the city's rezoning to allow for the construction of The Chauncey tower.

During a Wednesday hearing, District Court Judge Christopher Bruns said he will schedule a hearing to rule on Trinity Episcopal Church's June petition for writ of certiorari against the city's approval of the Chauncey rezoning 'as close to the middle of October as possible.” Bruns said he would not delay the hearing any longer than necessary, despite local attorney Christopher Warnock's request for extra time to compile is brief and reply to the city's response.

'In this particular case I appreciate that a delay in and of itself might be detrimental to one party,” Bruns said, alluding to city concerns that delaying the hearing will have negative effects on the city's financial commitment to the project. The Iowa City Council has approved an investment of up to $14.2 million in the $49 million project. Assistant Iowa City attorney Sara Greenwood Hektoen also noted the impact of delaying the hearing, adding that doing so only hurts the defendant.

'The party that is prejudiced by any delay is the city,” she said.

Warnock said he too wants to see a ruling as soon as possible, but raised an issue with moving forward too quickly.

'This case is going very, very quickly,” he said. 'I'm willing to move as fast as reasonably possible.”

Warnock's request would have added a few weeks to the overall trial length.

The case delves into two matters; whether the city complied with Iowa Code in their rezoning in relation to the comprehensive plan, and whether the city complied with a state law that requires a supermajority vote of approval when 20 percent of surrounding property owners oppose a rezoning.

Marc Moen, lead developer with The Chauncey, said last month that work on the 15-story tower has been placed on hold until a ruling is reached. Attorneys on both sides anticipate the October hearing to take roughly one hour.