Iowa City Council supports amending comprehensive plan to allow development of city owned parking lots

IOWA CITY — With the go-ahead from the Iowa City Council, city staff will be drafting a proposed amendment to the city's Comprehensive Plan that could allow for mixed-use development on two surface parking lots near downtown.

The council on Monday gave staff direction to draft the amendment, which will ultimately come back for a formal vote.

Conceptual plans by the developer show an interest in preserving the longstanding Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City building.

Dave Zahradnik, principal with Neumann Monson Architects, said the hope is to preserve the original church, while building a mixed use building where the attached office and adjacent parking lot is located.

'Our first option would be to try to save the church if we could,' he said.

Staff approached the council seeking direction following an increased interest among developers to build on two city-owned parking lots located within a three-block area — east of Gilbert Street and between Burlington Street and Iowa Avenue — often referred to as the civic district.

One lot is north of City Hall and east of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City building, while the other lot is just east of the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center.

Officials representing Allen Homes, the developer who has entered into a purchase agreement with UUSIC following the announcement of the Gilbert Street church's plans to relocate to Coralville, offered a look at the project proposed for the site.

The building would include residential units and adhere to the CB-5 zone's 75-foot height maximum – although a height bonus could be offered in exchange for historic preservation – and trade roughly 100 surface parking spaces for more than 200 in a parking structure and allow firetrucks for the nearby station to enter the structure from the Van Buren Street side, creating better traffic flow.

Geoff Fruin, assistant to the city manager, said, due to the developer's potential investment in the project, there is a probability that financial assistance will be requested in the project. Details will be fleshed out as designing the building moves forward.

'That's still a lot of work to be done and both sides have a ways to go, but it's workable and we'd like to explore it,' Fruin said.

Although the council provided approval to explore the comprehensive plan amendments, council members Kingsley Botchway and Jim Throgmorton noted that a large request for tax increment financing to fund the project, which is possible, would have them less inclined to move forward.

Earlier this year, a similar comprehensive plan amendment failed to achieve a supermajority vote needed to pass.

Zoned for public use, either parking lot would also require rezoning at some point for construction to take place.