Supervisors take up Newport Road rezoning

IOWA CITY - Next month, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors is set to discuss another controversial Newport Road rezoning application.

Despite a staff recommendation otherwise, the application for 2620 Newport Road, filed by property owners Jeff and Judith Stevens, has been recommended for denial by the Johnson County Planning and Zoning Commission.

County assistant planner Josh Busard said the application would change the roughly 15 acres of land near the intersection of Newport Road and Highway 1 from agricultural to residential, allowing for the development of homes.

County staff recommended approval of the rezoning, which is in North Corridor Development Area.

'That is the area where we want to see residential development in Johnson County,” Busard said. 'Staff felt that the rezoning application was a good application.”

However, several residents who attended the March 9 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting disagreed, arguing that the proposal, which included conceptual plans for a four-lot subdivision, was irresponsible and would add traffic congestion to the scenic Newport Road.

Laurie Tulchin, who lives on Newport Road next to the land and has spoken out against Newport Road development in the past, said this application would be inappropriate for the area.

'This doesn't meet the definition of infill, it doesn't meet the definition of sequential develop, the only way to describe it is sprawl,” she said.

'It was an overwhelming denial of a rezoning,” I really think the board needs to take the long term view, this is a scenic road, the voters want to keep it that way.”

Busard said that the four-lot subdivision, which proposed a shared well and individual sewage systems, was a conceptual idea and final plans on what would be built there would be fleshed out during the platting process.

Ultimately, the commission voted 4-1 - with Terry Dahms the sole vote of approval - to recommend denial.

The Board of Supervisors will take up the matter at its April 9 meeting.

Newport Road residents made headlines in 2013 when area resident Sharon Dooley applied for a rezoning of her property at 2915 Newport Road, an application that called for adding 70 homes on 91 acres of land.

Supervisors voted roughly two years ago in favor of Dooley's rezoning request, but there has been little in terms of updates on the proposed development project.