Trinity Episcopal Church reaches settlement in Chauncey lawsuit

IOWA C ITY – Officials with Trinity Episcopal Church have approved a settlement over a nearly one-year-old lawsuit against the Iowa City Council over rezoning that paved the way for the 15-story Chauncey tower.

On Saturday, Trinity's vestry, the church's governing body, agreed to withdraw their appeal of a Johnson County Judge's dismissal of the parish's legal petition against the city's rezoning for the Chauncey, which is proposed for land across the street from the historic church.

'It worked out well, we're really pleased with the decision,” The Rev. Lauren Lyon said Saturday. 'We found the mediation process was a very positive experience. We felt we built some very good relationships within the community and we ended it in a way to be good neighbors moving forward.”

Under the settlement, Marc Moen, the Chauncey's developer, will make a 'substantial” donation to Iowa City's Shelter House over three years beginning this year and will work with other community members to identify a dependable location for the shelter's emergency temporary winter shelter for a period of years, according to a Saturday news release from the church. The release does not include the amount of Moen's donation.

Moen also has committed to design and build the Chauncey to reach LEED silver standards for sustainability, according to the release.

Also in the agreement, the Iowa City Council has agreed to provide additional Sunday parking on College and Gilbert streets and in the nearby Chauncey Swan parking ramp once the Chauncey is completed.

'We are very pleased to have this behind us and look forward to being good neighbors with Trinity,” Moen said in a Saturday email.

Lyon said the congregation spent a lot of time and energy on the lawsuit in recent months and said she is encouraged by the final outcome.

'I am very appreciative of the opportunity to come to an agreement and be in a friendly relationship that will allow us to do that,” she said.

In the lawsuit, which Trinity's attorney has been directed to withdraw,Trinity argued the city's rezoning the area to make way for the building downtown was contrary to the city's comprehensive land use plan and the city had wrongly rejected the church's objection to the rezoning request.

That lawsuit was dismissed in October, but the church appealed that ruling in November.

Saturday's settlement closes the chapter on one of two lawsuits that arose during the roughly three-year debate over the Chauncey since the Iowa City Council chose the $49 million building as its preferred project for the corner of Gilbert and College streets in 2013.

An earlier lawsuit filed that year by local group Iowa Coalition Against the Shadow – which challenged the city's denial of a rezoning request to limit building height on the city-owned plot of land eyed for the multi-use Chauncey building to just 75 feet – was dismissed by a Johnson County Judge in April.

That ruling was recently affirmed by an Iowa Court of Appeals Judge.

Local lawyer Rockne Cole, a member of the coalition who in November was elected to the Iowa City Council, said Thursday he was happy to see Trinity reach a conclusion in its settlement, but added he 'reluctantly” plans to seek further review in his lawsuit.

'I am very encouraged by the proactive steps that Trinity and the developer in this particular case took to try to resolve their differences,” he said.

Cole said his decision to pursue further review is not directed at the Chauncey, but rather is based on the judge's ruling, which found that the rezoning applicants had no standing in the lawsuit because the city owned the land, had already been working toward the Chauncey and none of the applicants owned nearby property or had any intention of purchasing the land.

'While I would love to move on, and I think the community would be ready for that, I think it's extremely important that those issues are addressed in court,” he said. 'This issue involves an issue of paramount public process, which is a citizen's access to public courts.”

'This ignores the central facts of this case: it is Mr. Cole's own zoning application that was denied and no one, Iowa City, district court or Court of Appeals, questions that he had a statutory right to file for rezoning. Mr. Cole, far from being an interloper, was a proper party to the underlying zoning proceedings since he properly filed an application to rezone as was his right under Iowa City municipal regulations,” the document states.

Moen has estimated delays to the Chauncey - primarily caused by the coalition's lawsuit - have added more than $1 million to the project cost.