Vacant Mound View home in Cedar Rapids can’t become duplex

CEDAR RAPIDS - A plan to remodel a rundown, vacant single-family house on A Avenue NE into a duplex was shot down by city leaders after a groundswell of opposition from residents in the Mound View neighborhood.

The two-story 1905-built house with a covered front porch at 1528 A Avenue NE is in an area zoned for multifamily units, but such a change in use flies in the face of the Mound View Neighborhood Association's goal to convert multiunit rentals back to single-family homes and reduce neighborhood density.

'This block is a very fragile block,” said Carol Sindelar, association president. 'As you see from those supporting us, who have interest in that block, they don't see this as a positive move.”

The Cedar Rapids City Council sided with the neighborhood association in voting to deny the plan at a meeting on Tuesday. Also at the meeting, final approve was granted for a goose round up and slaughter and goose hunting in certain parts of the city south of Highway 30; an ordinance regulating food truck operations in Cedar Rapids; and preliminary approval of a $5.2 million odor control upgrade at the water pollution control facility.

Most discussion centered on the A Avenue house project.

The City Planning Commission supported the duplex plan, but city staff recommended against it, citing 149 opponents to the plan, compared to 31 in favor, and the conflict with neighborhood goals.

Lori Kintzle and Cameron West purchased the property at 1528 A Avenue NE, across from the Hy-Vee at First Avenue NE. for $12,500 in November 2015 after it had been flooded in June 2014.

Recognizing the opposition, Kintzle requested deferring the vote to allow time to better communicate the plan to neighbors. Kintzle said misinformation was circulating, but when she explained the project individually to neighbors on her street, many changed from opposition to support.

City Council member Scott Olson proposed tabling the matter to allow time for the property owners and neighbors to find common ground, but colleagues opted to vote on Tuesday.

'Driving by the house it's a wreck, and we have some people who want to invest,” Olson said.

City Council member Kris Gulick spoke against the project, noting the City Council has been consistently opposed subdividing single family homes.

'That is a pretty definitive line to say we are going to allow it be a duplex or not,” Gulick said. 'Tabling, I don't know that does anything to change that discussion.”

The property can still be renovated and rented as a single-family home, according to city staff. However, an issue presented by some in support of the remodel noted renting it as a single family home would price it out of the neighborhood.

'It's not working,” Kintzle said of not allowing the conversion to subdivisions. 'If you go and drive in the neighborhood, there are so many big empty houses that no one is taking care of and they are abandoned and they look terrible … No one can afford the rent and utilities.”