Peosta council OKs business rezoning request

PEOSTA, Iowa — Peosta City Council members this week voted to approve commercial zoning for the Peosta Mini Storage property.

Owner Deb McDonough had petitioned the city for the rezoning. The land was annexed into the city last year as an agricultural parcel, but under that designation, McDonough was unable to expand her business.

The rezoning request first came before the council on Sept. 14. Council members did not move to make a decision on the request, opting to wait in order to have further discussions with McDonough.

“As I understand it, there is still some ongoing discussion, ironing out some of the details,” Mayor Jim Merten said Tuesday. “But in the interest of keeping this moving, we can move this forward as a first reading tonight.”

Council Member Gerry Hess said that he and Council Member John Kraft met with McDonough. Kraft and Council Member Mike Ackerman were not in attendance at this week’s meeting.

The three present council members, Hess, Doug Hughes and Karen Lyons, all voted to approve the first reading of the rezoning request.

McDonough requested that the council waive second and third readings of the zoning ordinance and move to final approval. Lyons agreed, making a motion to waive the readings.

At previous meetings, multiple members of the public came forward to speak in support of Peosta Mini Storage. Numerous members of the public have also spoken against a potential planned unit development that the city is considering, an issue that has come up during discussion in relation to the rezoning request.

No action has yet been taken, but the section of land between Burds Road, U.S. 20 and Cox Springs Road is being eyed as the location of a town center dubbed “Water’s Edge” if developed in the future. The Peosta Mini Storage property has been included in maps outlining the Water’s Edge PUD.

Though the details of how the business might fit into PUD plans is still unclear, Hughes and Hess voted with Lyons in favor of final adoption of the ordinance reclassifying the property as commercial.