Farmland parcel on Beltline Road rezoned to light industrial

Farmland located near already existing industries on the northeast side of town and along the Beltline Road has been rezoned to a light industrial classification by the Newton City Council, despite some officials and residents arguing the ground would be better suited for future residential developments.

Two council members — Joel Mills and Stacy Simbro — sided with neighbors who did not want to see a light industrial development near their homes. For the past three meetings, neighbors complained the rezone would disturb their quiet country life, cause drainage issues on their properties and increase traffic.

“My same concerns hold true to the rezoning,” said Tammy Stock, a neighbor who lives just south of the parcel. “I just ask you guys to reconsider it.”

Mike Kaldenburg, a Newton resident, agreed with Stock and encouraged the city council to decline this rezone. Kaldenburg said he looks at the city and its growth trends, and, to him, the growth is on the eastern side of Newton. Rezoning it to light industrial, he argued, would hinder that natural growth.

“I would strongly encourage you to rethink this carefully,” Kaldenburg said.

Simbro’s decision to vote against the rezone was largely due to the future land use maps in the city’s comprehensive plan. The maps envisioned the property would be used for residential development projects. However, council member Randy Ervin would argue the plan is a living document prone to changes.

Regardless, Simbro reasoned residential land is not abundant in the city, and he was very much opposed to action that would contradict the vision in Newton’s comprehensive plan. Mills has called the rezone and the potential business that would operate on the land a “short-term gain” for the city.

If the development should fail, Mills argued it would add yet another building to the city’s stock of “idle and empty” buildings. Frank Liebl, executive director of Newton Development Corporation, addressed Mills’ claims made at the previous meeting, saying that is not really the case, especially for this scenario.

“We have nothing that is going to fit this size,” Liebl said. “I don’t count the TPI building as being vacant because they are going to start back up. Most of the space at Plant 2 is filled. The only other industrial building I can think of is of course the Gates Corporation building just became available.”

Liebl said when a company is looking at developing in a community, they try to find what kind of space is available. Oftentimes they contact the city and the county, who then coordinate with their economic development groups. Liebl said sometimes they want to buy and sometimes they want to lease.

“In this case, they want to buy,” Liebl said. “So that, again, limits what we can do.”

Still, Mills argued no one approached the city council saying they wanted this rezone, and by extension this development, to happen.

Yet at a past meeting Brett Doerring revealed he is one of four partners who own the land, and he provided some insight without revealing exactly what the project would be if fully approved. Doerring said it would not be a manufacturing company; it would be light assembly with primarily warehousing.

The property is located near the 2300 to 2400 blocks of North 19th Avenue East. It was purchased a number of years ago as a speculative investment knowing it was adjacent to the industrial park and the Beltline Road, which allows easy access to Interstate 80 since it leads directly to Iowa Speedway Drive.

To Doerring, the land was a clear extension to the industrial park. Other council members agreed. Council member Melissa Dalton revealed at one point she almost bought the property owned by the Dunsmoor family, which has also opposed the rezone. Dalton said she backed off because of the industrial growth.

“With the industrial park where it is now, with how the land is along there with the Beltline Road and with there being businesses already being out towards the railway, we kind of expected it to leak over into that area,” Dalton said. “So we chose not to purchase that.”

Richard Boggess reiterated the unnamed company has not signed a deal to move forward with the development of this land. He also mentioned the company had chosen another site but abandoned it due to the topography and the costs to do dirt work. The property up for rezoning, while hilly, is manageable.

But Boggess noted the property would most definitely need retention ponds, which the company realizes too.

Bruce Showalter, executive director of Newton Housing Development Corporation, was asked by council member Steve Mullan to speak at the rezone discussion. Although he was not speaking in favor or against the rezone or on behalf of NHDC, Showalter provided housing information.

He noted there is lots of land between the property and Berg Middle School, including the housing development Arbor Estates. There are currently about 140 lots left in Arbor Estates that have not been sold. The city has been averaging about 12 new houses a year since it started its $10,000 incentive program.

“Even at that rate, just Arbor Estates alone would take 10 years to develop,” he said. “The best year we had was 19 houses — I’ll round it up to 20 house — were developed. So if you take that, then you’re at seven years before Arbor Estates is totally sold out.”

Showalter said another 90 acres of farmland is also nearby the property in question. To develop that at three houses per acre, it could provide up to 270 new lots. Showalter suggested it would take considerable time to develop enough residential properties to get close to this land.

“This is privately owned land,” he said. “Just because we want to build houses there doesn’t mean they’re going to sell it to us to build houses there.”

Ervin reasoned council was recommended by staff and by the planning and zoning commission to approve the rezone. The commission, he said, found no problem with moving forward with the rezoning and did their due diligence before making their recommendation to the city council.

“If we’re going to have boards like this that bring us information and suggestions, I think we need to look at that,” Ervin said. “By voting against this, it’s going to tarnish that board. And I don’t like that. They do a good job. So, in my opinion, I think it’s gotta be a yes vote for Newton.”

The city council would go on to vote 4-2 to approve the third consideration of the rezone, and then 4-2 again to adopt the rezone.