IOWA SITE FIGHT: ONLY ONE VOTE REMAINS IN IOWA CITY

Topics: | | Community Impact | Site Fights & Local Ordinances | Iowa | | |

Smoking ban OK’d and Super Wal-Mart a step closer [The Daily Iowan (Iowa)]

No more smoking in the Pedestrian Mall near the playground. And a Super Wal-Mart is one vote away from fruition.

Iowa City city councilors handled both measures on Tuesday night, hearing relatively little discussion - the smoking issue was expedited in fewer than five minutes.

The measure expands the statewide ban’s reach to include the areas outside entertainment venues, sporting events, and parking ramps.

Wal-Mart opponents left disgruntled after the councilors voted in favor of allowing the southern Iowa City Wal-Mart to become a Super Wal-Mart.

Also see:  Iowa City, IA. City Officials Have One More Vote To Approve Wal-Mart [Battle-Mart Blog]

The vote was the second of three-successive considerations. If the council approves the zoning amendment at its next formal session, Sept. 23, Wal-Mart will be allowed to expand.

Three residents urged the council to vote against the expansion during a discussion of the issue. The main concern they addressed was Wal-Mart’s alleged unethical corporate practices.

Many of the councilors stressed that the issue at hand was a zoning issue and should not be made based on moral statutes.

“This is a land-use decision,” City Councilor Ross Wilburn said. He likened Wal-Mart’s right to expand its current property to the Ku Klux Klan’s right to assemble, despite its beliefs.

“What [Wal-Mart is] doing doesn’t violate our zoning ordinances,” said City Councilor Matt Hayek.

Iowa City has some ordinances in place that can deny zoning privileges based on moral concerns - such as building a pornography store next to a school. However, this issue does not fit into those categories, Hayek said.

One citizen said the council is using dated information and not carefully considering the effect a Super Wal-Mart could have on Iowa City.

Libris Ronald Kinum Fidelis said he thought councilors had make up their minds before the meeting began, saying, “They’re rubber-stamping this.”

Mike Wright, the lone councilor to vote against the consideration, said he feels such a matter should benefit the community and doesn’t think a Super Wal-Mart will do that.

Hayek said Wal-Mart has worked very closely with the city to create a proposal with a smaller parking area, more green space, and more aesthetic architecture - measures he thinks will help improve Iowa City.

In other business, the city’s Parking and Transit Department submitted a resolution to combine the positions of parking manager and transit manager, which the council approved, 6-1. Mayor Regenia Bailey said she voted against the resolution because the department did not provide enough details of the day-to-day tasks this new position required.

City Councilor Connie Champion said she approved the resolution because she felt the consolidation would be more efficient, improving customer service.

Chris O’Brien, the interim director of Parking and Transit, said its new customer-service representative would be ready to take her post at the transit office in the Old Capitol Town Center within three to four weeks.

Posted by Luke West on Friday, September 12, 2008