Coralville proposes amendments to West Land Use area master plan

Coralville’s city council passed a first consideration to amend the Coralville West Land Use area master plan at their meeting on Nov. 28, after the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval at their Nov. 1 meeting. In 2014, Coralville adopted a new Community Plan to provide a framework for growth. One of the most important growth areas identified in that plan was the West Land Use Area located between I-380 and Coral Ridge Avenue/Highway 965, south of Forevergreen Road, and north of I-80. The area serves as a major entryway to Coralville and remains the last significant growth area for the community. Representing a “valuable destination for the community,” the area provides a mix of housing types and locations for new retail, office, and business park development. The West Land Use Area contains significant natural areas as well, such as wetlands and woodlands, and one of the goals of the master plan is to manage and protect them carefully. Dave Johnson, Coralville’s community development director, said the plan was last amended in 2016, and the proposed amendments were in response to the past four years he has spent working with the West Land Use document and development inquiries. In response to industrial applications inquiring about the city’s expectations for architectural and metal panels, the amendment clarifies that there must be a “decorative element” to industrial buildings. “Corrugated or ribbed metal typical of pole buildings are not considered an architectural metal,” said Mr. Johnson. Other proposed amendments to the West Land Use Area include:

• Allow convenience stores with fuel sales
• Detached fuel canopy islands will be prohibited in front yards and detached canopies in side and rear yards must be set back a minimum of 15 feet
• Building type requirements for commercial office buildings are being expanded to include civic buildings
• Greater specificity and direction for sign design – one added rule is that monument sign bases must match the predominant masonry material of the building.

“We realized when the Clear Creek Amana school was built, we did not have any design direction for government or public agency type buildings, such as a school,” said Mr. Johnson, explaining the inclusion of civic buildings in building requirements. “And after review, we found that these guidelines best align with what our expectations of design would be for that, so we're expanding that definition.”

Urban Renewal ordinance amendment

The Nov. 28 meeting also included a third and final consideration of the urban renewal ordinance that would set the base value of Lot seven, Coral Ridge Commerce Park Phase Seven, in the Oakdale urban renewal area. The original ordinance aims to amend various previous ordinances related to the Coralville Urban Renewal Project Area. Originally, the urban renewal ordinance outlined a framework for the allocation of property taxes within the Coralville Urban Renewal Project Area to fund ongoing and future urban renewal projects and repay related debts incurred by the city. It provides a detailed mechanism for calculating and allocating taxes for different areas within the project, and these calculations are based on the assessed values of properties on specific dates in the past. The amended ordinance states that as long as the yearly property taxes on all properties in the Coralville Urban Renewal Project Area are paid to a special fund, this fund will cover the costs of loans, advances, and debts, including issued or future bonds, related to the Urban Renewal Redevelopment Project in Coralville. The amended ordinance passed its final consideration, 5-0.