Fourth time’s a charm; vacant Iowa City lot seeks to rezone once more

A vacant lot in Iowa City is once again up for rezoning consideration, following the owner’s decision to sell and rezone from research development zone and highway commercial with a planned overlay zone to intensive commercial zone. At the Iowa City council’s Jan. 16 meeting, the council discussed an amendment to the comprehensive plan and the rezoning request of a lot on Moss Ridge Road. The lot, a little over 61 acres, sits north of I-80, west of N. Dodge St. and at the end of Moss Ridge Road. Danielle Sitzman, development services coordinator with the Iowa City Neighborhood and Development Services, said the lot was deemed an “appropriate” consideration for enhanced intensive land use, since it is located adjacent to other warehouses and has few neighbors. The property is bordered by agricultural land, the interstate, industrial indoor recreation and city-owned property, and city staff could find no “sensitive areas” that would need consideration before rezoning. “The property would have minimal impact on the existing neighborhood character, due to the majority of the land to the west and north being undeveloped,” said Ms. Sitzman. “There is still developable land to the west of this particular property before it is abutting any residential areas.” Ms. Sitzman added that ATI Group has expressed interest in purchasing the lot to develop the property for transportation and warehousing facilities, and the city identified a need for an updated traffic study and public water improvements. The purpose of a traffic study is to determine whether there are offsite improvements that need to be made to some other part of the road network to ensure that it functions. According to an Iowa City staff report dated Dec. 20, 2023, the subject property has been rezoned several times. In 2010, the owner had plans for a Moss Green Urban Village that would rezone sections into an office research park and a mixed-use commercial development. In 2012, the owner planned for Moss Ridge Campus, and attempted to rezone to research development park and highway commercial with a planned development overlay. There was a second attempt in 2015 when the previous project failed to materialize. The council voted to pass the first consideration, expressing optimism with the outcome. “I think it's an interesting way to have a lease on life for this area, that had one direction essentially go stagnant; and, then with the way that everybody is doing businesses (this) time, I’m excited that there’s a possibility for it moving forward,” said councilor Megan Alter.