Alongside a later conversation about the ongoing Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and the upcoming Oktemberfest events, the Marshalltown city council engaged in a lengthy discussion on another controversial topic during Monday night’s meeting: the plans for a second McDonald’s restaurant near the intersection of State Street and 3rd Avenue and a requested rezoning of the parcel where it would be located.

At its Sept. 11 meeting, the Planning & Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the rezoning request at 212 E. State St. from Urban Core to Mixed Use, and the matter moved to the city council. After an initial motion was made to move forward, Assistant Housing and Community Development Director Clayton Ender provided some basic details on the parcel, which currently houses a vacant lot and is still owned by the Allen Foundation of Waterloo (UnityPoint) for the time being according to Marshall County Beacon records — though a sign on the property indicates a pending sale.

Ender said the building would largely be located on the eastern edge of the site with a drive-thru wrapping around from the north to the south, and a decision on access to North 3rd Avenue (Highway 14) would ultimately lie with the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT). The biggest difference between the two zoning designations, he noted, is height regulations as Urban Core requires a two-story building while Mixed Use does not. Also, an Urban Core district has a minimum setback of five feet and a maximum setback of 10 feet, while a Mixed Use district does not have a maximum setback.

As he opened up the floor to council comments, Councilor Greg Nichols asked about where the exit would be located and proposed expanding the alleyway entrance and reducing the number of entrances off of Highway 14. Councilor Jeff Schneider also recommended discouraging traffic from Highway 14 and keeping as much of it on State Street and 2nd Avenue as possible.

“I could just see some traffic issues with the busy intersection right there, and I know that’s what this restaurant’s targeting is busy intersections, but I think it would be best to keep the on and off traffic off of 14,” he said.

Councilor Mike Ladehoff expressed a similar sentiment and said he’d been studying the issue “quite a bit” and planned to support the resolution and the development in general. As a resident of Ward 1 for over 40 years, he lamented the lack of eating options in his area of town.

“The only two that are left are Dairy Queen and Haley’s, and they’ve hung in there to their credit. But I do think that we need more on the north end. For a while, Ward 1 wasn’t worth investing in, and now it is again, and that’s a good thing,” he said, also citing the affordability of the food, the potential creation of 30 to 40 walkable jobs and an investment of $2 to $3 million by McDonald’s.

Ladehoff also noted that the lot has been empty for eight years now, and other business owners had had ample opportunities to invest in it.

“As disappointed as my daughter is that a B-Bop’s isn’t going there, I think that overall, it’s a good thing,” he said.

City Administrator Carol Webb said there are no requests for special tax incentives or a development agreement, and Ladehoff reported that most of the people he had talked to about it were either neutral or in favor of the second McDonald’s. Councilor Melisa Fonseca, who previously spoke out against the rezoning at the P&Z Commission meeting, again shared her opposition to the construction of a McDonald’s in the downtown area, which she described as “the heart of Marshalltown.”

“It doesn’t make sense to put a global, national chain at a scale that no other business in this zone can operate at. This is more than just, oh, bringing a second McDonald’s in. A second McDonald’s is not a flex to our town,” she said.

She also worried that other restaurants in the same area did not have as much access to the public and the convenience factors McDonald’s would enjoy. Fonseca felt the restaurant might bring an immediate economic boost through property taxes and wages, but long term, it would create “economic leakage.” She urged the council to protect the integrity of the land through the Urban Core zoning designation and noted the impact of the 2018 tornado and 2020 derecho on the north side of town.

“There will be another buyer,” she said. “Things are still being built. It’s a long term thing… I will always be for developing real estate. Developing real estate is the number one priority, but what is the right (way)? Not all economic development is good development, and this one isn’t.”

She then cited the fact that the majority of Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) students live on the north side, and McDonald’s targets children with happy meals, toys and “subpar” fast food.

“I think voting no is saying Marshalltown knows its worth (and) knows that we are on the right trajectory,” Fonseca said. “It is flattering and validating that McDonald’s wants to come to our Marshalltown downtown. That actually shows, and they’ve done their analytics. They know that we’re a good investment. They know that they will get their money out of this community in the next five, 10, 20 years. This plan benefits McDonald’s corporation, (a) major corporation. It doesn’t benefit the Main Street, the downtown, the local businesses, the local entrepreneurs and our youth.”

Councilor Gary Thompson asked Ender if the council would have any further chance to revise the plan after they approve the rezoning request, and he replied that site plan approval and building permits are handled administratively.

“This would be the last time you have a direct vote on this — well, technically, the third reading,” Ender said.

The formal site plans are public records, but if they are compliant with the adopted code, Ender would be required to approve them. Thompson agreed with the concerns about putting the driveway too close to the intersection, and he said he would prefer to have two driveways off of State Street.

He also felt that according to his interpretation of the zoning code, the building would have to be within five feet of the sidewalk, and Ender responded that different sections of the code were in conflict with each other. Thompson then questioned whether tabling the matter was the appropriate course of action before the floor was opened up to public comment on the original motion and second.

During the public comment period, Joel Jackson of Bishop Engineering, representing McDonald’s, told the council his firm had done research into what made the most sense as far as the driveway situation and said the access was approximately the same distance from the intersection as the nearby Casey’s. The current plans, he added, are in compliance with the IDOT requirements and have been submitted for review and approval.

He also explained that the west side parking lot is designed for staff, and parking stalls out front on the east side are designated and signed for delivery drivers. Most of the subsequent public commenters opposed the plan, such as Jolene Ballard, who said she was laughing because when the Ecklors wanted to put their laundromat just to the north, it wasn’t considered part of the “plans” for the area.

“But now we’re gonna put a McDonald’s there,” she said.

Breana Alvarado of Sub City thanked Fonseca for her advocacy and didn’t feel that kids needed another McDonald’s, urging the council and those in the audience to support the existing downtown restaurants.

“I don’t think downtown needs McDonald’s. I think it needs anything else for everyone that can’t make it to the other side of town,” she said, citing Sub City Owner Brian Ferneau’s extensive community involvement. “I think we need to support more positive things than McDonald’s close to down here.”

Dave Grieve also agreed with Fonseca about not needing a McDonald’s downtown and felt that as a developer, he was forced to compete with government grants.

“McDonald’s is junk food,” he said. “If you’re putting all this money in downtown to try and pick it up, that’s not what you wanna put in there. Go down by Dairy Queen… Put it on the north side down by Dairy Queen. It would help Dairy Queen. It would help McDonald’s out. The more restaurants are grouped together, the better they do.”

He also made sure to share a plug for the salted caramel shake of the month at Maid-Rite. Ward 1 council candidate Marco Yepez-Gomez commended Fonseca for taking the “unpopular but correct” position and felt the downtown should not be sold short for temporary gain. He took issue with the idea that “something is better than nothing” and pushed for less restrictive zoning regulations.

“I don’t believe, in a city of 28,000 people, that not one local entrepreneur has noticed the millions we’ve invested downtown and the opportunities it creates. I also refuse to believe McDonald’s is the only business that was smart enough to see the potential here,” he said.

He cited other vacant lots downtown and the zoning code, which he said made it difficult for smaller investors to develop.

“The people who are saying something is better than nothing are absolutely right, but no one seems to be asking, why is the only option the market has given us in seven years a giant piece of cement with a McDonald’s in the middle of it despite the millions of dollars we spent in downtown?” he asked. “People need to understand (that) we spent around $6 million on State Street in the name of reconstructing downtown, and we are about to give â…™ of that to McDonald’s. And it’s painful that many are OK with it without asking deeper questions as to how we got here.”

Lonnie Hogeland appreciated Fonseca’s comments but urged the council to make it easier for businesses to open up shop in Marshalltown.

“It’s complicated to do stuff in Marshalltown, Iowa. There’s nothing wrong with McDonald’s there. Put it there,” he said. “It’s terrible that you’re just figuring out right now, is the setback gonna be right? Oh my goodness, there was a funeral home there that was right up to the sidewalk. Make sure it’s done right, but can we believe they’re talking about the setback at a council meeting?”

He added that he felt there was nothing worth eating at McDonald’s, but people eat there nonetheless. Hogeland also said he wished the Ecklors were in attendance to speak on the struggles they faced building their laundromat.

“Make it easier,” he said.

At-Large council candidate Tim Bradbury recalled the history of eateries on the north side that are no longer in business, and he urged the council to do everything they could to promote all of the business they could to bring to the area while also acknowledging the flip side of the argument. Hogeland then returned to the podium and commented on loud music coming from the bandshell in the same area the previous weekend but didn’t feel like McDonald’s would hurt anything.

Longtime Maid-Rite Owner Sandy Short worried about the impact of a McDonald’s on her business and the Dairy Queen, which is locally franchised by Tyler Wollam. It was then finally time to vote on the original motion to pass the first reading, and it passed by a 5-2 vote with Mark Mitchell, Nichols, Schneider, Barry Kell and Ladehoff in favor and Thompson and Fonseca opposed.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Recognized Alex Needham and Tyler Homeyer for 10 years of service to the Marshalltown Fire Department. Brad Bateman was also recognized for 15 years of service in the engineering department but was not in attendance.

• Heard an annual report from Marshalltown Central Business District Executive Director Danielle Lekin.

• Approved a payment to the United States Treasury in the amount of $62,804.94 for the arbitrage owed from the 2020A bonds.

• Rejected all bids for the 21 W. Main St. doghouse project after the lone bid came in nearly $50,000 over the engineer’s estimate and authorized staff to revise and rebid the project.

• Approved a resolution authorizing the city of Marshalltown to participate in the secondary manufacturers and Purdue/Sackler national opioids settlements.

• Passed the first reading of a new policy regarding attendance requirements for the Planning and Zoning Commission, Board of Adjustment and Electrical Appeal Board.