T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY The Marshalltown Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended the approval of a rezoning request for the land at the intersection of East State Street and North 3rd Avenue from urban core to mixed use to allow for the construction of a new McDonald’s restaurant during Thursday night’s meeting.

The largest fast food chain in thE United States took a major step toward opening a second Marshalltown location on the north side of town after receiving a unanimous recommendation of approval for a rezoning request during Thursday night’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

According to information provided by Assistant Housing and Community Development Director Clayton Ender, the request before the commission was to rezone the parcel at 212 E. State St. just off of the northwest intersection with North 3rd Avenue from urban core to mixed use. The site, which is currently owned by UnityPoint with a large “Sale Pending” sign on the property, would become a McDonald’s with a drive thru, making it the second location in town along with the South Center Street restaurant near the Highway 30 intersection.

On the city’s comprehensive plan, the property is shown as downtown mixed use, so Ender said the rezoning would be consistent with the plan.

“Really, what we’re looking at tonight is a question about the height of a building. A restaurant with a drive-thru is allowed in both the urban core zoning district and the mixed use zoning district. The main difference that comes into play with this proposal is the urban core zoning district requires a minimum of two stories height, two functional stories, whereas the mixed use does not require a minimum of two stories,” Ender said. “It does require some additional height such as a parapet wall to lend itself that kind of additional presence on the street.”

Ender also felt it was important to note that the commission was not recommending approving or denying a site development plan but rather a rezoning request. He added that neighboring properties to the north are zoned mixed use, and those to the south are zoned urban core.

All property owners within 250 feet have been notified of the proposal, and Ender has not received any comments thus far. P&Z Commission Member Deirdre Gruendler asked about the history of the site, which formerly housed Estel-Perrin-Avey Funeral Home before the building was sold in 2017 and torn down before the 2018 tornado.

In response to another question from Commission Member Steve Valbracht, Ender said the mixed use district would eliminate a maximum setback requirement included in urban core districts.

“I don’t have an opinion on whether getting rid of the maximum setback changes the character of that intersection, but that probably makes the turn a little safer,” Valbracht said.

T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY
Joel Jackson, a project manager with Bishop Engineering of Urbandale, addresses the Marshalltown Planning and Zoning Commission during Thursday night’s meeting about the proposed rezoning of a parcel at the intersection of State Street and North 3rd Avenue from urban core to mixed use for a future McDonald’s restaurant. The commission voted unanimously to recommend the approval of the request, which will now go to the city council at its next meeting.

From there, P&Z Chairman Jon Boston opened up the public hearing, and the first individual to speak was Joel Jackson of Bishop Engineering in Urbandale, the firm representing the McDonald’s corporation. He shared a bit of background and noted that he would be back in front of the commission later on in the process to discuss the specific site plan.

In response to another question about a possible variance, Ender said that if the property is rezoned, it would comply with standard requirements. The next public commenter was City Councilor Melisa Fonseca, who sought clarification on how the P&Z Commission felt about the rezoning and expressed her own opposition to allowing a McDonald’s to move into the downtown area.

“I feel that the downtown aesthetic look and the future that is the downtown deserves more than trading our urban core to mixed use for a parking lot and a fryer,” she said.

Fonseca felt that previous uses of the space including a funeral home and a business office were more “respectful” of urban core zoning, and she didn’t feel that changing it would be beneficial for the northside community.

“I would agree with you if we were putting it on the corner of Center and Main, you know, in that empty lot, but it’s kind of on the very northeast corner of the downtown urban core. And it really fits with what we talked about and what we worked with the planner (on) and redoing our zoning code for the whole North 3rd Avenue corridor,” Boston said. “I don’t see where it makes any difference on that corner at all.”

Looking at the rest of the area, Fonseca said she considered the historic North 3rd Avenue Dairy Queen a mom and pop family-owned business, and she noted that McDonald’s would be the first restaurant other than DQ to have two locations within Marshalltown.

“I think that that speaks a lot to what we are wanting to see moving forward, and also, I did reach out to other business owners in that street to see about how they felt about having a national, global chain compete against their mom and pop, family owned business,” she said. “What we see on the north side are entrepreneurs, family owned businesses… I feel that a McDonald’s would heavily contribute to a food desert on the north side.”

Valbracht acknowledged Fonseca’s feelings on the issue but didn’t feel the commission could make zoning decisions based on protectionism.

“Everything on that stretch is mixed use, so we don’t have a great argument as a group to say, just because we don’t want McDonald’s, we’re gonna hold that to them,” he said. “You guys (the council) have luxuries that we don’t have, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to look at just the applicant. Sure, I don’t want McDonald’s. If I’m being honest, I don’t, but as a decision of whether it fits our community plan and it’s bordering the same type of zone, it’s an appropriate rezoning in my mind… It’s a gut check. It’s a real gut check.”

Boston noted that fast food options are currently limited on the north side, and he felt having a restaurant open more hours would be nice. He added that in the 1960s and 70s, there was a fast food restaurant on the east side of North 3rd Avenue in the same area.

“I remember being able to buy five hamburgers for a dollar,” he said.

Lonnie Hogeland lamented that it seemed the city was attempting to “defeat” an opportunity for development.

“You should be welcoming and bending over backwards and see if there’s any way you can edit a rule to make things work and ask yourselves ‘Is it really hurting anything? Is it gonna help the people?’ But it just seems like the city of Marshalltown and all government entities nationwide see what they can do to defeat things,” Hogeland said. “I agree, McDonald’s is not the best thing. There’s nothing in there worth eating. It’s terrible for you, but we all eat it. We eat it. We need something.”

While he would have preferred a B-Bop’s or another sandwich shop, Hogeland felt the rezoning should be allowed because McDonald’s is willing to invest in the property. First Ward City Council Candidate Marco Yepez-Gomez then stepped forward to say that he opposed the rezoning because he is “Pro Downtown.”

“This McDonald’s is the opposite of that,” he said.

Yepez-Gomez took issue with the fact that only about 15 percent of the land would be used for the building, while the rest would be concrete poured for the parking lot and drive thru area.

“This is not downtown progress. This is downtown regression,” he said. “I completely agree with the efforts of reconstructing downtown, and it’s frustrating that we literally can’t in many areas because of our counterproductive zoning laws.”

He also objected to the idea of the “free market” wanting a McDonald’s as he cited restrictive zoning laws before urging the commission to vote against the application and re-evaluate said zoning laws on a broader basis. Boston responded that it wouldn’t just be a “plain parking lot” because of the new landscaping and buffer standards for development, which were discussed later in the meeting.

With no further public comments, a motion to recommend the approval of the rezoning request passed by a unanimous 7-0 vote. It will now go to the city council at the next meeting for final approval.

Later in the meeting, the commission approved a recommendation for a zoning text amendment requiring board and commission members to have no more than three unexcused absences within a period of six consecutive meetings. They also conducted introductory discussions on a pair of hot topics from recent city council meetings — the aforementioned landscaping and buffer standards for new developments and chicken keeping with city limits — but did not make any formal recommendations on either.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.