SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – Monday, Nov. 2, the Sioux City City Council voted in favor of rezoning land along Morningside Avenue for a new housing development.
Last week, the council voted to annex land at 7103 Morningside Avenue from Woodbury County into city limits.
Monday, the council voted 4-to-1 to rezone that land to Suburban Residential. That vote was necessary because when the council voted to annex the land, it would automatically be zoned as Rural Residential unless requested otherwise.
Overlook Developers did request for the zoning to be changed to General Residential, to allow for more lots. However, the city council voted to pass the rezoning instead to Suburban Residential instead so that apartments couldn’t be built on the land.
Developers want to build single-family homes.
7103 Morningside Ave(KTIV)
During the city council’s October 26th meeting, many residents voiced their concerns with the project saying they worried about traffic, dangerous intersections, and density of houses.
At Monday’s meeting, some asked the city council to not go through with the rezoning.
“There are other procedures that would allow this city and this council to have more oversight in the development of this property rather than allowing a blanket zoning and then lose control. So I would encourage you to please vote no. There are other options,” said Julia Adams.
City council members said they understand residents’ concerns, but believe this addition is good for the city. Council members also stated that this project would bring in a traffic study to the area.
“It’s not just counting cars. You can put a rubber strip across and do that. It will be looked at from a bird’s eye view. What’s the curve look like? What’s the topography look like? What time of day are people coming and going? So maybe that what they call dead man’s curb, there might be an improvement there that just gets to happen because of this development. So I think it’s kind of a bonus to get that done,” said Julie Schoenherr, Mayor Pro-Tem.
Overlook Developers will now need to create a Preliminary Plat detailing their development plans. That will also need to come before the city council once complete.
Billboard Ordinance
The Sioux City City Council also passed the first reading of an ordinance that would regulate billboards.
Back on October 5th, the council didn’t pass a third reading of an amendment to an ordinance regulating billboards. So, Monday, the city council had the ordinance brought back for reconsideration and voted to pass the first reading.
The change would increase the minimum separation of signs from 600 feet to 1,000 feet, as well as restrict the height of those signs. This amendment also includes a cap on the number of billboards within the city.
It would require an existing billboard be removed before another is built. That means if one billboard is taken down, another could be built. But, if someone wants to build a digital billboard, they will need to take down two existing billboards.
Some voiced their concerns with the cap and how it will deny new business.
“Why can’t we just give this a try for a year with these new restrictions from heights and distances as opposed to also then slamming the door completely and putting the cap in place? I mean, what is being proposed absolutely shuts off business,” said Paul Koskovich.
City staff researched other cities and found that that, per capita, Sioux City has one advertising billboard for every 618 residents. That’s 45% more than Sioux Falls, 37% more than Omaha, and 28% more than Des Moines.
Some city council members believed the information was skewed based on denser population in those cities. Other council members believed it shows that Sioux City has enough billboards.
“Let’s try this for a year. No new billboards unless an old one breaks down and they have to put a new one in or if somebody wants to take two static billboards out and put a digital one in, they’d have to take two for one because the digitals are so much bigger. And I just feel like we should protect our skyline, what do we want our city to look like?” said Julie Schoenherr, Mayor Pro-Tem.
The first reading passed 3 to 2. The amendment will go before the council again for a second and third reading.
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