City council continues discussion on planned development at former Baptist Church lot

GRUNDY CENTER – For several months now, the Grundy Center City Council has been in discussions with Echo Development over the proposed construction of a five-plex apartment building on the former First Baptist Church lot.
During the council meeting on September 11, there was a public hearing to rezone the property from R-1 residential to R-2 multi-family residential. During the hearing, several residents who live near the property approached the council to share concerns about the proposed development – implying that it would be too large, domineering of the space, and that there wouldn’t be enough room between the new property, and existing houses.
At Monday night’s council meeting, the council continued the rezoning discussion, but with modifications.
Instead of rezoning to R-2, the council discussed rezoning the lot to Commercial, as they could set more conditions on the building, such as creating larger setbacks to give neighbors more space.
Mayor Brian Buhrow said rezoning as commercial would give the city a little more leeway to help all parties come to a compromise.
“If we rezone to commercial, we could set conditions like setbacks, whereas with a residential building, we couldn’t,” he said. “We could even see about setting the building further north to give [neighbor Kay Graham] a bigger buffer zone between her house and the building.”
Council member Dave Stefl agreed that while it is important for the city to come to an agreement with a developer to purchase and build on the property – as it would help the city recoup money put into the church – it is also important to be cognizant of the citizens who live next door to the property.
“In my view, I think it’s important to be cognizant of the citizens as a council, and to do everything we can to try to help the resident of an existing home in terms of space,” he said. “I’d like to see us go to commercial. At least at that point [we can set conditions and] help the citizen.”
For the full story, see this week's Grundy Register.