Boone County Planning Commission now has a new zoning administrator, Teri Jasa, and they opened a busy schedule Monday night, Feb. 26, after not meeting since February of 2023.

The board approved a motion to appoint the same officers, Mark Wagner as chairman, Brad Stephens as vice chair, and Clyde Stuhr as secretary.

Cedar Rapids Hearings

Two public hearings were conducted for the Village of Cedar Rapids.

The first was on a blighted and substandard property study for Area B, which includes portions of the village and surrounding land.

Doug Christensen of Five Rule Rural Planning presented the blight study for Area B, noting that Area A had previously been declared blighted and substandard.

Brady Yosten, village board chairman, and several Cedar Rapids residents, were present for the hearing and no objections were registered.

Criteria cited in qualifications for the blighted and substandard finding were that water mains are sized too small (four-inch diameter rather than six-inch), and a portion of the area is included in the FEMA 100-year flood plain zone.

Other factors cited were the age of residential and commercial units is over 40 years, defective or inadequate street layout, faulty lot layouts, improper or obsolete platting, and some unsafe conditions.

The planning board recommended approval of the blighted/ substandard study to the village board.

A hearing was also held on a cell tower to be built in Cedar Rapids, and plans for the 190-foot tower were presented by Joshua Watson of Wireless Group Consultants.

After review of the location and plans, the planning board recommended that the village board approve this project.

Discussion was also held on a subdivision of lots proposed for property owned by the Molt and Sears families in Cedar Rapids.

Chairman Wagner said he had studied the Cedar Rapids zoning ordinances, which require lots to be a minimum of 75 feet wide and 7,500 square feet. As proposed, all three lots would fall short of the requirement, he said.

Questions about street access and non-conforming use of one lot were also discussed. This is one of the matters that Wagner and Jasa plan to discuss with Keith Marvin, planning consultant, later this week.

A separate discussion was also held on minimum lot sizes for conditional use permits within the county’s agricultural zones. Wagner reported on his research, saying it appeared some of the previous changes made by the planning board were not recorded.

Next meeting of the planning board will be March 25 at 7:30 p.m.