Sioux City Council members voted to adopt Planning and Zoning Commission recommendations on a pair of street-vacation petitions, approving the vacation of a portion of Madison Street and denying the petition to vacate a portion of 40th Street adjacent to 4510 Van Buren Street. The council voted on first reading and the item passed as presented; the mayor said it will proceed to the second and third readings as required.

The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of vacating the Madison Street segment but recommended denial of vacating the 40th Street segment based on a city engineering recommendation to keep the route open for potential future access and utilities. Planning chair Andrew Gleiser told the council PNC followed city engineeringadvice when making its recommendation.

During public comment, a nearby resident who identified their address as 4103 Jefferson Street said they and their spouse had hoped to buy the 40th Street parcel to provide access and to shift a driveway uphill for a planned house. The resident described steep grades at the north end of 40th Street and said, "it's a 50 foot cliff" where the street currently ends, raising concern about development feasibility and driveway impacts.

City staff member Gordon told council members that, if the council did not allow the vacation of 40th Street, utilities and access would be handled without "punching" Madison Street through. Gordon said, "we're not gonna punch it, so you're gonna have to loop the water line through and connect up to 40 Sixth off of Jefferson." He also explained sanitary flows and that gravity sanitary service down to Van Buren makes future utility connections possible without forcing a full street extension.

Property owner objections were raised by a party identified in the record as Reynolds, who told staff he uses the alley as farm access and objected to changes that would impede that access. Planning staff noted the PNC vote followed engineering recommendations to preserve the 40th Street connection for future development and utilities.

The council clerk recorded the motion as presented following the PNC recommendation; the mayor said, "it passes 5 0 which means it passed the way you presented it." The council declined to waive the statutory rule, giving another property owner a chance to appear at the next meeting. Because the council approved the item on first reading, two additional readings are required for final adoption.

The action preserves the option for future utility and access connections in the area while allowing the Madison Street vacation to move forward under the council's and PNC's terms.