The Urbandale City Council on a series of votes approved an amendment to the Urbandale Marketplace 3 planned unit development (PUD), a preliminary plat for Marketplace 3 Plat 5, and the Gerber Collision site plan that allows a motor vehicle collision repair facility on an interior lot at Northwest Urbandale Drive and Meredith Drive.

Community Development Director Steve Franklin described the proposal as “an amendment to allow a motor vehicle collision repair facility,” and said the buildable interior parcel is about “1.74 acres in size” and that the submitted building would be “one story about 14,000 square feet in size.”

The City’s presentation and plans show the repair business would be located on an interior lot immediately north of a private drive serving the credit union and would be accessed from that drive; vehicles awaiting repair would be contained behind a six-foot fence with gated access and screened from public streets, staff said. Franklin said the building is “predominantly brick” and that the owner had discussed elevated appearance standards for Urbandale.

Franklin also noted the preliminary plat approval will be followed by a final plat that must be recorded before issuance of a building permit. He told council that engineers typically submit a preliminary plat, address comments, and then submit a final plat before site-plan approval and permit issuance.

Planning and Zoning recommended approval of the PUD amendment, site plan and plat, and staff supported the request “given how the land pattern in this area has seemed to develop” and the existing adjacent commercial uses, Franklin said. He also said U-Haul, an adjacent property owner, had an expired site plan and staff expected revised drawings from that property owner.

Council members made separate motions to approve the PUD amendment, the preliminary plat subject to conditions, and the Gerber Collision site plan subject to conditions; all motions passed. The council record shows the public hearing on the PUD amendment was opened and closed with no public comment.

No additional conditions beyond the standard engineering, plat and site-plan corrections were identified in the meeting record; staff noted a typographical correction on a plan sheet that will be handled during resubmittal review.

The approvals allow the applicant to proceed with final platting and subsequent building-permit applications; the site plan approval included screening, fencing and landscape expectations to limit visibility of vehicle storage from the public right-of-way.

Council action: motions to approve the PUD amendment, preliminary plat and site plan were made and passed by recorded vote in the council meeting minutes.