Zoning commission approves Cedar Ridge minor subdivision and two Southwest Arterial replats

The Zoning Advisory Commission approved three plat items: the final plat of Cedar Ridge Farm Place Number 21 and final plats for Southwest Arterial plat 1 and plat 2.

For Cedar Ridge (minor subdivision), Bob Shissel, assistant city engineer, described that the city owned a larger parcel that was being subdivided after adjacent owners expressed interest in portions of the property. Staff said the four lots on the plat were currently labeled as unbuildable; one lot (Lot 1) contains an existing stormwater easement. Assistant planner Travis Shrubeljan told the commission that all four lots lack street frontage and therefore the commission needed to waive the frontage requirement. A commissioner moved to recommend approval of the final plat of Cedar Ridge Farm Place Number 21 subject to waiving lot frontage requirements for lots 1–4; the motion carried.

On Southwest Arterial plat 1 and plat 2, Shissel explained that completion of the US 52 Southwest Arterial required replatting and resurveying along the corridor to allocate the highway footprint to the Iowa Department of Transportation and to identify remnant parcels the city would retain as public right of way (Chesterfield Drive) or excess parcels to be conveyed to DOT. Shrubeljan reported both replats were in substantial compliance with platting rules and that no lot frontage waivers were required for those plats. The commission approved both final plats; staff will forward the approvals to City Council for May consideration.

What’s next: the commission’s recommendations and the finalized plats will be forwarded to City Council for formal acceptance and recordation. Any future changes to the Cedar Ridge lots that would remove the “unbuildable” status will require consolidation or a separate code review per the unified development code.