Zoning panel backs rezoning for long‑range landfill plan despite neighborhood objections

The Zoning Advisory Commission voted to recommend rezoning roughly 103 acres near Airborne Road from agricultural to heavy industrial to allow the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency (DMASWA) to seek permits for long‑range landfill expansion.

The rezoning recommendation passed after a public hearing in which DMASWA staff described a phased plan that the agency says would provide roughly 190 years of landfill capacity across the agency’s property. Ken Miller, Solid Waste Agency administrator, told the commission, “The goal is to be as transparent as possible with our property out there and to provide that long range plan so that everyone knows what the site will be developed to.”

Neighbors objected, saying a private deed restriction negotiated when parts of the former Jennings Farm were sold promised the parcel would not be used for landfill activities. Steve Inglesby, who said his home borders the parcel, told the commission the agreement was a reason his neighborhood bought properties there: “Part of their agreement was that it wasn’t going to be used for landfill purposes.” Other neighbors said they feared noise, traffic and loss of property value if the land is rezoned.

DMASWA and city staff said the private covenant remains a separate legal agreement between the agency and prior landowners and is not removed by city rezoning; rezoning would not itself change any private covenant. Staff also said state permitting for landfill cells requires the land be zoned for the intended industrial use before the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will grant expansion permits. Miller said the agency’s conceptual plan respects setback requirements, noting the design preserves a roughly 1,500‑foot buffer from private wells and a 500‑foot buffer from the agency’s property boundary as required by state rules.

Agency and staff testimony included operational and environmental details: DMASWA projects current regional disposal at about 170,000 tons per year (the agency peaked near 176,000 tons during the COVID period) and said the next constructed cell would likely not be needed for about 10–15 years; the conceptual footprint the agency presented would be developed in multiple phases over many decades. Miller described caps, stormwater ponds and coordination with federal regulators for a creek realignment as part of long‑term engineering work. He also described a landfill “EV cap” approach being considered for some closed cells that differs from the standard composite liner cap used elsewhere.

Commissioners acknowledged the public concerns and the private covenant but said the city’s rezoning and any private covenant are separate legal processes. Assistant planner Jason Duba noted that staff received a petition from 39 property owners opposed to the rezoning and that the city’s notification boundary calculation put that opposition at about 11.7% of the affected land area — below the 20% threshold that would require a supermajority vote in City Council. Several commissioners urged DMASWA and staff to continue outreach with nearby residents.

The commission amended the applicant’s proposed heavy industrial district to adopt the same permitted and conditional use limitations that apply to the existing landfill property (limiting permitted uses to a defined set including sanitary landfill, resource recovery and recycling center, and restricting conditional uses to wind energy systems), and approved the rezoning recommendation. Staff said the file and public input will be forwarded to City Council for consideration in May.

What’s next: the commission’s recommendation and the public record, including the petition and written comments provided at the hearing, will be forwarded to the City Council for final action. If the council approves rezoning, the agency will still need state and federal permits (Iowa DNR, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) and detailed engineering designs for each future cell and for any creek relocation or stormwater changes.