Iowa City Board of Appeals upholds permit for 319 N. Van Buren in 2-1 vote after neighbor’s sewer dispute

Iowa City’s Board of Appeals voted 2‑1 on Jan. 15, 2025, to uphold a building permit for a new residence at 319 North Van Buren Street after a neighbor, David Moore of 425 East Davenport Street, appealed on grounds that the foundation was built over his sewer line and violated the city plumbing code.

The appeal centered on whether the city erred in issuing the permit when Moore’s attorney, Greg Girdis, said the sewer for 425 runs under the footprint of the new foundation and that the International/City plumbing code’s Table 721.1 requires a minimum horizontal clearance of 2 feet between a building and a building sewer. “What we're asking in a nutshell is that the separation which is required by the building code … be enforced,” Girdis told the board.

City attorney Sue Dulick told the board the record contains no recorded easement and no court‑issued prescriptive easement for Moore’s sewer to cross 319. “There is no recorded easement, and there's no prescriptive easement,” Dulick said, and she argued the plumbing code provision cited by the appellant applies to building sewers on the lot of the new building and to abutting lots only, not to non‑abutting properties.

The property owners’ attorney, Matt Adam, urged the board to base its…