Board denies request to convert 1600 Mondamin Ave. to private vehicle storage

The Des Moines Board of Adjustment voted unanimously on Oct. 23 to deny a conditional-use request for 1600 Mondamin Avenue to be used as private vehicle storage.

Katherine Drahas, planner for the City of Des Moines, told the board that although warehouses are allowed as conditional uses in the P2 district, the site’s land-use designation is low-density residential and staff believed warehouse use would not safeguard the neighborhood’s health, safety and general welfare. “As such, we are recommending denial of the request,” Drahas said.

Applicant representatives Norline Gagner and Dean Herr described efforts to maintain the building, their contact with neighborhood groups and the difficulty and cost of rehabbing the more-than-100-year-old building for other uses; Gagner said the owner has used the space to store “treasures, vehicles included” and stressed the intent was not to run a commercial truck-based operation. The applicant said the building is vacant and that they had engaged with the neighborhood; they asked the board to allow the owner limited use while pursuing a longer-term reuse or sale.

Board members pressed staff and the applicant about zoning, site-plan and building-permit requirements (including fire and structural issues) and noted that conversion from a place of worship to a warehouse is a substantive change in use. On balance, board members agreed staff’s land-use reasoning controlled; a motion to adopt staff’s recommendation to deny the conditional use passed 6–0.

Chair members encouraged the owners to work with staff and neighborhood groups to find an alternative reuse that fits the land-use designation and building-code requirements.