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Council backs Decorah Jobs tax-credit application; related zoning amendment fails to clear supermajority
Summary
The council approved a resolution supporting Decorah Jobs’ workforce housing tax-credit application and pledged local financial participation; a related zoning ordinance to reduce minimum house width from 24 to 18 feet failed to advance because the waiver-and-adopt motion did not receive the six votes required for immediate final action.
Council considered a resolution supporting Decorah Jobs’ application for workforce housing tax credits and pledging local financial participation. A city staffer explained that a letter of support and a minimum local financial participation (cited in staff remarks as $1,000 or use of the city’s residential abatement program) are required for the application; the council moved and approved the resolution by roll call.
At the same meeting, staff presented a second-reading ordinance to amend Title 17 of the Decorah Municipal Code to reduce the minimum principal-structure width from 24 feet to 18 feet. Staff said the change was intended to enable smaller cluster homes — an explicit part of the proposed Sunflower-site cluster housing project. Planning and Zoning recommended approval.
Councilmembers debated the ordinance’s intent and need. One member praised the move as enabling smaller footprints and reducing administrative cost to building housing; another highlighted bipartisan support for lowering costs to create more housing. The council then attempted to waive the second-reading requirement and adopt the ordinance immediately, but members determined the chamber lacked the six votes required to waive and adopt. The motion to waive and adopt therefore failed for lack of the required supermajority; the ordinance remains under the standard reading schedule.
Staff noted the Sunflower-site project will return to the council after PNZ review and that the workforce-housing resolution and zoning proposal are related steps in enabling new cluster units. No final zoning adoption occurred at this meeting.
