Opinion: Iowa City opts for concrete over natural beauty
We empathize with the Dane family in their distress at the prospect of land adjacent to their nearly century-old property in southwest Iowa City being rezoned as “intensive commercial” (“City council nears approval of rezoning for Billion Auto,” April 26). Understandably, the family does not want the serenity and beauty of the land as it now exists to be replaced by expanses of concrete parking lots, additional light pollution, noise, and traffic congestion.
Unfortunately, four members of the City Council seem unpersuaded by arguments about leaving well enough alone, and letting the beauty of natural areas feed our spirits. Recently, Mayor Bruce Teague and Councilors Megan Alter, Laura Bergus, and Shawn Harmsen ignored the merits of preserving a grassy, stable, tree-lined slope within the Rochester Avenue Reconstruction Project and signed off on replacing it with (1) a lengthy retaining wall — which would require back-fill to give it something to retain — (2) close to a quarter-mile-long concrete slab, 4 feet wide, instead of a grassy expanse adjacent to the new bike lane (if you fell or were pushed off a bike by busy traffic, would you really want to fall on concrete rather than grass?) and (3) the loss of over 20 mature trees. The real kicker: City staff insists all this is required to widen the south side of Rochester Avenue a mere 18 inches.
It appears that the Dane family has not met with any more receptive ears than we have. Not all change is progress, particularly when it involves the group-think of city staff, who have never met a wall or concrete slab they didn’t like. If you’re looking for preservation of beautiful, natural areas and sensible decisions about how to incorporate them into the community, you’ll need to go to Coralville. Take a look at what that city has done on Oakdale Avenue near Kate Wickham Elementary School, for example, and bemoan the fact that a lack of imagination and disregard for beauty will leave us with a dull, utilitarian entrance to Iowa City that will feed no one’s spirits, never be a source of pride, and will only encourage drivers to hurry on by.
And how long do you think it will take before the retaining wall sports graffiti, an eye-sore upon an eye-sore?
Iowa City has a history of over-engineering projects, at costs we can ill-afford. For over three years, we have advocated for changes to the design of the Rochester Project. We hired an outside engineering firm to see if the retaining wall and concrete slab and removal of so many trees were necessary, and their conclusion was far different from the city’s.
When the city said the existing slope of the bank was too steep under code, we discovered that these were guidelines, not requirements, with exceptions available — and often made.
When city staff told us that the slope could collapse in years ahead, we petitioned for a soil test to assess that claim, something the city had surprisingly never asked for, and has not asked for still.
We submitted signatures from almost everyone in the neighborhood, virtually all of whom were opposed to the wall and concrete slab and the loss of trees. Yet, the city dismissed us at every turn. As the trees come down and the concrete slab and wall go up, we imagine city staff, and perhaps even city councilors, slapping each other on the back, celebrating their win over a pesky neighborhood group.
We do not believe most people in Iowa City support such heavy-handedness, nor approve of ceding control to unelected staff who are accountable to no one. But until more folks step up when they see proposals or decisions that seem wrong-headed, or until Council members strengthen their spines, we will be saddled with projects that do not reflect popular will, and, to the detriment of all of us, lack imagination and appreciation for beauty.
Nancy Jones and Michael Hovland live in Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Opinion: Iowa City chooses concrete over natural beauty
