With legal action still pending in courts, the issue of a potential new Casey’s General Store in Pella is once again returning to the agenda of a city government board.
Pella’s Planning and Zoning Commission will review a revised site plan and zoning change request by Casey’s Marketing Company at the Pella Public Safety Complex this Monday at 7 p.m. According to city staff, the proposed changes in designs would moving parking back to the Main Street side of the store and add landscaping to the edges of the property located at the corner of Main and Union in Pella.
The potential zoning change is called a Planned Unit Development (PUD), which is used by various levels of government to mitigate impacts certain developments may have on adjacent properties to minimize negative effects. In the city’s Comprehensive Plan published in 2014, conflicts with a property may be resolved or minimized through design, and a PUD “may be advisable.” A PUD ordinance would have to pass three readings held by the Pella City Council in order to be approved.
Casey’s is attempting to build a new location at 505-513 Main Street and 705 Union Street on a property they are purchasing from Dennis and Joyce Vander Beek. A site plan was rejected by the Pella City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this year, and Casey’s followed up with a lawsuit filed in district court this June. They allege the City of Pella and Planning and Zoning commission improperly blocked the proposal, and argued the rejected designs fit with existing zoning regulations. A non-jury trial date has been scheduled on November 29th.
Throughout the entire process since late 2015, a possible new store has been met with strong opposition by the majority of residents living within a three-block radius of the site at various city council and city board meetings.
If approved, a new Casey’s General Store at the corner of Main and Union would close three other locations in Pella, including the two currently on the city’s downtown square.