By Aaron Vehling

The Rush City council voted unanimously Monday to amend their comprehensive plan and allow for a 17.6 acre parcel of land owned by the Mold family west of the airport to be designated ìresidentialî for future land use.

This decision is contrary to the interests of the airport advisory board, said city administrator Daniel P. Hoffman.
ìThey would like the land to be something like industrial or commercial,î he said.

But, Hoffman said, the cityís best interest would be to make the land residential so that the ìzoning process will establish an optimal solution.î
ìThe cityís commercial development has focused on the I-35 interchange area,î he said. ìWe also have a large industrial park. It would not be good policy to go even further and find industrial zones.î

The decision comes on the heels of the planning commissionís vote to deny changing the land from ìagriculturalî to ìresidential.î
Though no airport representatives attended the council meeting, realtor Dan Birdsall of ERA Muske Company Real Estate presented his and the Moldsí case.

He said the planning commission meetings were helpful but they were filled with ìairport people.î
Birdsall disagreed with statements the airport board had made during the planning commission meeting that suggested that because of noise the land would be better off industrial.

ìI have built homes next to freeways, and the noise was greater,î he said, adding that an airport the size of Rush Cityís does not see enough traffic from large enough planes to justify the airport boardís suggestion.

In addition, he noted that the land to-be-developed falls on the side of the runway and that ì97 to 98 percent of all airport problems are at the beginning and end of the runway.î

The council deliberated for almost an hour before coming to the decision to allow for an amendment to the comprehensive plan. An amendment was required because the parcel of land was not originally in the comprehensive plan that was drawn up in 1997.

In related news, the Airport Advisory Board sent a letter to the city council requesting that the board be included in ìany zoning, land planning or development of Rush City Regional Airport properties and adjacent properties within the airport traffic patterns and safety zones.î
The council recognized their request.

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