Since our last update, a few things have developed with the Cargill project.
- Cargill has agreed to an additional condition of the rezoning to ensure that the area being rezoned for the railyard would remain as a railyard. (i.e. It can’t become another industrial use at a future time, without being reconsidered by a future City Council).
- Concern has been expressed about the future of the existing pollinator planted in 2017 at the Stewart Road property that would be disturbed with Cargill’s railyard project. One option was for Cargill to simply repay the City for what was spent on planting the pollinator. However, Cargill has agreed in writing to plant the equivalent area of pollinator nearby, to compensate for what is lost at the Stewart Road property. That land would then be donated to the City to conserve the new pollinator. Specific details of this will be included in the Development Agreement for the transfer of the Stewart Road property, still under negotiation.
A public hearing for both the Future Land Use Map Amendment (Case #FLUMA-029594-2019) and the Rezoning (Case #RZNE-029592-2019) will be held at 4pm on November 19
th
, in the City Council Chambers, 3
rd
Floor, City Hall, 101 1
st
St SE, Cedar Rapids.
Anticipated Project Schedule
- November 19, 2019 // City Council Public Hearing
- December 3, 2019 // 2nd Ordinance Reading
- December 17, 2019 // 3rd Ordinance Reading
Please note: the 2
nd
and 3
rd
readings could be combined at the December 3 meeting. Otherwise, the 3
rd
reading would stay on the December 17 agenda.