County will examine comp plan before deciding on zoning

A loose form of zoning might come to rural areas of Adair County before long, but first the board of supervisors will look to update the county’s comprehensive plan.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors continued looking at zoning at their Wednesday, June 11 meeting. Their plan of action is to talk to Southern Iowa Council of Governments first who can help them update their comprehensive plan. This is a document that plays strongly into planning and executing long term vision.

Iowa law provides that counties are authorized to regulate land use in unincorporated areas through zoning ordinances, and Adair County currently does not have any of these ordinances. These can restrict building height, the number of structures, building size, lot coverage and other aspects of development. The law says agriculture is exempt from almost all zoning.

SICOG Senior Planner Jeremy Rounds provided the supervisors a packet of information about zoning.

Supervisor Jodie Hoadley said she found a conversation she had with Rounds last week to be very helpful. He was the one who told her the comprehensive plan update should be where the supervisors start, then zoning can come after.

The supervisors still all weighed in on whether or not they think zoning would be a good idea or not. A conference the supervisors are attending in August might be a good chance for them to gather thoughts about zoning from leaders in other small counties to see how it benefits or hinders their counties, Hoadley said. She described the zoning Adair County wants to implement as “very minimal.”

Supervisor Vice Chairman Jerry Walker said he feels the comprehensive plan is a good first step because ordinances the supervisors have implemented on wind energy and solar power development are not in their current plan, which is decades old. He added that he’s not in favor of zoning but acknowledged he’s “just one vote.”

Supervisor Michael Christoffersen said that he feels zoning gives legal power to a comprehensive plan, describing it as a “2-for-1,” but he also leans toward it being minimal.

Chairman Nathan Baier, who joined on the phone, said he would rather go through the comprehensive plan process first, letting that process inform the board on whether they should pursue zoning or if “the ordinances are enough.”

“Right now, I feel we should do zoning of some sort, but I want very minimal zoning, if we do it,” Baier said.

Hoadley asked whether the board should simply move to do the comprehensive plan or additionally state an intention to pursue zoning.

Supervisor Matt Wedemeyer thought the board should start with the comprehensive plan and wait to decide on pursuing zoning, which is what the board agreed to.