Do Renters Make Bad Neighbors? Waukee Council Hears from Residents

Residents who spoke against a proposed zoning change at Monday's Waukee City Council meeting said that allowing townhomes and duplexes instead of commercial businesses doesn't serve the area, which has enough rental housing.

Council members voted 3-1 to give preliminary approve to rezoning Lot 1 of Williams Pointe Plat 13. The site is about nine acres and is located at Southeast Brick Drive and Southeast Laurel Street. It must be approved at two more council meetings to take affect.

Council members Shane Blanchard, Casey Harvey and Mike Watts voted for the zoning change, the Des Moines Register reported, while council member Shelly Hughes voted against. Councilman Isaiah McGee was absent. Blanchard said he voted for the measure only to allow a full council vote and he wants to see commercial construction in the area.

Carol Jahnke, a Waukee resident and former economic developer for the city of Waverly, wrote a letter to the council opposed to the change.   

“As a developer I consider progress to be commercial development and/or family-occupied homes,” Jahnke said. “Should you decide to rezone you will add another parcel of potential rental properties. What makes the city attractive is owner-occupied homes.” 

In her letter Jahnke said, “In most cases renters simply do not have the pride of ownership of homes have.” 

Do rental properties make bad neighbors? What is your take on the issue? Comment below or write about it in a blog. 

Brad Deets, city development services director, said the land's owner, Valley Bank, does not have a potential developer for the site, but would like to re-zone the property to allow townhome construction there. The city Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended approving the zoning change.

Valley Bank representative Davis Smith told the council the rezoning would take the property back to its original zoning.  

“If you can ask for anything better than this, with such low density, I don’t know,” Watts said.

During the public forum on the issue Art Ball, a Waukee resident and head of maintenance at Thomas Place and the future Alice’s Place, said his company is looking at managing the seven townhouses.  

“There was concern about rental property not keeping it up, as far as the renters. We have a five-guy team that manages and keeps it up for mowing and all that,” Ball said. “I live here in town and appreciate the job and we hope you guys give us the OK to build more townhouses so we will have more work.”  

Kay Thomas, manager of Thomas Place, said affordable housing, such as the townhomes, fills a very definite need in the community. The Thomas Place Apartments have a waitlist of nearly a year for a one-bedroom space.

“We take pride, my residents take pride, we take great care of our property," Thomas said. "I think I run a tight ship there, ask my residents, several of them are here today, if they break the rules I get after them.” 

Artist Lyster, a resident of Thomas Place for about two years, said the Waukee complex is "much nicer than anything else I looked at. “The common grounds are immaculate as well as the exterior. Kay is right, there are some rules that I am not crazy about, but I am crazy about living there. I would hate for anything to happen to that area. We love living in Waukee and we look forward to more commercial development around Alice’s Road.” 

Daine Haynes, told the council she loves living in the Waukee Townhomes where she is raising her daughter. 

“It feels good when you can see the police driving through the neighborhood, where as in my past you see the police coming and you know something has happened," Haynes said. "They take pride in the community. As neighbors we all work together.”  

Nancy Cullen, a resident of Waukee, said she would rather have low-rent housing spread throughout the community, instead of in a concentrated area. 

“I think every community has a responsibility to include diversity and offer low-rent housing,” Cullen said. “I feel we have our share and I don’t want us to make the mistake that larger cities have made by concentrating low-rent housing in specific communities. I think they are taken care of. Let’s go ahead and go with the development, but let’s sprinkle them throughout the community.” 

An unusual rebutle then came up.  

“I just want to say low rent doesn’t mean lesser of a person,” Haynes said.  

Annette McCarthy of R.J. Lawn and Landscape in Waukee, questioned who would maintain the townhomes, which would adjoin her business.

“Basically what people are looking for is a good neighbor,” McCarthy said. “I think everyone’s concern is with the specific developer not being a good neighbor.”  

McCarthy said that a number of dead trees are next to R.J. Lawn and Landscape that are part of the other surrounding developments.  

“As far as a few dead trees, we added 130 new trees," Ball replied. "As far as a few dead trees, we are addressing that all the time. As far as being a bad neighbor, if we don’t know about it, we can’t address it.” 

Roberta Martindale, president of the Williams Pointe association, said she is concerned about the volume of traffic on Brick Road. More propertiers in that area are rentals than owner-occupied houses.

"That’s not what I pictured eight years ago, in buying my property,” Martindale said. “I would like to see commercial. I would like to see you bring in people that will service the people on Brick Road.” 

Justin Alice, a Waukee home owner, told the council he chose Waukee as the place to buy a house and raise children because he picked a neighborhood that looked nice where everyone around him invested in the community by owning their residence. 

“The more and more rentals we put up in that area, the more that side of town becomes 'that side of town' in the most derogatory manner,” Alice said. “We came here to stay here and if our home is going to be (surrounded by) apartments, we aren't going to stay here, it’s not good for our property value.”

Mayor Bill Peard then said he had to speak out. 

“The magic isn’t in owning a house,” Peard said. “The magic is in having the responsibility as a citizen and a person in the community. There’s no magic.” 

The arguments on either side of the sides continued. Some of the same arguments were repeated. 

“We’ve beaten this thing to death,” Peard said.