Ask The Answer Person: "Please tell me the potential Hy Vee in Decorah won't get screwed up by our local officials!"

Posted: Mon, Feb 25, 2019 6:57 PM

(Ellen e-mails The Answer Person: "In regards to the potential Hy-Vee in Decorah--this development won't get screwed up by our city officials, will it?"):

The Answer Person says: "Thanks for providing a good chuckle! Here's a serious answer, however--there might not need to be city council approval.

If a developer wants to make changes to the existing Quillin's building, it would have to create a proposed site plan and present an application to the city's zoning administrator. The zoning administrator may be able to approve plans for improvements administratively depending on the scope of proposed changes. If the proposed plans would increase the square footage of the building, it may necessitate a review by the Planning & Zoning Commission, which would then vote on the site plan. That recommendation would then be forwarded to the Decorah City Council for its vote.

It's important to point out such a site plan would have important differences from the Menards site plan which got voted down by the Planning & Zoning Commission. First of all, Centrum Plaza is not in the floodplain. Secondly, the property is already zoned for such a development. Thirdly—and this is NOT a factor local officials technically should consider, but it doesn't hurt that Decorah residents have long been hoping a Hy Vee store would open in Decorah.

Likewise, any tax abatements would have to be approved by the city council. There's a history of the City of Decorah offering tax abatements, however--to the new Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel on Highway 9, the new Decorah Auto Center on the Highway 9 & 52 intersection and the Echo Development apartments in the Decorah Business Park. There might be a lengthy discussion of the details of the Hy Vee tax abatements, but an outright rejection seems unlikely.

So the answer to your question is, "No, it won't get screwed up."