In Iowa City, a judge placed his decision in favor of the city who sides with Chauncey Towers. This is only one of two cases regarding the 15-story building against the Iowa Coalition group.
The Iowa court of appeals affirmed that the lawsuit filed by member of the Iowa Coalition, a citizen group named shadow in opposition to the downtown high-rise was dismissed. Christopher Warnock, the coalition's attorney, said that they were surprised by the ruling and is going to ask for a further review. He said that he still has 20 days from the ruling to petition for a review.
According to The Gazette, it all started in 2013 when area lawyer Rockne Cole filed an application to the group to rezone land tabbed for the 15-story multipurpose building, the Chauncey, by developer Marc Moen. Cole and the coalition filed the case against the City Council of Iowa which denied the application for rezoning the central business district.
But according to Judge Paul Miller of Johnson County, the applicants had no standing in the case simply because the city owns the land. However, Cole and warlock had a different argument, they said that the ruling showed that citizens have no right even if they have properly filed an application and added that it involves fundamental issue of access to the court.
Moen was thrilled with the ruling. He said that it's great news but unnecessary delays like this cost enormous amounts of money. Even if he knows that the ruling is going to be on his side, he still has to wait it out. He added that it had already cost him over $1million in damages now. Despite the recent ruling, Moen still has to wait for the decision of the second case filed against him by the Trinity Episcopal Church which also filed for a rezoning application.
