The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld a decision in district court in June 2024 to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the city of Jefferson, the city council and the mayor after rezoning a parcel of property on W. Head St west of N. Elm St from light industrial to residential- multi-family. The rezoning would have allowed KCG to build housing on the site.
The lawsuit was filed April 10, 2024. Lead petitioner in the lawsuit are Margaret Saddoris. Other petitioners are Larry Saddoris, Gary Goodwin, Sheila Goodwin, Steve Harrison, Patty Harrison, John Hamilton, Alice Hamilton, Matt Saddoris, Gary Harrison, Julie Harrison, Ken Bose and Sue Bose.
The petitioners claimed “the City of Jefferson and its mayor and council in their arbitrary and capricious actions have encouraged the creation of nuisance conditions and incompatible land uses by rezoning industrial property for residential uses.”
They also claimed that the housing project proposed by KCG was approved “solely because it was a desired project by city leaders and the zoning policies and rights of its taxpayers were violated.”
A final claim was that council member Darren Jackson, an employee of Greene County Community Schools, should not have voted on the rezoning question because school superintendent Brett Abbotts was on record as supporting the project. The petitioners claimed that created a conflict of interest. The rezoning needed to be approved by a super majority, and without Jackson’s vote, it would have been approved on a 3-1 vote, not the 4-1 vote needed. Council member Chad Sloan voted no; council members Harry Ahrenholz, Pat Zmolek, Matt Wetrich and Jackson voted yes.
The Honorable Jennifer A. Miller dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the petitioners hadn’t proven they had been injured “in a special manner different from that of the public generally.”
The petitioners appealed Judge Miller’s decision to the Iowa Court of Appeals.
The Honorable Sanuel P. Langholz in the Court of Appeals on Nov. 13 affirmed the opinion of the lower court.
The plaintiffs have 20 days from that date to appeal the case to the Iowa Supreme Court. Jefferson city administrator Scott Peterson did not answer questions about whether KCG is still interested in constructing a housing project on the site. He did say, though, that the city’s insurance carrier has covered the legal expenses involved in the case.
