There's a growing controversy over a $7-million development in central Davenport. The issue surrounds an almost three acre area of trees and a proposed plan to tear the trees down.
The area in question is along Kimberly Road and Welcome Way. The developer would like to clear out most of the trees and build six, three-story townhouses. People who live in the neighborhood are concerned about the development and how it will affect water run off.
"I'm just concerned that the project is too big for that area," says Lisa Dingledein.
The majority of people who live next door to the development oppose the project. They don't want the city to re-zone the property which would allow the townhouses to be built.
"I don't want to stop the project, I just want it to go somewhere else," says Courtney Rickie, "There are so many empty places it could go."
The developer says there isn't cause for concern. He says the town homes will have 50-market rate units.
"We don't deal with subsidized housing, we deal with market rates," says Developer Dick McNamara.
There will also be a retention pond for water run-off and the developer insisted some of the trees will stay.
"If you had the opportunity to go through there, there are a lot of dead trees," adds McNamara, "Where ever the building foot print is we'll loose trees, but we'll always be adding trees."
The project will bring big money into the city. The property taxes on the development will bring in more than $100,000 a year.
"I think we need to think about the $126,000 in revenue," says Land Owner Jeff West, "The project will bring 50 new families and we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars coming into this development."
City council recognizes the amount of money the project could bring in, but aldermen have questions about the project's environmental impact.
"This is an integral part of our water retention and our air quality in that area," says Alderman Bill Boom.
Aldermen are asking for more information from the public works department about water run-off concerns.
"We need to have the answers to their questions, so our public works experts can tell us if this is a good project or if it might be better to move it to other land in Davenport," adds Alderman Boom.
Even though aldermen approved the first reading for re-zoning, the ordinance has to make it through five more weeks of discussion. If it passes and the area is re-zoned the city would still have to approve the final development plans. The city would also require a study to make sure there would not be any water run-off problems.
