An ordinance to rezone a piece of land near the Fort Dodge Country Club to build a new housing subdivision passed its first consideration by the Fort Dodge City Council.

On Monday evening, a public hearing was held on the proposed ordinance that would rezone approximately 11.23 acres of land at the northwest corner of the Country Club golf course from conservation to residential.

No written comments were submitted before the hearing, and no oral comments were presented during the hearing.

The first consideration of the ordinance to rezone the site and update the city’s future land use plan passed the council unanimously, with council member Kim Alstott absent.

The subdivision is being developed by Lazy Tree Development LLC, a limited-liability company based in Fort Dodge. Kole Petersen is listed as the registered agent for Lazy Tree LLC on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website.

The proposed subdivision is years in the making, dating back to at least 2020, according to previous reporting by The Messenger. During its May 9, 2022, meeting, the City Council approved a resolution stating its intent to support the project.

If granted the rezoning, the housing development would have a total of 24 lots, which include 14 single-family detached homes and 10 single-family attached homes, also known as duplexes.

The single-family homes would all be custom-built by those who buy the lots and require a minimum investment of $375,000 into each home, Petersen told the City Council during the May 9, 2022, meeting. The duplexes would cost a minimum of $225,000, he said.

The development of this new subdivision would be done through a partnership between Lazy Tree LLC and the city of Fort Dodge government. The city would pay to construct the street, water main, sanitary sewers and storm sewers. It would recover those costs through tax increment financing, special assessments placed on each lot and a portion of the sale price of each lot. Lazy Tree LLC would handle the sale of the lots.

The preliminary plat of the subdivision shows Country Club Drive extending westward from A Street West, turning into Dolliver Lane. The site of Dolliver Lane is currently an unpaved private drive on the Country Club golf course property, and the paved road would follow approximately the same route. A proposed Dolliver Court with culs-de-sac at each end would sit at the north end of Dolliver Lane.

The proposed ordinance rezoning the land will return to the City Council for two more considerations.

In other business, the City Council began its meeting with a workshop featuring four local high school students who were part of an exchange program this summer to Gjakova, Kosovo, a sister city of Fort Dodge.

The council also passed the second consideration of an ordinance amending the city’s code on abandoned and junk vehicles and machinery.