A proposed new apartment complex on the northwest side of Fort Dodge will come before the City Council this evening.

The council will also continue to work on the proposed budget for 2025-2026 and again consider an increase in fines for parking violations.

The council meeting will begin at 5 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 819 First Ave. S., with a budget workshop. The proposed budgets for the Police Department, emergency management and the parking fund will be reviewed.

At 6 p.m., the council’s regular business meeting will begin. The proposed apartment complex will be considered at that time.

Hoppe Development has proposed building a 90-unit apartment complex on the south side of Third Avenue Northwest between Fifth and 10th streets northwest. The apartments would be in a series of three-story buildings that would be constructed on what is now vacant city-owned land.

The specific issue that the council will consider is the change in zoning that would be needed to build the apartments.

The property, which totals about three acres, is now zoned for office commercial and single family residential use. A multifamily residential zoning status is needed.

In December, the city’s Plan and Zoning Commission recommended a multifamily residential zone designation that would permit one dwelling unit per 2,000 square feet of lot area. The developer had requested a zoning designation that would permit one dwelling unit per 1,000 square feet of lot area.

Also tonight, the council will consider the second reading of a measure that would increase the fines for parking violations. Those fines have not been changed since 2011.

The proposal would raise the initial parking violation fine to $20 and to as much as $35 if it isn’t paid promptly.