A proposed land swap of Bettendorf's Forest Grove Park property would give a Texas-based land developer nearly five acres designated for parking and playground areas under the park master plan, and leave the city with three parcels essentially unusable for recreation purposes.

The swap also would enable the developer to add 11 additional home lots. Residential lots in Huntington Meadows subdivision, just south of Forest Grove Road and across from the park, range in price from $55,000 to $70,000.

The proposed swap was given approval by the city park board June 10, despite commissioners not knowing how much the city will end up paying for extension of the street serving the park and subdivision.

The city paid $2.92 million – nearly $32,000 an acre – for the 92-acre park property in 2010, and have spent nearly $200,000 on master plans for development of the park south of Interstate 80 and north of Forest Grove Road.

The long-anticipated move of Bettendorf's Isle of Capri Casino from its riverboat to a land-based site is moving forward with the firm seeking approval to build a 70,000 square foot casino in the courtyard between its two existing hotel towers along the city riverfront.

The move to land by the Isle would mark the end of the era of riverboat casinos in the Quad Cities. The Rhythm City casino riverboat in Davenport (now owned by competing gambling operator Dan Kehl) is slated to move from its riverfront location in downtown Davenport to a new facility at Interstate 74 and 80. The Isle had indicated it planned to move to a land-based operation, but details of where the new casino would be built had not been announced.

In its filing with the city planning and zoning commission, the Isle is asking for approval of a 70,000 square foot casino to be built in the courtyard and entrance drive area near the north and south towers of the existing Isle of Capri hotel complex.

The Iowa Finance Authority has begun an investigation into whether construction of the Bettendorf Thomas Place apartments along E. Kimberly Road complies with federal standards for access by people with disabilities.

The Bettendorf senior housing complex at 2205 E. Kimberly Road is one of nine properties cited by the National Fair Housing Allliance (NFHA) in its lawsuit filed June 5 against Ryan Companies US, Inc., James N. Bergman, of LeClaire, IA, and Thomas and Thomas Associates.

"The lawsuit alleges that since about 2005, the defendants have engaged in a pattern and/or practice of building apartments for seniors which do not have the accessible features required by the Fair Housing Act," according to NFSA's news release on the court filing. "The defendants' apartments had many problems including: insufficient space to access sinks in kitchens and bathrooms; showers stalls that are too small to allow access; steep slopes on sidewalks and other routes of entrance; access aisles for accessible parking spaces which are blocked by concrete pillars," NFHA said.

The 116-unit Thomas Place senior housing was built with $29 million of Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Iowa Finance Authority, plus $650,000 in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) incentives provided by the City of Bettendorf.

The new BP gas station being rebuilt at Middle Road and Interstate 74 doesn't want motorists to miss noticing its advertising as they zip along the heavily traveled roadway between Iowa and Illinois.

The station has asked the Bettendorf Board of Adjustment to grant four variances which would allow the station to increase the height of its on-premise sign, increase the size of the on-premise sign, permit an electronic display three times larger than allowed by city code and allow the sign 10 feet closer to the adjoining property line/interstate on-ramp.

The variance requests will be heard by the board at its Thursday (June 12) meeting.

by Todd Dorman, 24 hour Dorman
The Gazette, Cedar Rapids

June 3, 2014

If you care about water quality, soil preservation or local recreation and conservation projects, Gov. Terry Branstad sent you a clear message Friday evening.

Go jump in an impaired lake. Or maybe a river. He really doesn’t care.

Under the flimsy guise of fiscal responsibility, and with timing intended to bury his actions on the back pages, Branstad used his veto pen to slash approved funding for the Resource Enhancement and Protection, or REAP, program, and to ax bucks for several water and soil conservation programs.

CLICK HERE to continue reading 24-Hour Dorman on The Gazette web site.

A second alderman has resigned from the Bettendorf City Council in less than two months.

Alderman At-Large Lisa Brown submitted her letter of resignation May 6.

A special meeting of the council has been called for Tuesday (5/13) to accept the resignation and consider a resolution asking the Scott County Auditor to add the vacancy to the city's July 1 special election, which had already been scheduled to fill the 5th Ward alderman vacancy created by the resignation of James Stewart March 10.

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Editor's Note: The city council at its May 13 meeting added the at-large alderman vacancy to the special election scheduled July 1. Candidates have until June 6 to file petitions to place their name on ballot for the council seat.

Lee Enteprises, publisher of the Quad City Times and Muscatine Journal, posted a $1.49 million profit for the second quarter ended March 30 despite a 4 percent drop in revenues compared with the same period last year.

Lee reported Thursday (5/8) earnings of 3 cents per share, $1.49 million, for the quarter, compared with a loss of $6 million, 12 cents a share, for the same period in 2013. Operating revenues for the second quarter totaled $154.1 million, down 4 percent from the $160.6 million in quarterly revenues last year.

"Our business transformation initiatives continue to create efficiencies," Lee Chairman and CEO Mary Junck said in the company's earnings news release, "driving cash costs down almost 6 percent in the quarter and creating an increase in operating cash flow over the prior year."

An 8 percent decline in the number of full-time employees, from 4,770 at the end of March 2013 to 4,486 at the end of March this year, helped lower the company's cash costs, along with a 13 percent drop in newsprint and ink expenses.

Throughout American history the role of progressive religion in the promotion of social justice has been of significant importance.

Religious institutions have historically acted as the conscience of the nation. During the nation’s early years, people of faith spearheaded the abolitionist movement and the eventual demise of the “peculiar institution” of slavery.


The fight for woman’s suffrage arose out of the Protestant church’s promotion of a “muscular Christianity.” Rooted in the Social Gospel, it influenced the ideal of female muscular prowess. The right to vote was eventually established with the adoption of the 19th Amendment.

Religiously progressive women and men of faith fought for justice and equality among the recently arrived immigrants crowding into America’s cities at the turn of the 20th century. In this context, the nation began its slow movement toward equitable social security for all.

UnityPoint Health (formerly Trinity Terrace Park) hasn't given up on the idea of using its hospital fronting Interstate 74 to trumpet its "top 100" hospital ranking by a health care analytics firm.

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Editor's Note: The Board of Adjustment at its 5/8 meeting voted unanimously to deny the variance for the larger permanent hospital signs.

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Last month, the hospital filed and then withdrew a variance application to permit the hospital to mount two "temporary banners" on its building touting its ranking by Truven Health Analytics. The hospital needed the variances because of the larger-than-allowed size of the banners and the plan to keep the "temporary" banners up for a year. Temporary banners are normally only permitted for 60 days by city ordinance.

The hospital is now asking for permission from the city's Board of Adjustment for two additional permanent on-premise signs which would have almost three times the square footage of the sign currently on the building exterior fronting I-74. The board is scheduled to hear the request at its Thursday (5/8) meeting.

A new American Lung Association's (ALA) "State of the Air" report ranks Muscatine County 23rd worst in the United States for fine particulate pollution, affecting an estimated 34,000 residents who are at-risk from the air pollution because of health conditions such as asthma, COPD, cardio vascular disease and diabetes.

The ALA report tracks with a just released Iowa Department of Natural Resources' (IDNR) air quality report for 2013 that seven National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) exceedances were recorded for fine particulate pollution and 67 exceedances for sulfur dioxide in Muscatine County.

During 2013, five exceedances of ambient air quality standards for fine particulate pollution were recorded in Davenport and one in Clinton.

The 15 fine particulate (PM 2.5) exceedances recorded statewide last year, compared with five during 2012. Four of the five fine particulate exceedances in Iowa during 2012 were in Muscatine (Muscatine High East Campus), and one in Emmetsburg.