If Anne Marie Kraus moved from the house where she’s lived for 40 years on Iowa City’s southeast side, she would miss her raised garden beds, apple trees and neighbors who help each other shovel their sidewalks in the winter.
But she wouldn’t miss the smells drifting from Procter & Gamble, which has two manufacturing plants nearby.
“You can always smell whatever it is they are making,” said the 71-year-old retired school librarian.
Kraus said she has experienced headaches and nausea she attributes to the fumes around the plant that manufactures beauty and grooming products. She’s now thinking of moving because of P&G’s proposed expansion onto the former Kirkwood Community College branch campus on Lower Muscatine Road.
The Iowa City Council next month will consider rezoning 6.8 acres from neighborhood public to general industrial so P&G, a Cincinnati-based multinational company, can complete its planned $6.4 million purchase of the property from Kirkwood, which announced in January 2023 it would close the Iowa City branch campus.
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously had agreed to the rezoning Jan. 17, sending it to the council for final approval.
Neighbors opposed to the expansion say it doesn’t fit with principles of environmental justice, which holds that poor or marginalized communities shouldn’t be harmed by development from which they do not benefit.
The area around the P&G plant at 1832 Lower Muscatine Rd., which is adjacent to the Kirkwood site, has a higher percentage of low-income residents and Black and Hispanic residents than Iowa City overall. Fine particulate matter in the air, lead paint, traffic and hazardous materials storage all are above the 80th percentile in the 1-mile radius of the plant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported.
“That, to me, screams this is definitely and environmental justice issue,” said Tracy Daby, who lives on H Street, two blocks north of the site. “I would hope that it means something to City Council.”
One of the main questions from neighbors is what P&G plans to do with the former Kirkwood site, which has several buildings previously used to house classes and other educational programming. The narrow lot is between the existing P&G and a MidAmerican Energy office.
“We don’t currently have existing plans on what we’d like to do with that property, but we’d like to have the opportunity to potentially expand,” Joe Townsend, site engineering leader, said at the Jan. 17 zoning commission meeting.
P&G operates three plants in Iowa City. The one adjacent to the Kirkwood site is the former Oral B plant, where workers make manual and electric toothbrushes, Townsend said. P&G also makes oral care products at the former Menard’s site, on Highway 1, and beauty products at 2200 Lower Muscatine Rd.
“We’ve received multiple correspondence. Some people have gotten the idea there’s chemicals going to be produced there,” Planning & Zoning Commission Chair Michael Hensch said to Townsend about the site adjacent to Kirkwood’s former campus. “Is there any basis for that?”
“No chemicals would be produced there,” Townsend said. “If we were to expand oral care operations, it would be primarily within making oral care toothbrushes or power toothbrushes, which is not a chemical manufacturing process. It’s an injection molding process.”
As an industrial site, owners could use it for warehousing, freight movement, recycling or heavy manufacturing, among other uses.
“The reality is that with that new zoning designation, with them or anyone down the road, anything can happen,” speaker Mary Helen Kennerly said at the meeting. “You just have to trust in our regulatory agencies — and their decreasing strength in our state — that nothing bad will happen to this community. I just want to convey how cautious I think we should be going forward and considering a change like this.”
https://www.thegazette.com/local-go...xpansion-at-former-iowa-city-kirkwood-campus/
But she wouldn’t miss the smells drifting from Procter & Gamble, which has two manufacturing plants nearby.
“You can always smell whatever it is they are making,” said the 71-year-old retired school librarian.
Kraus said she has experienced headaches and nausea she attributes to the fumes around the plant that manufactures beauty and grooming products. She’s now thinking of moving because of P&G’s proposed expansion onto the former Kirkwood Community College branch campus on Lower Muscatine Road.
The Iowa City Council next month will consider rezoning 6.8 acres from neighborhood public to general industrial so P&G, a Cincinnati-based multinational company, can complete its planned $6.4 million purchase of the property from Kirkwood, which announced in January 2023 it would close the Iowa City branch campus.
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously had agreed to the rezoning Jan. 17, sending it to the council for final approval.
Neighbors opposed to the expansion say it doesn’t fit with principles of environmental justice, which holds that poor or marginalized communities shouldn’t be harmed by development from which they do not benefit.
The area around the P&G plant at 1832 Lower Muscatine Rd., which is adjacent to the Kirkwood site, has a higher percentage of low-income residents and Black and Hispanic residents than Iowa City overall. Fine particulate matter in the air, lead paint, traffic and hazardous materials storage all are above the 80th percentile in the 1-mile radius of the plant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported.
“That, to me, screams this is definitely and environmental justice issue,” said Tracy Daby, who lives on H Street, two blocks north of the site. “I would hope that it means something to City Council.”
P&G keeps options open for site
One of the main questions from neighbors is what P&G plans to do with the former Kirkwood site, which has several buildings previously used to house classes and other educational programming. The narrow lot is between the existing P&G and a MidAmerican Energy office.
“We don’t currently have existing plans on what we’d like to do with that property, but we’d like to have the opportunity to potentially expand,” Joe Townsend, site engineering leader, said at the Jan. 17 zoning commission meeting.
P&G operates three plants in Iowa City. The one adjacent to the Kirkwood site is the former Oral B plant, where workers make manual and electric toothbrushes, Townsend said. P&G also makes oral care products at the former Menard’s site, on Highway 1, and beauty products at 2200 Lower Muscatine Rd.
“We’ve received multiple correspondence. Some people have gotten the idea there’s chemicals going to be produced there,” Planning & Zoning Commission Chair Michael Hensch said to Townsend about the site adjacent to Kirkwood’s former campus. “Is there any basis for that?”
“No chemicals would be produced there,” Townsend said. “If we were to expand oral care operations, it would be primarily within making oral care toothbrushes or power toothbrushes, which is not a chemical manufacturing process. It’s an injection molding process.”
As an industrial site, owners could use it for warehousing, freight movement, recycling or heavy manufacturing, among other uses.
“The reality is that with that new zoning designation, with them or anyone down the road, anything can happen,” speaker Mary Helen Kennerly said at the meeting. “You just have to trust in our regulatory agencies — and their decreasing strength in our state — that nothing bad will happen to this community. I just want to convey how cautious I think we should be going forward and considering a change like this.”
https://www.thegazette.com/local-go...xpansion-at-former-iowa-city-kirkwood-campus/
