The Waterloo City Council is expected to vote on special use permit requests by the owners of the former Ahne’s Bakery property at 201 W. Mill Street during its meeting this coming Monday night.

The bakery property has sat vacant since a September 2022 fire closed the local treasure for good.

This property was recently purchased by local residents George Obernagel and JP Fitzgibbons, who have proposed to demolish the burned-out bakery and develop a combined multi-level business/apartment complex on this site.

The first phase of this project would include a business office on the ground level with two second floor apartment units – much like the Obernagel-Fitzgibbons developed Adorable Beast business/apartment structure next door at 203 W. Mill Street. The second phase would include three or four additional apartment units.

On Feb. 19, The Waterloo Zoning Board of Appeals, with one of its seven members not present, voted 3-3 against recommending approval for special use permits being issued for this project, however.

The split vote by the zoning board was mainly due to parking concerns raised by small business owners on West Mill Street.

Per an ordinance amendment approved in 2021 when a women’s recovery residence was proposed at the former Rosedale House on Mueller Lane, the Waterloo City Council can either affirm or reverse the zoning board decision based upon the record of that meeting.

Since this proposed development falls in Waterloo’s Central Overlay District, parking regulations specified in the city’s code of ordinances for other portions of the city do not apply.

The zoning board’s vote came after the seven-member Waterloo Planning Commission granted unanimous recommendation to the special use permit requests for the former Ahne’s property on Jan. 12.

Per notes from the planning commission meeting submitted by chairman Nathan Rau, “the fact that this is an unusual lot, difficult to develop, and in desperate need of development was a consideration.” And while parking was brought up as a possible concern regarding this development, the planning commission’s position is that there’s no data at this time to determine “whether we’ve crossed a barrier of parking limitations or not.”

The Waterloo City Council meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 2 at City Hall.