Schade Creek Winery Rezoning Tabled Because of Lack of Right-of-Way Agreement

Editor's Note: This story originally ran on Waukee Patch on June 27. We're refeaturing the story for our weekend readers.

Schade Creek experienced another setback in the ongoing battle between the vineyard and winery and the city of Waukee.

At Tuesday night's meeting of the Waukee Planning & Zoning Commission, the board voted to table a proposal to rezone Schade Creek from an agricultural entity to a planned urban development that would allow it to host events, as well as sell wine on the property.

What do you think? Is the city being unfair to Schade Creek or is Kurt Schade not following proper protocol? Tell us in the comments.

What gave commission members pause was that the rezoning agreement lacked a right-of-way provision between Kurt Schade and the city.

A right-of-way agreement grants a municipality, like the city of Waukee, rights to a landowner's property for whatever purpose it chooses. Right-of-way agreements are common in both rural and urban communities where development could occur.

The Schade Creek Vineyard & Winery, near the intersection of University Avenue and Warrior Lane, sits on a tract of land that will one day be the site of an expansion of University Avenue. With any right-of-way agreement, use of the landowner's property is affected.

To date, Kurt Schade has not entered into a right-of-way agreement with the city. By doing so, he says, he is agreeing to let the city destroy four rows of vines he has planted that would be in the way of the eventual expansion, thus creating a loss of income. 

"I believe the city has rights," said Schade on Tuesday. "I believe asking a resident on a property zoned ag to agree to give the city land and agreeing to pay whatever the city feels is a fair assessment in the future, at which time the infrastructure is put in place, and sacrifice an asset, which is the production of grapes, is unfair."

It seemed commission members were on board and willing to approve the rezoning until they realized that there was no right-of-way agreement included in the plan.

When interim city administrator Brad Deets was asked whether or not he felt the commission could approve the plan without it, he expressed concern that once rezoning was negotiated, talks would end with Schade Creek.

Commissioner Wayne Johnson said the commission wasn't denying the plan but rather putting it on hold until they could agree on right-of-way dedication.

"I would love to see you sell wine, but at the same time I feel like there is a little bit of an arm-wrestling match going on," said Johnson. "You talk about the tactics of the city, but at the same time I think there are some tactics on the other side."

Until the two parties can come to an agreement, Schade Creek Vineyard & Winery will not be allowed to host events or sell wine on the property.

"From the commission's standpoint, there is a desire to come to some sort of agreement," said Deets. "We’ll go back to the drawing board to see if we can come up with something that's workable both from the city’s perspective and the property owner's."

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