At the tail end of an otherwise brisk meeting Monday evening, the Marshalltown city council discussed and ultimately approved the first reading of a zoning map amendment for a block’s worth of parcels on the east side of the 300 block of North 10th Avenue to accommodate the construction of a stormwater retention area for the JBS plant.

Assistant Housing and Community Development Director Clayton Ender explained that JBS Swift and Co. had submitted a rezoning petition for approximately 1.17 acres on North 10th Avenue between Lee Street and Woodbury Street to support an expansion of their main campus and create a new stormwater detention basin while removing the current one on the west side of 10th Avenue, where a 40,000 square foot building addition to their distribution center would be constructed. The property is currently zoned medium density residential and is comprised of single-unit dwellings and vacant parcels, and JBS Swift and Co. has already completed the purchase of all of the properties.

The proposal, Ender added, is to convert them to a General Industrial zoning district with conditions of some prohibited uses and some that would be transitioned to special use.

“The comprehensive plan shows these parcels as a future land use of low-density residential, and we do further define it as, within a focus area, as an area for significant open space or park buffer type areas. So, certainly, the intended usage of the area is consistent with the comprehensive plan,” he said. “General Industrial generally wouldn’t comply with that, but with the proposed restrictions in the ordinance, it would be compatible with the comprehensive plans.”

After explaining some of the prohibited and special uses, Ender said the area had adequate access to all utilities, and he added that the Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended approval of the application. Additionally, all property owners within 250 feet have been notified, and signs have also been posted on the site with a public hearing set to be held at the next meeting.

Councilor Mark Mitchell asked if the fact that JBS purchased the lots at prices well above their assessed valuations would have an impact on taxes for the city, and Ender replied that all of the structures would be demolished with the land valuation staying similar. Mitchell also inquired about whether the company was constructing the stormwater retention basin to avoid paying the city’s stormwater utility fee, which Ender deferred to Public Works Director Heather Thomas.

“There’s two different things that you could potentially be referring to. There’s a stormwater rate credit application process. However, JBS would not qualify for the rate credit associated with that because that looks like the entire campus and not an individual parcel, so they won’t be reduced credit for that,” Thomas said. “There’s also a provision in the code that allows people to pay a fee without providing detention, and that has not been offered to JBS on that. And this is why this is coming forward because we are requiring them to put in stormwater detention.”

Councilor Melisa Fonseca, who attended the meeting remotely, commented that she had missed some of Ender’s remarks due to her connection, but she wondered what the area in question would look like when the process was all said and done.

“On the east side of North 10th (Avenue), there’s gonna be a hole in the ground. There will be landscaping there. They do intend to put a fence around it. I’m not trying to say that in jest necessarily, but it’s a hole in the ground,” Ender said.

Fonseca asked how big the hole would be, and he replied that it would essentially include all of the parcels.

“So the neighbors on the east side of those parcels, they’re gonna be in their backyard and see a hole in the ground,” she said.

“There is a required landscape buffer along the east portion of that, so there will be shrubs and understory trees. And they intend to construct a chain link fence with slats in it, but there will be some vegetation as well,” Ender replied.

Finally, Fonseca wondered if the proposal would have any impact on the smell that emanates from the facility where thousands of hogs are slaughtered every day. He responded that it was not intended to address odor in any way.

Councilor Gary Thompson jokingly asked Ender how many years he went to college to learn terms like “a hole in the ground” — the answer was four, and he’s currently working on a master’s degree.

“They taught us to use common terminology,” he said.

During the public comment period, Dave Grieve quipped that the correct term for a hole in the ground was “terrestrial aperture” before expressing his opinion on the continued expansion of JBS, Marshalltown’s largest employer.

“The more that plant grows, the less the town prospers. I think it’s counterproductive to the goals of the town to allow that company to grow,” he said, noting that there are around 25 million pigs in Iowa. “We’re a hog state. It just keeps getting more and more and more and more and more. Everybody’s concerned about smell, blah blah blah. Well, we’re encouraging it to grow, and I think they lower the wages in town. So it’s not a good company to have here. Do what you want.”

His remark drew a rebuke from Councilor Mike Ladehoff, who asked Grieve how much he believed JBS paid.

“$20 an hour,” Grieve said.

“Try $25, $28 an hour. Starting wages could be $20, but they’re also working Saturdays. That’s not bad money,” Ladehoff responded.

Grieve said jobs in his former home city of Wichita were paying $20 an hour 15 years ago, and he felt Marshalltown was behind significantly.

“And when you go to Mexico for $2 an hour and you don’t have to do OSHA, you don’t have to do EPA, you just go do what you want. It’s hard to compete as a company doing that,” he said. “I’m battling all kinds of codes and regulations. It’d be nice if I could just pay somebody off like in Mexico because I’ve been down there. We know how it works. We know how this taking all the people down south is just exploiting them worse for $2 an hour. I get it, so do what you want.”

Ladehoff told Grieve he wasn’t sure what his point was and added that Swift and JBS have been in town for “almost 100 years now.”

“I’m not gonna debate this with you, Dave. I’m just gonna make a statement, and the wages have gone up significantly over the past about 10 years. Their rollover rate is very low for a packing plant, probably the best in the Midwest,” Ladehoff said.

“I can see they’re investing in the Ward One area improving their housing with those high wages coming in from where they’re living. I can see it,” Grieve replied. “Are they sending the money down south in those high wages?”

As Ladehoff reiterated his argument, Councilor Jeff Schneider called for a point of order, and Ladehoff concluded by saying he didn’t think the expansion was a bad thing.

“That’s why you’re gonna vote yes,” Grieve said.

Mayor Joel Greer then asked for any further public comments, which brought JBS Corporate Engineer Brad Carl, who is based in Marshalltown, forward to offer his perspective.

“The expansion of the distribution center has nothing to do with killing more hogs, nothing. What it has to do with is (the fact that) our business is changing. We were a large commodity, low margin type of business for years and years and years, and that has changed. Now we are more consumer value added type of product. What does that mean? More boxes. We have to ship out more boxes. No more of the big combos, it’s more of the small boxes. So that’s really the addition that we’re putting on,” he said. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the smell. It’s because we’re replacing a retention pond. That’s really what it’s for.”

Jim Shaw took issue with Ladehoff’s statement that JBS had been in Marshalltown for 100 years, noting that it was known as Swift in the 1980s when they closed and then hired employees back at $7 an hour less to break the union.

“I said JBS and Swift’s,” Ladehoff retorted.

“Oh, I didn’t hear that,” Shaw said.

Linda Clark took issue with the smell JBS produces and worried that a new retention pond could create additional odor.

“The odor needs to be addressed so that when there is odor and smell and we can smell it around the city, it’s not good. It’s not good,” she said.

With no further comments, the council voted 6-1 to approve the first reading of the ordinance amendment — Mitchell was the lone dissenter.

In other business, the council:

• Recognized Ross Wolken for five years of service to the Marshalltown Police Department.

• Presented a certificate of achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Tonya Hudnutt and Diana Steiner of the Finance Department.

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Approved a resolution accepting a bid for the 2025 Residential Demolition Project for three properties in town, with RFPs out for three that were previously part of the package the council rejected.

• Accepting a bid and authorizing the award of a contract for the 2025 PCC Patch Repair Project in the amount of $305,476 to Cedar Falls Construction Company.

• Approved a 28E agreement with the Marshalltown Community School District for the sharing of costs to replace a public storm sewer pipe under Franklin Field.

• Approved a resolution authorizing the city to apply for the 2026 Iowa Thriving Communities Designation through the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

• Approved a resolution authorizing the use of council-designated Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) to update the city’s comprehensive plan and housing study.

• Approved the FY25 budget amendment, FY26 budget and FY26 Consolidated Transit Funding Application for the Marshalltown Municipal Transit application.