A proposed $10 million travel center near the interstate in Ankeny will likely move forward after the City Council on Monday decided to allow a 67-foot-tall pylon sign to be erected on the development site.

“The issues with the topography [of the site] have really made this property undevelopable for over two decades,” City Council member Kelly Whiting said during Monday’s meeting.

“I think we owe it to Ankeny taxpayers to encourage development that contributes to the property tax burden placed by the city, the schools, the county and the state. Sometimes that requires us to take a closer look at projects that develop land that others have passed on.”

Casey’s General Store Inc., which has its corporate headquarters in Ankeny, is proposing the development of a travel center at Southeast Corporate Woods Drive and Southeast Convenience Boulevard east of Interstate Highway 35. The center would include a 7,770-square-foot convenience store, fuel stations and more than 40 parking spaces for semitrailer trucks, a site plan submitted to the city shows.

The land on which the travel center would be developed sits about 22 feet below the grade of the interstate. The site is also about 1,100 feet away from the interstate.

In July, Ankeny’s Plan and Zoning Commission denied a request to amend Planned Unit Development guidelines for the development area to allow the construction of the pylon sign.

A 67-foot-tall pylon sign – about three times as tall as a typical two-story house – would attract the attention of motorists traveling on the interstate’s north- and southbound lanes, Casey’s officials have said. A shorter sign could not be seen from the highway.

“We think we’ve done a very good job to make this sign as small as humanly possible to respect the sign code and still get done what we need to do,” Douglas Beech, Casey’s corporate lawyer, told the council on Monday. 

Development guidelines put in place for the area more than 20 years ago prohibited pylon signs. City officials said the guidelines were developed when office development was anticipated in the area. However, facilities that support manufacturing and light industrial are now being built in the area.

Knapp Elwell LLC has owned the development site for more than 20 years and has been unable to find anyone interested in building on the parcel, a person affiliated with the development group has said.

The council on Monday unanimously approved an amendment to the ordinance allowing the construction of a pylon sign that would be no taller than 67 feet. Two more readings are required. However, Casey’s officials have asked that the third reading be waived. If the council approves the second reading of the amendment to the ordinance at its Sept. 8 meeting and waives the third reading, the proposed changes would be final.

The Plan and Zoning Commission is scheduled to review the site plan at its meeting today.

If Casey’s receives all the necessary approvals, site preparation work could begin later this fall, Beech said.