A redevelopment plan for the Merle Hay Road corridor in Johnston is one step closer to adoption.

In a joint meeting Monday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Board recommended that the Johnston City Council approve the plan without any amendments. The council will make its final decision Oct. 15.

“This plan will add realism to the future of commercial growth,” said retiring community development director Gene Martens, who has worked on the plan since its inception. “Merle Hay will be a better corridor for the citizens of Johnston.”

Martens doesn’t see the plan as giving the city a competitive edge against the other suburbs. “We’re not going to compete with West Des Moines or Ankeny’s Prairie Trail, but what we can do is provide the people of Johnston with alternatives,” he said.

Martens said there was far less public comment about the plan than at the last meeting on Sept. 27, when more than 80 people attended voicing concern about the project.

Chuck Seel was the only member of the Planning and Zoning Commission who voted against the recommendation. “Overall I support the concept,” he said in a phone interview. “I just have some reservations about a couple of the commercial pieces in the plan.”

Seel said he would have liked to see the city form a focus group to get feedback from some of the commercial development groups in the area that would be developing parcels for the project. “I think it’s important we consider all possible input,” he said.

Martens said he expects the City Council to approve the plan. “The council will have to be a lot more specific on what the city’s role is going to be,” he said. “In a plan like this, it depends on the property owners being in support of the plan.”

The Merle Hay Road Redevelopment Study calls for redevelopment of the area along Merle Hay Road from Northwest 62nd Avenue to Northwest 66th Avenue. If approved, the project could net $1.5 million in annual property tax revenues for the city and increase the assessed value of the land by $54 million.