Call it a lesson learned.

After West Des Moines city officials discovered they had failed to address hours of operation and other guidelines for businesses located in unique districts near Jordan Creek Town Center, Waukee city officials are getting ahead of the same issue. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission held a preliminary discussion on an ordinance governing big-box stores last week and are expected to meet on the issue again before making a recommendation to the Waukee City Council, which likely will discuss it at a special May 25 workshop meeting.

“It’s a conscious effort to establish standards,” said Waukee City Administrator Mark Arentsen. An ordinance could regulate such things as the size of a big-box store and the lot it sits on, architectural features and other zoning-related issues, including hours of operation, he said.

City officials aren’t aware of any large retail businesses considering a Waukee location, but are “trying to get ahead of that issue before it gets here,” Arentsen said. “We learned that we should put some conscious thought into that issue.”

Possible sites for a big-box retail store could include Westwood Plaza, a strip mall on the north side of Hickman Road, or undeveloped land along Alice’s Road between Hickman and University Avenue. A proposed interchange on Interstate 80 at Dallas County Road R22, currently in the environmental review stage, would create more opportunity for commercial development, Arentsen said.

Additional commercial valuation is sorely needed in a city that attracts between 700 and 800 new residents and adds around 300 living units every year, a trend Arentsen expects to continue indefinitely. Because residential property is taxed at only 47 percent of its value under the state-ordered rollback formula, Waukee wants to make sure its growth includes a healthy mix of commercial development, taxed at the full 100 percent of value. “We’re actively seeking it,” Arentsen said. “More commercial development would increase our ability to expand our infrastructure, primarily streets and parks. At some point, there’s going to be a recreation complex built here, but we haven’t got the financial horsepower right now to make that happen. We need more commercial valuation.”

Though an expanded commercial tax base through big-box retail stores would benefit the city, “we wouldn’t want to lead anyone to believe money is everything,” Arentsen said. “If a big-box facility were to locate here, what’s the best-case scenario for the city? That’s what the P&Z and council are looking at.”