The West Des Moines City Council approved a site plan for a 76,800-square-foot warehouse being built by WB Realty Co. LLC, on Army Post Road, on the city’s southwest side.

The council voted unanimously Monday to approve the site plan, but it came with discussion of conditions placed on the site plan and talks about a possible easement to protect nearby water sources.

In its approval, the council voted to require WB Realty to have adequate water service to the building before a certificate of occupancy could be issued for the building at 4500 Army Post Road. 

Ryan Wiederstein, owner of WB Realty, declined to comment Tuesday on the council’s actions or the talks over a possible easement, but did confirm that talks with West Des Moines Water Works over a possible easement are underway.

Wiederstein said the development is a flex warehouse that has 20-foot ceilings and drive-in dock-level doors.

WB Realty can also divide up space and reduce the size of spaces to 15,000 square feet, he said on Tuesday after the council’s meeting the night before.

“This isn’t competing with 300,000-square-foot warehouses on the northeast side [of the metro], so we’re targeting smaller users that need the drive-in and the docks that may not need the high-bay warehouse, so that’s our target on this,” Wiederstein said.

Dan Carlson, director of operations for WB Realty, spoke at the meeting, telling council members that WB Realty felt the requirement for water service before a certificate of occupancy could be issued was unnecessary and redundant because water service would be required to receive a certificate of occupancy anyway. 

West Des Moines Water Works is also seeking around the site to protect Purple Martin Lake, a potential future water source for the LD McMullen Treatment Plant.

Without the easement, West Des Water Works would not provide water to the warehouse, Christina Murphy, the utility’s general manager, said at the meeting.

The easement would also restrict certain uses of the warehouse.

Murphy said talks with WB Realty are continuing.

Ryan Moffat, the city’s director of community and economic development, said in an email Tuesday that the city’s development staff is also seeking to amend the Planned Unit Development ordinance for the site “to mirror the use restrictions within the requested easement.”

That request was continued to the next council meeting, he said.

With talks about the requested easement ongoing, work on the development is underway, Wiederstein said.

Grading at the site has begun and building footings are in place. Vertical construction is expected to begin in the next six weeks, with construction complete by July, he said.