Days are Numbered for Long-time Eyesore

BEAVERDALE, IOWA - (August 22, 2022)

A long-time eyesore in Beaverdale is about to be torn down.

The former Phillips 66 gas station and convenience store has sat empty for the past 14 years.  A large piece of equipment arrived this week to begin demolishing the building.

Property owner John Knapp is leasing the site to Scooters, a drive-through coffee shop.

The eyesore at the intersection of Beaver and Douglas Avenues has long vexed neighbors, who quickly tired of its boarded-up windows and deteriorating parking lot blocked off by huge cement barricades.

The improvement project nearly fell through when the Des Moines Planning and Zoning Commission insisted on a walk-up window, as well as outside seating.  The seating area would have required an indoor restroom for customers, which Scooters did not want to do.  P&Z then denied the permit to build the Scooters, but an appeal to the city council overturned the P&Z denial.  Because P&Z had rejected plans for the project, it required six out of seven city council votes.  The council ultimately voted 6-0 to overturn P&Z denial with Mayor Frank Cownie, at-large council members Connie Boesen and Carl Voss, and ward councilpersons Josh Mandelbaum, Joe Gatto and Linda Westergard voting for the Scooters project.  

Timeline for completion of Scooters is not known.