WATERLOO -- Concerns about the proliferation of liquor stores and bars led City Council members to reject a zoning request at a busy intersection.

Contemporary Urban Development had asked to rezone two-thirds of an acre near the intersection of Idaho Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from residential to commercial use.

But council members, noting the lot was on the edge of the residential City View neighborhood, voted 5-1 to reject the request when developer Roosevelt Roby declined to rule out a business that would sell alcoholic beverages. Councilman Quentin Hart cast the lone vote in favor of the zoning change.

"Is it going to be a liquor store?" asked Councilman Harold Getty. "Is it going to be a tavern?"

While Roby previously said he has not identified a business for the location, he did not want to limit the development options for the land by excluding either bars or liquor stores, both of which would be allowed under the planned commercial zoning designation.

"Why are you so adamant for us to nail it down ¦ to what it's going to be?" he asked. "If we want to put a liquor store in there, we should be able to do that. What we're going to do is develop a part of Waterloo that hasn't seen any development, except for Martin Luther King (Jr.) Drive."

But council members are particularly concerned about the number and location of liquor stores and bars in the city and have even been considering an ordinance to limit how close those establishments can be to each other or certain protected uses. Some suggested hold off on Contemporary Urban Development's request until that ordinance is adopted.

Roby urged the council not to put such constraints on development.

"Let's look at where we're infringing on other people's rights," he said. "We've got to allow entrepreneurship to grow."

The City Council did vote 5-1 to approve the first of three required readings to rezone a lot adjacent to Roby's for commercial use. Council members noted the city owns that lot and, therefore, can decide not to sell it for a liquor establishment.

"We think it's a highly attractive commercial site for future development," said Community Planning and Development Director Noel Anderson.