Sondra Feldstein is a farmer and business owner in Polk County and a plaintiff in the litigation discussed here.

Do you care about preserving farmland in Polk County?

Would you prefer that Bob Vander Plaats and his FAMiLY Leader organization not build a national conference center in rural Polk County?

Would you like for your elected representatives to follow the law and not give preferential treatment to powerful organizations?

Do you feel utterly helpless and need to make a difference?

A lawsuit making its way through the courts right now addresses all these issues.

Bob Vander Plaats and his FAMiLY Leader organization have purchased 80 acres of farmland near Bondurant (in northeast Polk County) and plan to build a national headquarters campus.

Two years ago the Polk County Board of Supervisors voted to allow Vander Plaats and the FAMiLY Leader to take a big bite out of the middle of the last stretch of farmland between Ankeny and Bondurant in northeast Polk County by approving the rezoning of 21 acres of land from agricultural to mixed use. (Vander Plaats later purchased 80 acres at the site, not the 21 acres he talked about.)

A group of neighbors, including myself, banded together and brought suit against the Board of Supervisors on the grounds that they had acted illegally in ignoring their own zoning ordinances.

It may seem a small and relatively unimportant issue in light of everything else going on in the country these days. On the other hand, it’s important to realize that citizens do still hold power. We’ve already made case law on the questions of qualified immunity and standing—in April of this year, the Iowa Supreme Court decided both issues in a way favorable to citizens who want to bring suit to force the government to follow the law. That opinion (enclosed in full below) limited the ability of government officials to hide behind claims of qualified immunity in order to avoid accountability for their actions.

I’m proud to have been a part of this suit, because the consequences are huge. Had the county’s argument been allowed to stand, no citizen in Iowa would have had any recourse to the courts in any situation where an elected official or government employee violated the law.

We’ve also thrown a monkey wrench in Vander Plaats’ grand plans. In a move that shows how vested he is in the project, Vander Plaats and the FAMiLY Leader in August petitioned the Polk County District Court to be added to the lawsuit as “interested parties.” Our attorney filed a petition to resist this request, and District Court Judge David Nelmark denied the FAMiLY Leader’s petition.

But it’s not likely Vander Plaats will pull back from his efforts to get what he wants: a national conference center in the middle of what is, at present, highly productive farmland. He still has routes of influence, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t pull every lever he can find.

The Board of Supervisors granted the zoning change in February 2023. Nothing happened at the site until site preparation began in July 2024, three days before the original Polk County District Court decision dismissing the suit. Work continued until the Iowa Supreme Court released its April 2025 decision reversing the District Court ruling. At that point, activity at the building site stopped. I won’t lie—seeing the construction come to a halt has been very satisfying.

In December, the Polk County District Court will hear the original question: whether the Board of Supervisors violated the law in approving the rezoning.

If you want to help out, there’s two things you can do: spread the word, and most important, contribute some money. There’s a reason why so many powerful people and corporations get away with breaking the law, because holding them to account is expensive. Lawsuits are not for the faint of heart. The cost of a lawsuit—time, money, and emotional energy—is very high.

You can help cover these fees by sending a check or Venmo as directed below. Put “leapfrog” in the memo line so she’ll get it credited to the correct invoice. No contribution is too small, and together we can stop this project, preserve our farmland, and remind the Board of Supervisors that they have to follow the law. 

Ibson Law also has a Venmo account; if you’d like to use that, text me at 515.250.2330 and I’ll send the link. We’ll be getting significant bills in the next three months as trial preparation goes forward; even $25 will be appreciated.

Ibson Law
2629 Beaver Avenue, Suite 3
Des Moines IA 50310

BACKGROUND ON THE LAWSUIT AGAINST THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

In November of 2022, the FAMiLY Leader Foundation, Bob Vander Plaats’ organization, submitted a request to change the zoning on a parcel of land in northeast Polk County from Ag Land to Mixed Use. The county zoning staff, citing the 2050 Comprehensive Plan and zoning laws, recommended that the request be denied, and the Board of Adjustment agreed with that assessment, voting to deny the rezoning request. The 2050 Comprehensive Plan, approved by the Polk County Board of Supervisors in 2022, includes goals to “protect agricultural activities” and “preserve [the] rural character of Polk County… This can be accomplished by discouraging leapfrog development and encouraging cities to grow in an orderly and condensed manner.”

The FAMiLY Leader then went to the Board of Supervisors. In three hearings and three votes, none of the Supervisors offered a reason why they thought the zoning laws should be violated in order to make this change. Instead, ignoring their own Comprehensive Plan approved just months earlier, their own zoning ordinance, their own staff recommendations, and their own Board of Adjustment, in February of 2023 the Board voted 3-2 to approve the zoning change, allowing commercial development on farmland currently surrounded by cornfields. A group of local citizens sued the county to stop the proposed rezoning request on the grounds that it violates the county’s zoning laws.

At the initial hearing in 2024, the Polk County attorney argued that 1) the Board can’t be sued because of qualified immunity, and 2) the plaintiffs had no standing. District Court Judge Jeanie Vaudt released her decision to dismiss the suit with prejudice on July 4, 2024.

Three days before that decision became public, the FAMiLY Leader began construction at the site. Although the zoning change applies to 21 acres of land, the FAMiLY Leader Foundation has purchased a total of 80 acres.

Since those additional 60 acres of cropland now share a border with a Mixed Use zoning district (if this decision stands), rezoning the full 80 acres to Mixed Use will no longer violate the ordinance against leapfrog zoning. In other words, Vander Plaats would be able to build whatever he wants on 80 acres of prime Polk County farmland.

The area is served by rural water, which has insufficient pressure for fire suppression, there is no sewer service, and the county engineer says the roads would no safely support the increased traffic. That conclusion was based on the original plan to develop 21 acres. Will taxpayers be expected to foot the bill to run services several miles to this property?

On April 4 2025, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed and remanded the District Court decision, saying definitively that qualified immunity does not apply in cases where no tort is alleged and no monetary damages are sought, and that the plaintiffs as near-by residents have the standing to sue. Both issues set important precedents and have already been cited numerous times.

The case has been reassigned to Polk County District Court. Now the original question—whether the Board of Supervisors violated the law in granting the zoning change—can be adjudicated. Trial has been set for December 9-10, 2025.

Interested parties are encouraged to contact their member of the Board of Supervisors to let them know you’re watching, and will be paying attention when the Court decision comes down (sometime in spring 2026, most likely). If the decision is favorable to the plaintiffs, the Board will have to decide how to respond, and whether to appeal. Let the supervisors know you care about this issue.

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Appendix: Full text of April 2025 Iowa Supreme Court ruling in 1000 Friends of Iowa et al vs. Polk County Board of Supervisors. The seven justices unanimously held that the Iowa Code section granting qualified immunity to many government officials does not apply to this kind of lawsuit, which is not seeking monetary damages. The court also unanimously held that the individual plaintiffs, including Sondra Feldstein, have standing to bring the case.

The court split 4-3 on whether 1000 Friends of Iowa, a nonprofit organization promoting responsible land use, had standing to challenge the supervisors’ action. The majority concluded the nonprofit “should have been granted the opportunity to amend its petition” to establish standing. Following the Iowa Supreme Court ruling, the suit moved forward with the individual plaintiffs only. Laura Belin currently serves as board chair for 1000 Friends of Iowa.