HomeMy WebLinkAboutWritten Input combined - EllisPublic Hearings:
7:15 P.M. Rezone – 1042 West 7th South – Rural Residential 1 to Medium Density Residential 2
(The rezone request was recommended at the February 20th, 2014 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting for Low Density Residential Three (LDR3).
Rexburg Development Code: 3.6.010. Purposes and Objectives (LDR3)
The LDR3 zone is established to protect stable neighborhoods of detached single-family dwellings on smaller lots. The conditional uses allowed in this district shall be compatible with
single-family homes on landscaped lawns, low building heights, predominantly off-street parking, low traffic volumes, and low nuisance potential. Two-family dwelling units are conditional
uses within this zone, not to exceed more than one structure per lot (except detached garages and other outbuildings). The maximum density permitted in this district is eight (8) dwelling
units per acre.
Staff presentation:
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Mayor Woodland opened the public hearing.
Written correspondence:
Mike and Michelle King:
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David and Lindsey Barrus:
March 16, 2014
To City Council,
We are writing about the decision before you to rezone Ms. Ellis’ property on 7th South in Rexburg. We support the planning and zoning recommendation to rezone her property to LDR3.
We are opposed to rezoning the property to a density higher than LDR3 as has been requested by Ms. Ellis. We realize that
Ms. Ellis has a Constitutional right to sell her property and try and get the most value she can out of it. We are not opposed to that. But we also realize that in her pursuit to increase
the value of her property, there is the potential for harmful consequences to our property. We have a few concerns we would like to express, and we also have some questions that we
would like City Council to answer in the meeting on March 19th.
Concerns
When we moved to Rexburg and bought our property at 1079 Arctic Willow Drive (northwest of Ms. Ellis property), we were grateful for the quiet nature of the area. The Meadows townhomes
serve as a buffer between our home and Highway 20. We also realized that the Ellis and Hernandez property would be developed at some point. However, we never dreamed that there could
potentially be apartments. We realize there are no current plans for development of Ms. Ellis’ property, but we are concerned that having apartments nearby could potentially lead to
a decrease or slower growth in our property values. If the Ellis’ property is rezoned to allow apartments, we don’t see how the City Council could deny, at some future point, a request
from the Hernandez family to rezone their property to the same density as the Ellis property. We have concerns that apartments would lead to our home having less value than it currently
does. We worry that the apartment complex won’t be kept up due to the transient nature of the residents. We see that this has happened in other parts of Rexburg near residential neighborhoods.
We are also concerned about privacy issues. It is a great place to live right now, but if an apartment complex is three stories high there is the potential for a reduction in privacy.
Another concern we have is the state of 7th South. In a communication with a member of City Council, we got a distinct impression that one of the major purposes to approve a higher density
would be the requirement placed on a future developer to improve 7th South. We have concerns that the City Council would make a rezoning decision based on the potential to improve a
road. Is there a precedent for making a decision based primarily on a desire to fix a road? If it is a primary motivation for this development, will you do it for other, less desirable
developments? What is your limiting principle? When do you allow changes to zoning based on a desire to improve a road and when do you not? In our opinion, this is a slippery slope
and may not even solve the Meadows access problems.
We also have concerns about why the comprehensive plan was changed in the first place. We like how the city has constructed a comprehensive plan to help develop Rexburg in an orderly
and logical way. The changing of the comprehensive plan to allow the development of higher density units on Ms. Ellis’ lot makes no sense to us. Is it really that easy to change the
comprehensive plan for a single citizen? Since you allowed it for one citizen, why not for the rest of the landowners of Rexburg? If we got a developer or someone that had influence
and money, would you let us change the comprehensive plan to allow us the potential to rezone our lot so we can build apartments on it? We don’t think you would because it makes no
sense in the comprehensive plan. We hope that as you consider how Ms. Ellis’ plot should be rezoned, you will know that your decisions have consequences and sometimes they are unintended
including setting precedence for future zone changes.
Questions