HomeMy WebLinkAbout8.20.20 P&Z Minutes_exppdf
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City Staff and Others:
Scott Johnson – Economic Development
Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney
Natalie Powell – Compliance Officer
Tawnya Grover – P&Z Administrative Assistant
Chairman Greg Blacker opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m.
Roll Call of Planning and Zoning Commissioners: Roll Call.
Present: Greg Blacker, Steve Oakey, Vince Haley, Kristi Anderson, Todd Marx, Sally Smith, Aaron
Richards.
Absent: Chairman Rory Kunz, John Bowen, David Pulsipher, and Randall Kempton.
Minutes:
Planning & Zoning Meeting August 6, 2020 (action)
Motion: Accept minutes for Planning & Zoning for August 6, 2020, as written., Action:
Approve, Moved by Sally Smith, Seconded by Kristi Anderson.
Vote: Motion passed (summary: Yes = 6, No = 0, Abstain = 1).
Yes: Aaron Richards, Greg Blacker, Kristi Anderson, Sally Smith, Steve Oakey, Vince Haley.
Abstain: Todd Marx.
Greg Blacker asked about the timeline for the 7th N light. The hold up is the light has been ordered,
but it will be 12 weeks until the light shows up. Kristi Anderson asks when Hwy 33 will be dead-
ended. No time limit to dead-end Hwy 33 right now. The lights will be linked to allow traffic flow.
A connection on Moran Drive will be needed to allow access to that side of town when the road is
dead-ended.
Maps are prepared. P&Z put together thoughts on where the Comprehensive Plan designations
should be. Look at them and tear them apart in preparation for our next meeting. Should we have a
work meeting before the P&Z Work Meeting before the September 3rd meeting? He doesn’t want to
go too long and forget where we are at. City Council will be invited. Yes, plan on 5:00p.m. and
dinner will be provided.
Public Hearings:
1. 6:35 p.m. – (20-00545) – 15 N 12th W – Annexation to the City of Rexburg; Keep current
Community Business Center (CBC) zoning. (action) – Arielle Cherry
The Applicant is requesting to hook up to city sewer, which requires annexation for a reduced
monthly cost. The parcel is contiguous to the city boundary. The parcel is included in the city’s
Comprehensive Plan map.
Applicant Presentation – Arielle Cherry – 3951 Spring Creek Drive – She is here to annex
Mother Hibbard’s. On the ownership paperwork, it is Connie & Duffy Enterprises. The
35 North 1st East
Rexburg, ID 83440
Phone: 208.359.3020
Fax: 208.359.3022
www.rexburg.org
Planning & Zoning Minutes
August 20, 2020
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business wants to hook up to city sewer. The city is in moving in and around her business and it
is only a matter of time when she will be annexed; now is as good as time as any.
Commissioner Questions: None
Staff Report: Planning & Zoning – Alan Parkinson – The annexation was requested by the
Applicant. The sewer and water lines were being upgraded to the east of this parcel, allowing an
opportunity to attach to city services at the same time. The application has been reviewed and
she has met the standards required by the application. Staff supports the request. Mother
Hibbard’s is currently hooked up to city sewer. She can hook up to city sewer without
annexation; it will just cost her more. The Applicant will remain on their own water and can
continue on their own personal well as long as they want to.
Commissioner Questions for Staff: Chairman Greg Blacker asked where the sewer line is
currently. The line is on the east side of the road. Where is the city water line? The line is there
in the street. Aaron Richards asked when someone hooks on to city sewer, do they have to
abandon the existing leach field, tank and all other equipment? Arielle answered from the
audience, all the sewer tanks had to be emptied, dismantled, crushed and abandoned. The line
was bored under the road to connect on the north side of the building. Vince Haley asked when
construction would happen on the road. This fall, the N 12th W road will be widened. For Hwy
33, ITD has not given the city a timeline, yet. There will be widening happening between the
intersection and the highway. None of the surrounding buildings will be affected. Greg Blacker
asked if neighbors were notified. All of the neighbors were notified the annexation was taking
place. Stephen Zollinger, City Attorney, talked to the owner of the property around Mother
Hibbard’s; the owner is not interested in annexing. Sally Smith identified the city boundary.
This is the first lot west of N 12th W and north of Main Street.
Conflict of Interest? - Chairman Greg Blacker asked the Commissioners if they have a
conflict of interest or if they have been approached by any parties relative to this particular
subject. If you believe your prior contact with respect to this subject has created a bias, you
should recuse yourself, otherwise at this time please indicate the nature of your conversation or
contact. None.
Written Correspondence: None
Favor: None
Neutral: None
Opposed: None
Rebuttal: None
Chairman Greg Blacker asked if anyone else would like to speak. He closed the public input
portion of the hearing at 6:42p.m.
Commissioners Discussion: None
MOTION: Motion to approve the annexation of 15 N 12th W and keep the current
Community Business Center (CBC) zoning in order for her to hook up to city sewer.,
Action: Approve, Moved by Steve Oakey, Seconded by Kristi Anderson.
Commission Discusses the Motion: None
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VOTE: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 7).
Yes: Aaron Richards, Greg Blacker, Kristi Anderson, Sally Smith, Steve Oakey, Todd
Marx, Vince Haley.
The annexation will go to City Council September 2, 2020.
Vince Haley asked Spencer Rammell to explain the Conditional Use Permit transfer
situation. Spencer Rammell, Attorney, said situations have come before the Commission where a
Conditional Use Permit has been given and questions were asked: Can the request have a sunset
time limit? Can conditions be placed on the transfer of the property? The Conditional Use Permit
transfers. Sun setting is sparse in case law. There are some discussions about a boilerplate default
condition allowing additional conditions to be added. Some specific language would need to be
used; he is not sure how comfortable we are with doing that on the Planning & Zoning level,
because the Planning & Zoning Commission is an advisory board. Stephen Zollinger said there is
statutory authority for placing conditions on certain types of entitlements. This is usually not in the
Planning & Zoning; the Planning and Zoning make recommendations to the City Council and the
City Council makes determinations for a sunset clause. Sunset clauses usually apply to annexations
and if there is a broad purpose development being proposed, then you can increase exactions and tie
those conditions. He recalls the property where First American Title is; there was a proposal for an
apartment complex. It was annexed and rezoned conditionally upon a two (2) year window of
opportunity; because there were many reservations in City Council as to if, they were really going to
build something that looked like their picture or whether they were just trying to maximize the value
of their land. A sunset clause was applied to the request. In the Land Use Planning Act, this is
allowed, but there are very stringent conditions. A tangible, functional purpose is needed to survive
a challenge. The Attorney does not generally recommend sunset clauses or conditions. The
apartment complex was not built and the zoning was reverted to commercial. Commercial
businesses have built up in this area, allowing the area to become a business park as originally
intended. Greg Blacker asked about sunset wording. Stephen Zollinger recalled a second sunset
clause to a single-family residential lot on Pioneer. The request was being stretched in different
directions to make the development work, so the Council gave the Applicant the opportunity to
show they could make it work. The driveway could not come on to Pioneer. You had to snake the
property down between his property and the property of the neighbor, who was opposing it. The
Applicant was given the opportunity to build, but no one has paid any attention to it. Several
iterations of the map have been conducted without this condition being sun setted. Now, an
individual wants to use it. The City is struggling to determine if the failure to sunset the property is
binding and whether the city will need to leave it, because it failed to be rezoned. Someone has to
remember to revert a sunset. A zone change will come back as a redesignation or the property will
be used as originally proposed. Sally Smith said the City Council had several requests of Applicants
who came back in to have sunset clauses extended on conditional rezones. Stephen said, since the
Planning & Zoning have approved the request of the zone in that location, it is assumed when the
applicant comes back in, the zone is still appropriate at that location. The requests usually comes
before the City Council.
Vince Haley’s concern has been about the obtaining of a Conditional Use Permit, the sale of
property and transfer of ownership. He sees someone coming in, applying for a Conditional Use
Permit on a property, then immediately selling the property, allowing whomever purchases the land
no requirement for Commission approval. Stephen Zollinger said this is the reason why the
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attorneys routinely tell you to focus on the pragmatic application of what is being sought. Do not
vote for the pictures or personalities. Vince Haley restated, vote on the property, not the project.
Stephen continued; assume if you are giving a commercial zone, anything allowed in that
commercial zone is fair game once the application is granted. Look at the maximum case scenario.
The market driver will control with greater influence the opportunities within the zones. Spencer
Rammell said the question was asked, can we give a Conditional Use Permit contingent upon if the
property is sold, the Conditional Use Permit would extinguish. The Commissions job is to look at
what the applicant is asking for, where they are asking for it and make a recommendation. Does
what that zone would allow at that location meet our current standards? If it does, we do not care
whom it is that is doing it. Ownership is not an appropriate condition. Every Conditional Use
Permit stays with the land. Tie the conditions to what they are asking for and where they are asking
for it. If it does not work for everyone, do not give it to a certain person. Vince Haley talked
about a recent, simple presentation by an Applicant. The comment was made that the presentation
was not strongly presented. He thought this was the best presentation, because the Applicant did
not tell any story; no project was presented; the Applicant only asked about the property. Stephen
said, do not underestimate your ability to make recommendations. You can condition and say, even
though you are asking for Mixed Use, we are going to grant your request conditionally. You can
have Mixed Use under the following conditions: you must put a minimum of 10% commercial; you
must do a, b, and c. Define it; make it about the zone. The request should be objective.
Greg Blacker talked about a zone change or something and it came down to they could not have
done it anyway, because of the rules in place. Stephen Zollinger said, generally, if an application
gets to the Commission and something is not allowed, the money is refunded. Tawnya is usually
really good at catching those situations before it gets to the Commission. People sometimes insist
on asking, even though Staff has let them know of an unlikely approved request. A fool and his
money are soon parted. Some requests will get to the Commission that are frustrating. There was a
time in the early 2000s, when the same application was coming through every thirty days; the buyer
thought they could speak more eloquently, but the application was repeatedly denied.
Greg Blacker was on the Commission when Elaine would print the binders and a lot of
paperwork was needed. He asked about the fees, wondering if the amount charged per application
has come down since the move to digital. Stephen answered, the majority of the fees are not driven
by manpower; they are driven by the newspaper. A typical application publication is around $400-
$500. Tawnya said sometimes the cost is less and sometimes it is more; so we generally balance out.
The fees were set on a running log. Vince Haley asked about the geographic boundary of a
Conditional Use Permit (CUP). If I am granted a Conditional Use Permit, and my neighbor buys
me out, does my CUP apply to both properties? Stephen answered, no, it enhances the chances of
getting the CUP extended onto my parcel, but it does not stretch without another public process.
Heads Up:
September 3rd
5:00 p.m. - Work Meeting
Hearings:
1. (20-00601) – Comprehensive Plan Map change – 264 & 280 E Main
2. (20-00602) – Rezone to CBC – Professional Plaza, 264 & 280 E Main, Grand Loop
3. (20-00505) – Rezone to MDR2 – 220, 224, & 228 N 3rd W, RPRRXB10122970
Adjournment:
Commissioner Greg Blacker adjourned the meeting at 7:02PM.