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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-17-22 P^0Z Hearing-dCOMMENTS ON THE PROPOSED REZONING OF PROPERTY PARCEL RPRXBCA0254499 Scheduled Public Hearing – November 17, 2022, 6:30 p.m. My name is Wanless Southwick. I reside at 375 South 12th West in Rexburg, Idaho. I am an owner of land contiguous with the parcel of land being considered for rezoning. I speak to voice my opposition to the proposed zoning change amendment. I believe there is a better strategy for developing the agricultural land in our neighborhood. This 25-acre parcel is part of an existing, stable country neighborhood in Rexburg, which is protected by rural residential zoning. Residents of this neighborhood live in single family homes on half acre or larger lots. Many of them participate in agriculture and hobby farm activities on their properties, which are permitted uses in Rexburg’s rural residential zones. They cherish their stable neighborhood and the degree of self-reliance their hobby farm activities give them. [Submit Please protect and develop our stable country neighborhood in Rexburg! into the public record.] This 25-acre parcel was purchased by the Birch family in 1999 just a week after Mr. Birch died in Mexico. It appears to be a land speculation investment because their primary focus has been to increase the land’s value by getting the city to remove its rural residential zoning. In 2007 they petitioned to change the city’s Comprehensive Plan Map to allow Moderate to High Residential Density on their property. Petition was denied. In 2010 they tried again only to be denied again. In 2021 they tried twice to rezone the property to allow crowded residential development. Each time their petition was denied. Today, in 2022, a prospective buyer of the 25 acres is petitioning the city to change the property’s zoning to Low Density Residential 1 and 2 with townhouses, because the purchase price set by the land speculator is higher than rural residential property is worth. [Submit History of 25 Acre Horse Pasture Owned by Birch Properties LLC - Parcel Number: RPRXBCA0254499 into the public record.) Some argue that people can't afford single family homes on large lots anymore. Part of that cost problem is caused by the city’s quest for more tax revenues, even colluding with land speculators and developers to increase land values through rezoning and increased densities. The city also makes land development more expensive by imposing requirements to save the city money. For example, the city wants the developer of this 25-acre parcel to bear the cost of relocating the canal lateral, so the city can someday expand the width of the 12th West Street. This 25-acre horse pasture, which is owned by the Birch family, is part of about 67 acres of undeveloped agricultural land in this rural residential neighborhood. To the south is a barley field owned by the Eldon Steiner and Rueland Ward families (of which I am a part). To the north is an alfalfa field owned by the Bertina Steiner family. A more prudent strategy for the city would be to encourage a plan to develop all this rural residential acreage simultaneously to create a specialty neighborhood that preserves Rexburg’s rural, small-town feel, which is a characteristic that Rexburg’s current comprehensive plan says should be preserved.1 It would give new residents coming to Rexburg a secluded country neighborhood option with its large-lot, single-family dwellings that are so desired by many. A simultaneous development plan for the 67 acres would solve many problems related to the land’s isolation. The acreage is hemmed in by U.S. Highway 20 on the east, by the high-elevation irrigation lateral canal along the west, and rural residential subdivisions to the north and south. It would give better routes for rural residential streets and bridges, providing the safety of multiple ingress and egress streets, which are difficult to design for a long narrow parcel like the horse pasture alone. A concept and density study has been done, showing how the 67 acres could be developed into an exclusive, highly desirable, secluded, large-lot, hobby-farm permitted, surface-water irrigated, family- friendly, stable country neighborhood by retaining its rural residential zoning and capitalizing on its isolation, its abundant surface irrigation water, and its stable country neighborhood legacy for which Rexburg has been known. Landowners have been shown the study and its maps. Interest in letting their property be developed according to the concept’s design has been positive. [Submit the concept and density study, A Highly Desirable Place to Live in Rexburg, into the public record.] Therefore, I recommend that the current rezoning petition be denied in favor of retaining the neighborhood’s rural residential zoning pending a review of the potential for linking contiguous undeveloped agricultural land into a larger planned development. Rezoning now would frustrate the potential for developing the enlarged area into a specialty rural residential neighborhood, exacerbate the current shortage of large lot residences, and thereby further diminish Rexburg’s rural, small-town feel. 1 https://www.rexburg.org/sites/default/files/fileattachments/planning/page/10480/rexburg_2020_comp_plan_ad opted_nov_19_2008.pdf (see page 84)