PC Minutes 6/27/07

ITEM NO. 11:     AMENDMENTS TO CITY/COUNTY SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS (JCR)

 

TA-05-08-07: Consider amendments to City/County Subdivision Regulations to address

concerns identified in the 3/1/07 work session with City & County staff. Initiated by Board of County Commission on May 2, 2007.

 

STAFF PRESENTATION

Joe Rexwinkle presented item.

 

PUBLIC HEARING

No public comment.

 

COMMISSION DISCUSSION

Commissioner Harkins said there were an extraordinary number of corrections for an existing document. He asked about legal counsel looking at these documents and said this was an example of why it needed to be a policy to refer all draft codes to counsel and have them go through them before the Planning Commission was asked to adopt them. He was not opposed to making the corrections, but wanted to avoid this in the future if possible.

 

Ms. Stogsdill stated that after the regulations were written for the unincorporated area it was found that many people wanted to do other things with their land. Staff was not aware of all of these other things so the exemptions were written to address these. This set of regulations has had some substantial review by County attorney Evan Ice.

 

Commissioner Lawson stated that this document was an abnormal document that was not typical.

 

Commissioner Harris wanted to know if it could be reviewed again and brought back to Planning Commission for approval after that.

 

Ms. Stogsdill was fine with putting this on another agenda but she wanted to know what questions the Planning Commission had so that that Staff knew where there were inconsistencies.

 

Commissioner Harris had a question regarding D1(i).

 

Commissioner Eichhorn asked if secondary uses were allowed in the county.

 

Mr. Rexwinkle said that accessory dwellings were not allowed in the county.

 

Commissioner Eichhorn said that there were words in the document that were not needed and make it more difficult to read.

 

Commissioner Finkeldei inquired about editing the document outside of a public meeting.

 

Ms. Stogsdill stated that Planning Commissioner could defer it but it would not move on to City Commission & Board of County Commission until Planning Commission acts on it.

 

Commissioner Harkins stated that possibly a committee could be formed to work with Staff to bring it back to Planning Commission.

 

Commissioner Lawson wanted to see a written version of the issues before he could understand the depths of the concerns.

 

Ms. Stogsdill said it was her understanding that Linda Finger & Evan Ice drafted the document together.

 

Commissioner Jennings did not feel that a formed committee was necessary, just Staff who understood it could get together and talk.

 

Ms. Stogsdill said that Planning Commission members who had issues and/or concerns could meet with Linda Finger and Evan Ice. Ms. Stogsdill did not feel comfortable responding to some of the Planning Commissions questions so she would like a list of concerns to give Linda Finger and Evan Ice.

 

Commissioner Lawson asked what provoked these changes.

 

Ms. Stogsdill stated that the additional language does address issues that Staff did not have the answers for and that there should be consistent language.

 

Mr. Rexwinkle said that the purpose was also to define terms that were not defined, along with other minor wording changes.

 

Commissioner Harkins said there were a lot of technical changes in the document and he definitely felt they should discuss conservation easements since it was a major policy issue. He felt they should adopt the document in principle and let Staff rework it.  He had confidence in Staffs ability to do this.

 

Motioned by Commissioner Harkins, seconded by Commissioner Finkeldei, to approve TA-05-08-07.

 

Commissioner Harris agreed with Commissioner Harkins but would like Evan Ice and Linda Finger present to answer questions. She did not feel comfortable adopting the changes without their comments.

 

Commissioner Lawson asked if this could be a mid-month topic.

 

Ms. Stogsdill stated that the July mid-month agenda was full but it could potentially be on the August mid-month agenda. She pointed out that time did need to be reserved during mid-month for T2030.

 

Commissioner Eichhorn inquired about publishing a legal notice for the August mid-month meeting.

 

Ms. Stogsdill stated that a legal notice could be published for the August mid-month meeting.

 

Commissioner Lawson asked if failure to address this sooner would cause Staff problems in their day-to-day work.

 

Ms. Stogsdill said probably not, Staff had only received 7 submittals so far, but that the Planning Department has been telling the public that the document would be coming. The August mid-month meeting would at least be two weeks prior to the August Planning Commission meeting.

 

Commissioner Harkins asked Staff Attorney, John Miller, about conservation easement issues. He was concerned about this being challenged in court.

 

Commissioner Finkeldei said that significant changes in Section 20-806 were made but he assumed they did not make the same changes in the urban growth area.

 

Ms. Stogsdill replied that was correct.

 

Commissioner Finkeldei wanted to see the language of “encourage” instead of “require.”

 

Commissioner Harris stated that it was originally intended that cluster development only be used where there was sensitive land which would lead to increased density in the remainder of the area.

 

Commissioner Eichhorn was concerned about changing the wording to “encourage” instead of “shall.”

 

Commissioner Moore felt that would create inconsistencies in the document.

 

ACTION TAKEN

Motioned by Commissioner Finkeldei, seconded by Commissioner Moore, to defer TA-05-08-07 to the August 15th mid-month meeting.

 

Motion carried unanimously, 8-0. Student Commissioner Robb also voting in the affirmation.