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 Proposed Zoning Ordinance Changes
More days of notice
Under Zoning, the first proposed change would include an increase in
the amount of time required to notify nearby landowners from fifteen
days (the state minimum) to twenty-five days prior to ZBA hearings,
and using state language under the section concerning protest
petitions.
Doug Muck was present as a guest at the meeting. Muck commented on
the proposed first change, saying that the county would basically be
taking the notification requirements for granting variances and
applying to all rezoning situations, and he does not see the need
for such revision. “You’re not prohibited from doing it, but in my
opinion it seems unnecessary,” said Muck.
Jan Schumacher said that requiring longer amounts of time for giving
notice or sending notices to greater distances than the state
statute is legal, so long as they meet state minimums. Schumacher
said that recent zoning applications have shown that people living
in the county may not have enough time to prepare for public
hearings.
The county board voted to approve of the first change to the zoning
ordinance with a unanimous vote.
Mining
The second set of revisions concerns M-3 extraction districts. The
proposed change to this section would be to add borrow pits to the
permitted uses. Additionally, all of the current permitted uses
would be moved to conditional uses. Borrow pits would also be added
as a permitted use under Agriculture zoning. A grandfather clause of
December 31st, 2014 would be inserted into the language in order to
allow existing extraction designations to remain in effect.
An amendment was added to the grandfather clause which would change
the date for the date of adoption. It was mentioned at previous
meetings that a retroactive date of effect would be prohibited. The
amendment was approved with a vote of eight-to-three, with Hepler,
Farmer and O’Neill voting no.
O’Neill said he wanted to see this revision return to committee
because of the recent discussions that have been had over the
matter. Schumacher said that zoning committee has been discussing
this for over a year as it is. “I feel like we’ve had plenty of
opportunity,” said Schumacher.
O’Neill said he is still worried that the revisions are too vague,
and that it would help to lay out specific conditions up front for
future applications. Schumacher said that would be contradictory to
the committee’s intent, as it is too hard to predict what issues
will come up for a given application.
Muck said he wants to see the committee add to the grandfather
clause to include a provision for applications that have been filed
but not approved. Otherwise, applicants would have to go through a
second process, even though the first may have already begun. Muck
also said that he feels an issue like this is important enough to
warrant a public referendum instead of just approval by the county
board. “Some folks have no idea what you’re doing,” said Muck.
A motion to send the revision back to committee was voted on. The
motion failed with a vote of seven-to-four, with O’Neill, Ruben,
Hepler and Farmer voting yes.
Another amendment to the motion was made to alter the grandfather
clause by adding in Muck’s suggestion for potential pending
applications. According to States Attorney Jonathon Wright, there is
some case law that states if the pending applications are not
grandfathered in, they may file an appeal on good faith. Such an
appeal could be filed by potential applicants who have already
dedicated time and money based on current zoning laws. “They rely on
good faith on zoning ordinance that is in existence at the time,”
said Wright. The amendment failed with a vote of seven-to-four, with
Ruben, Hepler, Farmer and O’Neill voting yes.
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Muck said in his view, the county is trying to engage in
contract zoning, which will not hold up in court. “Your
ordinance should be stating certain conditions. If you’re going
to go with conditional zoning, do it right,” said Muck. Muck
also said that extraction of any kind is already heavily
regulated by state level organizations.
Schumacher responded, saying that applications in recent years
have shown that the county should be able to apply conditions to
address concerns that come up, and under a permitted use the county
cannot do anything to enforce any conditions. “Our reason is to have
flexibility so our hands are not tied,” said Schumacher.
Steve Schreiner was present at the meeting as well. Schreiner said
it seems obvious that the county board needs to be able attach
conditions to M-3 requests in order to address concerns of the
public. Schreiner also said he disagrees with the idea that
regulations imposed by state level organizations should be enough to
satisfy the county.
“This amendment was brought forward by your own planning and zoning
committee with great support. It had a recommendation from the
Regional Planning Commission. Even though it was not recommended at
the ZBA level, it still received two of the three votes,” said
Schreiner.
After the discussion ended, the board voted to approve of the second
set of revisions with a vote of eight-to-three with Ruben, Hepler,
and Farmer voting no.
Other Items
Before the discussion on zoning began, the county recognized and
commended the work of Lisa Bobb and National Crime Victim Rights
Week. Bobb works as the victim witness coordinator in the State's
Attorney’s office. National Crime Victim Rights Week takes place
April 19th through the 25th.
Bobb said she has started her seventh year working as the
coordinator, and it is “a very exciting time” working in such a
position right now.
Under legislative matters, the board approved four appointments.
Randy Conklen and Jim Hubrich were appointed to the Logan County
ETSB Board; Alan Sasse was appointed to the Northern Logan County
Water Authority; and Becky Werth was appointed to the Regional
Planning Commission.
Under Insurance, the county board approved of renewing the county
health insurance with Blue Cross Blue Shield with RW Garret.
According to Nancy Schaub, the total cost only increased by two
percent. The board approved of the renewal with a vote of
ten-to-one, with Pat O’Neill voting no. The board also voted on
providing supplemental insurance to be paid for by employees should
they take it. The supplemental insurance would be provided by
Liberty Mutual, and was approved unanimously.
Board members present at the meeting were Chuck Ruben, Gene Rohlfs,
Robert Farmer, David Blankenship, Pat O’Neill, Andy Anderson, Emily
Davenport, Rick Aylesworth, Jan Schumacher, David Hepler and Scott
Schaffenacher. Kevin Bateman was absent.
[Derek Hurley] |
