HomeMy Public PortalAbout2014 1028 MinutesRiverdale Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes from October 28, 2014 Page 1
Riverdale Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting
Meeting Minutes
6:30 PM October 28, 2014
Committee Members: Montie Gauss^, Craig Clark, Dennis Stolk, Heather Wren, Nancy Ulrich
Also in attendance: Mayor Sonya Paddock and Jim Beran
Published Agenda:
Review and Consideration of Urban Renewal Plan for State Street Urban Renewal
Area
Garage Door Height and Total Area
Review Feedback from Council
Review Feedback from Lawyer on Public Hearing Questions
Review Feedback from Lawyer on Reasonable Accommodation Variance
Reasonable Accommodation Variance
Any Other Items
Meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM.
Minutes from the September 23, 2014 meeting was approved without change.
The commission discussed the proposed new commercial tax increment financing for
Riverdale, State Street Urban Renewal Area Urban Renewal Plan. This proposal will save
Riverdale some $1.2 million over the course of twenty years. Mayor Paddock was kind
enough to attend and explain the reasons the council was considering the proposal. The
commission's role in the proposal was to compare the above urban renewal plan with our City
of Riverdale 2012-2032 Comprehensive Plan and look for inconsistencies or conflicts. It would
then be the council's role to resolve any conflicts, if any, and decide if they wanted to proceed
with the urban renewal plan.
After discussion, the commission voted unanimously, with one abstention, that no
inconsistencies or incongruencies were seen between the urban renewal plan and the
comprehensive plan. Stolk, with second from Clark, motioned that Gauss send a letter to
Mayor Paddock outlining our findings of no inconsistencies between the two plans. The
motion was approved unanimously, with one abstention from Wren. Gauss thanked Mayor
Paddock for her attendance and help with the plan.
Gauss reported that our proposal to change the maximum height of garage door openings was
approved by council and has been inserted into the zoning ordinance. Also, he reported that
the interpretation of the garage ordinance as limiting total garage area to 40% of finished living
space or at least 704 square feet had been challenged legally. After legal consultation, the
council has decided that the garage ordinance as currently enacted, shall allow two garage
structures each of up to 40% of finished livable space or at least 704 square feet. The
commission felt that this broader interpretation could cause future problems. Because of this
new interpretation, the commission felt that they should reconsider the entire garage size issue
at a future meeting. Wren, seconded by Stolk, made a mo tion to table the garage space issue
until a future meeting. The motion passed. Wren agre ed to gather some information from
surrounding cities garage ordinances for our future review.
Riverdale Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes from October 28, 2014 Page 2
Gauss reported that there was no further feedback from the council beyond the garage size
interpretation.
Gauss reported that there had been no feedback from the lawyers regarding the public
hearing. However, Gauss had emailed Ron Strawhacker and D. A. Welch regarding their
questions. He informed them that the items they had asked about were per Riverdale code
prior to the Highway Corridor Act, so it would take a change in Riverdale ordinance s to
address their concerns.
Gauss reviewed feedback from one of our lawyers, Dan Dresowik, regarding the reasonable
accommodation variance. Dan was in agreement of our splitting of 3c into two sections with
an "and" in-between, to clarify that both parts needed to occur to cause the variance to expire.
Dan also gave an example of those things that could fall into a variance due to 3b. He cited
any use not permitted by Riverdale code but required under state or federal law, but could not
think of a meaningful example. Perhaps this might serve as a wild example; due to health
reasons a person who resided in an R1 district might need to erect a multi-family home or
modify his current home to accommodate multi-families to house a full time nursing staff. If
that were permitted by state or federal law, this would fall under 3b.
Dan cited handicapped ramps that, in order to be properly placed, must violate the set back
rules, as an example of an item that could create a 3c accommodation.
The commission further discussed the language for the reasonable accommodation variance.
They decided that in 3a, we did not need to specify who would ensure that the county recorder
recorded the variance on the deed. We felt that was better handled by a Riverdale policy and
that the person assigned could change depending on workload. Further discussion resulted in
changing the wording to 3c1) to read as follows: "the portion of the stru cture that received the
variance is 60% or more damaged or is destroyed". With these changes the language of the
reasonable accommodation variance ordinance was approved unanimously after a motion
from Wren and second from Ulrich.
Under other items, Jim Beran, presented four pages of suggested changes to the zoning
ordinance. He also presented several aerial maps, that Jim felt would be superior to the maps
used in the zoning ordinance. He also presented a list of all of Riverdale's ordinances, for our
information. After, hearing Jim's discussion of the items, the commission decided to discuss
them at a future meeting after having a chance to review them.. Gauss will forward Mr.
Beran's notes and other items to the commission so they can review them prior to our next
meeting. Gauss, thanked Jim for his input and civic interest in improving our zoning ordinance.
The commission set December 09, 2014 at 6:30 PM as the date of our next meeting. The
agenda was set as follows:
Agenda:
Approval of Previous Minutes
Garage Sizes - Wren to send out information in advance
Review of Comments on Zoning Ordinance
Any Other Items
Riverdale Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes from October 28, 2014 Page 3
Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM
^Minutes *not present
CC: City Clerk, Paula McIntosh, Mayor, Sonya Paddock