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18 OCT 08CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OCTOBER 8, 2018 7:00 P.M. – 7:42 P.M. OPENING REMARKS: The Planning Commission of the City of Jacksonville, Arkansas met in a regular session on October 8, 2018. Chairman Moore opened the meeting at approximately 7:00 p.m. expressing appreciation to those in attendance. ROLL CALL: Commissioners Patrick Thomas, Barbara Mashburn, Vivian Brittenum, and Dan Brown answered ROLL CALL. Chairman Jim Moore also answered roll call and declared a quorum. PRESENT (5), ABSENT (2) two positions open. Others present for the meeting were Code Enforcement Manager Manny Browder, and interested citizens, petitioners, and press. CORRECTION AND/OR APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Mashburn moved, seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve the minutes of the August 13, 2018 regularly scheduled meeting. MOTION CARRIED. PUBLIC HEARING(S): a. CONDITIONAL USE 512 Mulberry C-3 in a C-1 zone Chairman Moore opened the public hearing at approximately 7:02 p.m. Mrs. Risa Briggs stated that she and her two sisters are present to represent the item of business for their mother. She related that her mother owns the property at 512 Mulberry, explaining that they need the property zoned for a C-3 in order to lease the property. She stated that the property has been rented since their father passed in 1996. She related that the renters moved out in February and they have renovated the property and would like to rent the property again. Chairman Moore clarified that the request is for a conditional use not a rezoning. Mrs. Briggs concurred, saying that she is unaware of the difference between a conditional use and rezoning the property. Chairman Moore referred to their petition, noting that letter of request seems to refer to a conditional use and a rezoning. He clarified with Mrs. Briggs that the request is for a conditional use to rent the property for the purpose of an auto repair shop and wrecker service. Mrs. Briggs answered that they do not have a renter yet, adding that is her intentions because the building was constructed for a garage. Discussion between Chairman Moore and City Attorney Bamburg ensued regarding the wording of the letter of request, noting the confusion over requesting a C-3 in a C-1 zone but using the wording of “rezone” and “conditional use”. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OCTOBER 8, 2018 7:00 P.M. – 7:42 P.M. Mrs. Briggs stated that she is unclear of the difference, adding that her family is wanting to lease the property. She stated that they have spent a lot of money on renovation and need to rent the property for its intended use. Chairman Moore related that the Planning Commission would need to know who is going to rent the property and for how long regarding the conditional use purpose. He pointed out that the letter of request in paragraph one states says “use it for a conditional use for the next tenants, to use this building as an auto repair shop and wrecker service”, and then the last sentence says “zone from a C-1 to a C-3”. Mrs. Briggs questioned how she should have worded the last sentence. Mrs. Briggs sister addressed the Commission to clarify her understanding that the way her sister wrote the letter was for the purpose of going with an auto repair shop because that was the use of the building when her father operated a business there, adding that her understanding of the Commission is that the way the letter is written is that we are specifying that we have a conditional client that may be wanting to utilize the building and you would only approve that based on specifics to what that condition is that is going to be used for that. She continued saying that if it is a “zone thing” then we are not blocking ourselves into basically a specific entity of whatever is in the building for rental purposes. Chairman Moore added, as long as they fall within the zoning of a C-3. She then clarified that the conditions of a C-3 and all-inclusive would probably be a broader spectrum to be able to look at versus a conditional because conditional, as I am understanding you to say, is that you have to know who is going to rent the property, what the purpose of the building is going to be used for, and then the approval for that at that time specific to that. City Attorney Bamburg concurred. He stated that the difficulty is that if you are asking for a rezoning, C-3 in that area is going to have to be reviewed and determined to be appropriate because C-3 is highway frontage. Chairman Moore stated that if the Planning Commission approved a conditional use as the first paragraph states, if we did not know who was going to use the building, it could be a daycare or some other use. Discussion ensued as to the conditional use being for a specifically stated use, City Attorney Bamburg stated that as a conditional use the Planning Commission would have to know who is renting the building. He then asked if there is a prospective tenant. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OCTOBER 8, 2018 7:00 P.M. – 7:42 P.M. She stated they did have a prospective client but they did not want to rent it without having something in writing to present to their tenants. City Attorney Bamburg stated that he can see the purpose of a conditional use, but the nature of how the letter was written confuses the issue. He stated that if they have one or two potential tenants, they might want to identify what that is going to be and the time frame that they are going to be renting the building to move forward with a conditional use if that is how it was advertised. He went on to say that they would need to amend their request letter, stating such on the record tonight and then the Planning Commission would have to more information of who the tenant is going to be, what the specific purpose is for the use of the building and the timeframe for which they would be there. Mrs. Briggs stated that they do not have those specifics yet, adding that they are trying to clarify exactly what they have approval for. She stated that in order for them to advertise the property for lease they would need to know. She added that the two most likely uses would be for a mechanic’s shop such as her father had in the past or a person who sells cars and could use the shop to fix cars prior to selling. In response to a comment from Mrs. Briggs regarding rezoning to C-3, City Attorney Bamburg related that he had previously mentioned that a C-3 zoning is for property along the highway and would normally not be attributable to a location such as this property, adding that a conditional use for a particular use would require a little more information than we have at this status. Discussion ensued regarding if a different zoning would allow for use as a garage and that the property was grandfathered in for previous use as an auto repair shop until it was no longer used for that purpose. City Attorney Bamburg stated that getting a conditional use or rezoning is the best bet for your purposes, is may be that you are not quite where you need to be to know which way you want to go. He added that it could be that you want to request that the Commission extend the public hearing to the November meeting. It would save from having to be advertised which would save money, as well as offering more time to better identify who the tenant is going to be, and better identify what you want to do when you come back before the Commission. Mrs. Briggs stated that if they wanted to go with a conditional use for either tenant would that negate having to come back before the Planning Commission. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OCTOBER 8, 2018 7:00 P.M. – 7:42 P.M. City Attorney Bamburg explained that the problem is that the Planning Commission cannot approve either/or, the Planning Commission has to approve “a” and in your circumstance, you have an either/or situation and you are not sure which is going to be. He clarified that the Planning Commission is not allowed to approve the request in the vein of having it that open because conditional uses are very specific. Mrs. Briggs stated that in other words their letter would need to change at the bottom where she stated “we are asking to have it zoned”, it should say conditional use? She asked if that sentence could be struck from the letter. City Attorney Bamburg concurred, saying that it can be amended on the record but they still have to figure out which way they are going to go with the property. Mrs. Briggs stated that they want to make sure of all the rules before renting the property. She noted that they had spent approximately $20,000 renovating the building. Commissioner Thomas observed that it sounds as if they are wanting to zone the property for the maximum use possible for that part of town. He stated that C-3 is a different type of zoning than C-1 or C-2. He then questioned if there were other C-3 properties on Dupree Drive. Councilman Mashburn noted that there is a radiator shop on the corner. Chairman Moore clarified that they were speaking about the corner of Dupree Drive and Hwy. 161, which is the car lot. Commissioner Thomas stated that the radiator shop is a similar business, noting that it does back up to a residential area which is no different than the residential area around this property. Chairman Moore noted that Mulberry is not a collector street such as Dupree Drive. He added that they could look at the request of a conditional use but would need to know exactly what kind of business is going to operate on the property. He stated that if the business discontinues then it reverts back to the original zoning. Mrs. Briggs stated that they are trying to move forward with income regarding the building, so they would like to move forward with some request versus nothing. Chairman Moore stated that the Planning Commission would have to know exactly who the tenant is going to be and what kind of business. He stated that the Planning Commission would also have to know the time period in able to grant a conditional use. He noted that City Attorney Bamburg is going to secure a copy of the Code. He then noted CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OCTOBER 8, 2018 7:00 P.M. – 7:42 P.M. that C-3 is technically highway commercial and even if the Planning Commission were to rezone the property it would still need to go before the City Council. Mrs. Becky Barr requested that the part of the letter that mentions rezoning be stricken from their letter. She related that the property is set up to operate as an auto repair shop, noting that it has bays and is the purpose of the building. She stated that perspective tenants wanted to know if the building could be used as a repair shop. Commissioner Thomas noted that this property does not have a small shop and the lot is large. He stated that he feels the last time the property was zoned it should have been zoned in accordance with the size of the lot. He stated that he would lean toward the idea of the property being rezoned to C-3 if that is what the petitioners want, noting again the size of the lot regardless of it being highway property. He stated that a C-3 zoning would keep them from having to come back for a conditional use. Chairman Moore stated that under C-1 zoning the previous business was grandfathered and that cease whenever the business stopped and the property became vacant. He added that they would have to request a rezoning to C-2 which would permit a conditional use of C-3 uses. City Attorney Bamburg clarified that the current zoning of C-1 does not allow for auto repair shops, adding that C-2 zoning would allow for such as a conditional use. He noted that to go to a C-2 with a conditional use would be consistent with the surrounding properties, to go to C-3 is highway commercial and it would be up to the Planning Commission as well as the City Council in what is termed a spot zoning circumstance. Chairman Moore then explained that if they went to a C-2 zoning with a conditional use and the business cease to exists then the conditional use would also cease to exist. He stated that a request to rezone to C-2 with a conditional use would have to be advertised. Discussion ensued as to the direction she was given when she first approached the City regarding her request to use the property as an auto repair shop. Chairman Moore stated that the request letter should be revised; adding that the Planning Commission cannot move forward until then. He explained that the property needs to be rezoned to C-2 with a conditional use for the auto repair shop. Mrs. Barr questioned if they could petition the Planning Commission for a C-2 and a C-3 zoning change but have Commission consider the C-3 first. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OCTOBER 8, 2018 7:00 P.M. – 7:42 P.M. City Attorney Bamburg advised that they would have to choose one zoning, saying that it is not a multiple choice opportunity. He related that they could submit a request for C-3 zoning but it would have to be approved by both the Planning Commission and the City Council and a C-3 would be considered “spot zoning”. He then answered that if it were not approved, they would have to start the process over again to submit for a change to C-2 zoning. Chairman Moore noted that it would create a delay because of the advertising time involved. Mrs. Barr stated that she sees that Jacksonville is hurting for business and it is disheartening… saying that delaying the process of someone moving into a business and if this is the red tape that it takes, then maybe that is why Jacksonville is not moving forward. She reiterated that it is really disheartening because Jacksonville was once a great place to live. She added that she is discouraged by the fact the information they were given should have been ample to get started but now we are looking at November before we can complete this request. She stated that her lease could move on by then and find another place. Chairman Moore stated that the Planning Commission has an obligation to make sure that they are performing their duties to the fullest and by all requirements. He added that the Commission wants more businesses in town but it has to be done legally. Mrs. Barr stated that when the original use ceased, shouldn’t the City have notified them that if they wanted to continue the same type of business that they should go ahead and prepare for tenants. City Attorney Bamburg stated that it is the other way around, the owner needs to come to the City in order to make a request. He added that while you did and were given incorrect information, there are ways to get the right information and that is what we are doing now. Chairman Moore stated that he would be happy to sit down with them and help them develop their request. Mrs. Barr stated that her hope that no one vandalizes the property between now and then. Chairman Moore asked that she not put that on the Commission because the property could be vandalized even if it were leased out. City Attorney Bamburg explained that if the rezoning to C-2 is approved by the Planning Commission at their regularly scheduled meeting in November, then it would still have to go before the City Council’s second meeting in November around the third week of November. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OCTOBER 8, 2018 7:00 P.M. – 7:42 P.M. Mrs. Briggs expressed her concern that with such a long wait time that they would lose their renters. Chairman Moore closed the public hearing at approximately 7:38 p.m. b. REZONING 16.82 acres on T.P. White Drive from R-0 to C-4 Chairman Moore noted that the petitioners are not present to represent their item of business, offering that it be moved to the November meeting. City Attorney Bamburg stated that if it is going to be moved to the November meeting there should be a motion. He then answered Chairman Moore that if the item is moved tonight it would not have to be re-advertised. Councilman Mashburn moved, seconded by Commissioner Brown to move the item of business to the November meeting. MOTION CARRIED. City Attorney Bamburg noted that the meeting would be November 13th. ADJOURNMENT: Chairman Moore without objection; adjourned the meeting at approximately 7:42 p.m. Respectfully submitted, _________________________ Susan L. Davitt