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Item G (Development Moratorium)
A development moratorium means the city will not approve any new developments while the moratorium is in place.
This item was originally to approve a development moratorium, but the notice that went out was incorrect. Though we couldn't approve it tonight due to the error, we decided to clarify what we were asking for.
Unfortunately, this discussion took a ridiculously long time for something that should have been fairly straightforward. I'm the type that believes discussion should be open and free-flowing... but there are times where it's obvious there are hidden agendas that are hard to work around.
The discussion ended up as a choice between a moratorium (allows us to block any preliminary development request) or relying on just telling the developer no and hoping they're ok with it. Without the moratorium, they would be automatically approved after 120 days if they met all of the requirements, in addition to taking up a lot of staff time. The only down side to the moratorium I got was "it sends a bad signal..." whatever that means. In 2020 this city had a moratorium that lasted a year. So much for a "bad signal."
I asked for this to be put onto the agenda a month or so back for a few reasons, the primary one being changes we'll be making to the comp plan soon. Those changes involve both the transportation portion and the land use portions. If we get a valid preliminary plat request during that time we'll be stuck. If that plan isn't consistent with a land use we want to change, that plan will over-ride what we want.
The result of this painful discussion was, we instructed staff to put a 6 month moratorium (all development south of 125th and north of 81) on the March 14th council meeting and to get input from the planning commission.
Item H (Hiring process for a full time administrator)
A few meetings back the council had staff advertise for a full time administrator. That resulted in over a dozen applications (and growing). This discussion was on how to handle the volume and final decision. The result was to have staff thin down the applications (with the council retaining the right to adjust it) and have a final interview team consisting of 4 council members and 4 staff to make the final choice.
Please contact me with questions / concerns / opinions!