July 25, 2021 Council Meeting Update

Agenda (click to open)

View the meeting

 

National Night Out is Aug 3rd!

If you want me to swing by your group, I would be glad to do so. I try not to be your typical politician (hopefully 🙂 so my goal isn't to insert myself where I don't necessarily belong. BUT... I also try to represent as many residents as possible, so contact me if you want me there.

 

Item E: Conditional Use Permit for Liquor Store

This was pretty straightforward. A new liquor store will be opening in Raintree Plaza. It will require a few changes / cleanup around the property. I do not know when it will open.

Item F: Preliminary Plat for a 4 lot subdivision.

This one generated a lot of resident questions and confusion. The property owner currently has 3 lots. 2 are zoned R-1 and the other (east lot) is R-E.

R-1 is the typical density you'd see in a new development. R-E is typically the larger 2+ acre lots.

The application was to take the northwest lot and split it into 2. And 2 small areas of that new middle lot would be moved into the east lot. Those small areas would be rezoned from R-1 to R-E to be consistent with what they would be merged into. That was the only rezoning requested and only one lot was created.

I think the problem was that the owner had created "ghost" lots to show what could happen there in the future. Ghost lots aren't a legal or binding thing. They were required when Wildwood Springs was created but that was to help ensure the location of any structure was thought through.

What was approved was converting the 2 north-most lots into 3 lots. The SW lot wasn't changed.

Item G. Fence Ordinance.

Our fence ordinance is painful. The goal here was to loosen it up a bit and I think we did that, but I'm not sure it's any less confusing now than it was.

I personally don't have a problem with fences. They're tools. They can keep the world out of your space and keep your pets or kids (or chickens) from exploring too far. As with a lot of things, we have ordinances that are driven by personal preferences. Some of it has safety in mind, but I think even that reason gets stretched on occasion.

To further confuse things, many of the new houses have an HOA. The HOA might tell you they have no restrictions on something, but that doesn't mean the city doesn't. I always think of an HOA as another level of government. It's not, but due to the power it has, it might as well be.

If you have questions about a fence or want to put one in, I would strongly advise you to draw up what you're thinking and bring it into city hall to have it looked at. Especially given you need a permit.

Item H (Monument Sign)

This was moved out to our next meeting.

Item K (Fee Study)

This was just an update on the status of the study we initiated on our building fees. We should have a final report in a month or so.

Item L Council Vacancy

This was a follow on action to the vacancy created when member Okerlund resigned. There was some initial confusion about scheduling the required special election but that is all settled now and we needed to update our ordinance.

The result is that the election will coincide with our normal elections in 2022. That means there may be a primary in September, but the general election will be in November. That means the normal 2 four-year council seats, a special two-year council seat, and the normal mayoral seat will be on the ballot.

Item M (Test Well)

This was approving a test well for well #5. That well will be located along Pioneer Parkway. The process requires a preliminary well be drilled for testing of the water.

As always, if you have questions about anything (really... anything) feel free to call or email me.