Planning Commission

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE NORTH PLATTE PLANNING COMMISSION HELD ON THE 22 nd DAY OF AUGUST 2023 IN THE CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS. MEMBERS PRESENT: David Fudge, Jeff Bain, Emily Wurl, Kathleen Matthews, Angie Forbes, Nelson Jett, Lee Davies, Glenn Van Velson, Kert McKeone MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Judy Clark, Planning Administrator; Michelle Bain, Recording Secretary, Bill Troshynski, City Attorney Notice of the meeting was given in advance thereof, by posting in at least three places in the City as follows: North Platte Public Library, Lincoln County Courthouse, and City Hall offices. Notice of the meeting was given to the Chairman and all members of the Planning Commission. Availability of the agenda was communicated in the advance notice and in the notice to the Chairman and members of the Commission. All proceedings thereafter shown were taken while the convened meeting was open to the attendance of the public. Chair Fudge called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. and stated a current copy of the open meetings act of Nebraska is posted at the back of the Council Chambers. 2. Bain moved and Van Velson seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the meeting held July 25, 2023. Voting Aye: Fudge, Bain, Wurl, Matthews, Forbes, Davies, Jett, McKeone, Van Velson. Voting Nay: None. Absent: None. Motion carried. 3. File No. Z23-008 Discuss and consider action on an application by Scott and Melinda Standage to rezone certain land from an R-2 Dwelling District to a PB-1 Planned Neighborhood Commercial Services District located at 2118, 2208, 2210 and 2212 Anna Avenue on property described as Lots 6, 7, 8 & 9 Muirhead’s 2nd Subdivision, North Platte, Lincoln County, Nebraska. Van Velson moved and Jett seconded the motion to pick this matter up from the table and consider the item. Voting Aye: Wurl, Matthews, Forbes, Davies, Jett, Weber, McKeone. Voting Nay: Fudge, Bain. Absent: None. Motion carried. Judy stated that the applicants submitted a better plan and are requesting the zone change to allow the property to be used as a small venue. The applicants feel this should not increase traffic in the area, the venue will only be open by request and should be an asset for this area of North Platte. On July 25, 2023, the City of North Platte Planning Commission held a public hearing regarding the proposed rezoning, comments were taken from the public and the public hearing was closed through a unanimous vote of the Planning Commission. Davies moved and McKeone seconded the motion to approve File No. Z23-008 to rezone certain land from an R-2 Dwelling District to a PB-1 Planned Neighborhood Commercial Service District located at 2118, 2208, 2210 and 2212 Anna Avenue. After some discussion among the Planning Commission members, Van Velson moved and Bain seconded the motion to table the current motion to approve. The motion passed unanimously. As requested by the Planning Commission, the applicant has provided a more detailed plan for the area. After reviewing the current submitted plan, Planning Staff has no objections to the rezoning and approval of the plan as presented. It appears this will be a low-intensive use and does not appear to be a detriment to the area. A B- 1 Neighborhood Commercial District is the least intensive commercial district. Rezoning to a PB-1 Planned Neighborhood Commercia District requires a plan to be approved. The plan in this application requests creation of a venue. If that plan changes in the future, the plan will need to be amended, which will require approval from the planning commission and city council. The property currently is the site for a church with a large parking area. Using the site as a venue should not cause parking issues in the area. The property will not be occupied at all times as use is dependent upon scheduled venue events. Chair Fudge stated that the public hearing was held last month and will not be reopened. There is currently a motion on the table. North Platte Planning August 22, 2023 Page - 2 Attorney Troshynski stated he feels it would be helpful to make a reference to the plan in the motion. Van Velson moved and Bain seconded the motion to amend the motion to include the plan submitted by the applicant as part of the application for the change of subdivision. Voting Aye: Fudge, Bain, Wurl, Matthews, Forbes, Davies, Jett, McKeone, Van Velson. Voting Nay: None. Absent: None. Motion carried. Chair Fudge stated the amended motion is now on the table. Van Velson stated that he did have a discussion with an interested party, a neighbor to the property, and he promised he would ask the Commissioners a rhetorical question to imagine that they lived right behind this proposed change of use or across the street or right next door, would they want this to be approved? The plan is reasonable and detailed and there would be a means for law enforcement to enforce that plan if it was open past 11:00 p.m. but he isn’t sure that should be laid on the law enforcement officers. The issue is that the applicant also has rights. Wurl stated that she grew up behind a church in North Platte and sometimes youth group went until 9 or 10 at night. She understands this is different but it is a church building and she is excited someone has taken on the building to keep it up. She tried to understand what this will do to the neighbors and will probably vote yes. Bain stated it may be a party factor but that isn’t the only thing that will go on. Most will probably use it to have a baby shower, wedding reception etc. inside. He feels better that they have a layout of what the plans are so. He doesn’t feel this will be a loud obnoxious venue. Vote on the motion on the table. Voting Aye: Wurl, Bain, Fudge, Forbes, Davies, Jett, McKeone. Voting Nay: Matthews, Van Velson. Absent: None. Motion carried. 4. Discussion of parking and storing RVs, Trucks, Boats, and Trailers within the City of North Platte. Judy stated that at the July 25, 2023 Planning Commission meeting, planning members agreed to move through the process to adopt the attached regulations. Since that time, Planning Staff has received a number of phone calls regarding the requirement of parking the RV in the street for no more than 24 hours. The overall concern is the time frame to allow the RVs to be parked in the street is very limited. Community members would like to see that time extended. Planning staff is suggesting the time frame to park in the street be extended to 7 days during the summer months, which would mean RVs would be allowed to park in the street for a maximum of 7 consecutive days at a time between March and October. During November, December, January and February RVs would not be allowed to park in the street. This is similar to the city’s regulations on parking boats and trailers. Allowing the RVs to park in the street for 7 days would allow an avid camper to bring their RV in to their home during the week and then take it out again over the weekend. Davies asked about the limit for boats. Judy stated she doesn’t think that boats have a limit. Chair Fudge showed a photo that was presented to him with 3 RVs lined up. Discussion among the Planning Commission brought a consensus that 7 days is too long for RVs to be on the street and most felt 3 or 4 days (leaning towards 3 days) would be long enough. Attorney Troshynski stated the ordinance for boats and boat trailers really only applies from November to March. There is no timeline for the remaining months. Judy stated she and the attorney will rewrite that section and try to bring it back to Planning Commission next month. 5. Old Business. There was no old business to be discussed. North Platte Planning August 22, 2023 Page - 3 6. New Business. Judy stated that she feels Planning Commission needs to discuss what is the best use of a church that is no longer a church. Most churches in North Platte are in residential neighborhoods and best uses could fall under conditional permitted uses. There are some options. Matthews explained that her reason for voting no on the rezoning was because it was smack dab with houses and she’s nervous about setting precedent. Chair Fudge stated that was his concern when the land use map was flipped, creating a commercial district in the middle of residential. He feels this is violating a bit of the trust that goes along with the zoning process as this is a well-established residential area. Matthews stated the use of alcohol was a big concern from the public. Judy stated at the next meeting she may add a discussion of how to make the best use of a church. There was more discussion about what could have been done with the church without changing the zoning McKeone asked about a mechanism to limit engine breaking with trucks that will be coming into the city with the plant. There was some discussion about the rules. 7. Adjourn. Chair Fudge adjourned the meeting at 5:57 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Michelle Bain Recording Secretary