12/12/2001 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • • FACT SHEET WHAT IS AN INTERIM ORDINANCE PROHIBITING NEW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT? State law allows cities to adopt an interim ordinance, often called a moratorium, restricting or prohibiting new development for up to one year. This interim ordinance can be applied to all or part of a city, or specific types of development. The City of Lino Lakes is considering this temporary measure to suspend requests for new housing subdivisions that would result in creating more than four new lots, for residential rezoning, and for the expansion of the urban service area to service new homes with city sewer and water. WHY IS THE CITY OF LINO LAKES CONSIDERING AN INTERIM ORDINANCE? The City of Lino Lakes recently completed its Comprehensive Plan. This plan was developed by a citizen task force to be used as a roadmap for the future. The plan calls for a limit on the number of new houses that can be built through 2020. It also encourages designing new neighborhoods to minimize the impact on the environment. The Comprehensive Plan sets the direction, but does not regulate how new developments can be built. The city's zoning and subdivision ordinances are the specific rules that developers must follow. The city will use the year that the interim ordinance is in place to update current ordinances and write new ones to provide the legal authority needed to achieve the city's vision for the future. HOW WILL AN INTERIM ORDINANCE AFFECT NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN LINO LAKES? Impact on new development will be negligible, since it will not affect the 400 housing lots that have already been approved for development. The interim ordinance will prohibit applications for new plats for housing subdivisions. But once the city has new zoning ordinances adopted and the interim ordinance expires, the rules for developing new neighborhoods will be much clearer. Updating the city's ordinances can also provide opportunities to developers that they have not had in the past. Rather than merely providing more developmental roadblocks, ordinances can be written to provide flexibility on such things as lot and building sizes. This helps developers to preserve more open space and save valuable environmental amenities within subdivisions. In addition, development costs can be lowered when a city's regulatory procedures are fair and consistently applied.