01/13/2003 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • COUNCIL MINUTES JANUARY 13, 2003 APPROVED City Planner Smyser suggested the same majority vote be required as for a final plat since that will clear up any question. Councilmember Carlson stated she would like that less since it seems to be a change in past practice. City Planner Smyser stated the City has been operating in an undefined area for several years and this would clear that up. He noted that the project would have already been reviewed, approved, and a contract in place with the developer saying the final plat will be approved according to the described schedule, but a final plat would still needs to be approved. He stated it says a 4/5ths vote is needed to grant MUSA but the other decisions only require a 3/5ths vote and it does not make sense to set the City up for a situation where the plat has been preliminarily approved and a contract entered into but then the MUSA allocation is a different majority vote. That would set the City up for a situation where they may breach the contract. City Planner Smyser explained that the proposed language assures that would not occur. Councilmember Carlson stated she appreciates that explanation but it dos not address her question about what the State statutes say about allocating MUSA. She stated she understands this is a new area where MUSA is not awarded until the final plat. She used the example of the project north of Behm's Farm that needs about 80 acres of MUSA. Normally, the Council would look at the rezone, MUSA allocation, and plat approval. She asked if the Council will now just look at a portion of the MUSA for the first phase. City Planner Smyser stated the Council will address the entire project and the preliminary plat approval would approve all phases and agree to grant MUSA for all of the phases according to that schedule. Councilmember Carlson stated it then appears that is being done in the same regard as has been done in the past. City Planner Smyser explained that the statutes require a 3/5ths vote unless the rezoning is from Residential to Commercial/Industrial. In that event you need a 4/5ths vote. The statutes say to amend a Comprehensive Plan requires a 4/5ths vote. He stated there is nothing in State statutes that says anything about voting to allocate MUSA. This ordinance would clear up that "gray area." Mayor Bergeson suggested that between now and the next meeting the City Attorney be asked to provide an opinion in terms of these issues. City Attorney Hawkins stated his opinion that everything done by the Council is by majority vote unless otherwise directed by the State Statutes, unless it is deemed to be an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan. Councilmember Carlson referenced Provision #16 that indicates: "This Growth Management Policy shall not apply to the area of "The Village," in the southeast quadrant of the I-35W/Lake Drive interchange." She stated this came up because of discussion at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting and she has the same concerns that Councilmember Reinert indicated to assure that it stands up legally. She stated she understands that building 400 units and a number of attached townhomes 15