HomeMy WebLinkAbout12 18 069d (2)Lake Elmo City Council December 19, 2006
Agenda Section: Planning and Zoning
No 9d
Agenda Item: Proposed Process for Moving Ahead with Re-Zoning
Purpose. The city council is being asked to provide direction on how to proceed with the re-zoning process that the planning commission is undertaking in light of the request for an extension for submitting the
zoning code to the Metropolitan Council. It will be important to submit a framework for proceeding with
this rezoning to the Metropolitan Council. The staff is proposing a process that begins with joint city council and planning commission workshops to review the draft code and to allow the two bodies to discuss the code and the process. If need be, it will also allow the city council, as the policy setting body for the city, to clarify for the planning commission any policy directions that the city council wants to see
specifically incorporated in to the new zoning code. The process also includes a suggestion for ways to
communicate the proposed zoning code changes with property owners and citizens. Background. The city’s zoning code is the implementation tool for its comprehensive plan. It provides the legal regulations for what property owners can and cannot do on their land. Because zoning is the city’s
legal tool for managing its land use and because it is critical for property owners’ use of their properties,
any zoning code must be specific about what is allowed in each district. Depending upon the magnitude of the changes in the zoning districts, a new zoning code potentially affects every property owner in the city (except for the Cimarron area). In most cases the revisions in the zoning districts may be so minor that there is no real change to how the property owners in that district may use their land. (There are approximately
3,000 parcels of land that are part of zoning districts that are scheduled for some type of revision.)
Although many revisions may be very minor, it is important to clearly communicate proposed zoning code changes so no property owner is taken by surprise when they come in for a building permit or other land use planning request. In order to assure property owners that there will be a public process for making any changes, state law requires that planning commissions’ hold public hearings on proposed zoning code
amendments and that property owners of acres that are 5 acres or less in size and property within 350 feet of
these property owners must be notified of the hearing by mail. Process to date. The preparation of a new zoning code got underway, in part, because the Metropolitan Council required the city to submit a zoning code that reflected the comprehensive plan policies within nine
months of the comprehensive plan’s adoption. For Lake Elmo, the deadline for submitting the revised
zoning code to the Metropolitan Council is January 17, 2007. The city is requesting an extension to that deadline. Providing a process that the city is following will help the city’s application for an extension. Over the past several months the planning commission has spent time, care and thought in preparing a revised zoning code for the city. The commission has worked diligently in an effort to meet the Metropolitan
Council’s January 17, 2007 deadline. The proposed code includes new districts with significantly revised
zoning regulations as well as districts with almost no changes. The planning commission is now preparing to bring these revisions to property owners at public hearings before adopting the revised code and recommending it to the city council for the city council’s review, revisions and approval. On December 11, 2006 the planning commission held its first public hearing on the new zone, Village Residential (VR).
Several property owners and interested citizens in the proposed Village Residential zone attended the
hearings. The planning commission hoped to adopt the VR zone changes as well as move forward with the other 10 districts in December. However, there was not time to mail out the legally required notices to property owners in time for the planning commission to complete its process and make a recommendation to the council in time for the council to take action before the deadline of January 17, 2007 Metropolitan
Council deadline.
Communicating re-zoning to property owners and citizens. The request for an extension from the Metropolitan Council for the submission of its zoning code gives the city an opportunity to re-visit how it wants to proceed with this critical land use document From a communication standpoint two things are