HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-31-12 Zoning Commission Minutes ZONING COMMISSION MINUTES
TUESDAY,JULY 31, 2012
ITEM 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE
Chairperson Garberg called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and ordered the Recording
Secretary to take attendance.
Members Present:
Randy Wall, Vice Chairperson
Trever McSpadden
David Peck
Erik Garberg, Chairperson
Nathan Minnick
City Commission Liaison:
Members Absent:
Staff Present:
Tim McHarg, Planning Director
Chris Saunders, Assistant Planning Director
Tara Hastie, Recording Secretary
Guests Present:
ITEM 2. PUBLIC COMMENT {Limited to any public matter within the jurisdiction of the
Zoning Commission and not scheduled on this agenda. Three-minute time limit per speaker.}
Seeing there was no general public comment forthcoming, Chairperson Garberg closed this
portion of the meeting.
ITEM 3. MINUTES OF JULY 17, 2012
MOTION: Mr. McSpadden moved, Vice Chairperson Wall seconded, to approve the minutes of
July 17, 2012 as presented. The motion carried 4-0. Those voting aye being Chairperson
Garberg, Mr. McSpadden, Mr. Minnick, and Vice Chairperson Wall. Those voting nay being
none.
ITEM 4. PROJECT REVIEW
1. Municipal Code Amendment Application#Z-12064—(Draft Ordinances 1827 and 1828) A
Zone Code Amendment requested by the applicant City of Bozeman, P.O. Box 1230,
Bozeman, MT 59771 to amend the Bozeman Municipal Code to revise the provisions
Pagel of 4
Zoning Commission Minutes—July 31,2012
establishing the Board of Adjustment and its operations to enable the City Commission to place
it on hiatus and to consolidate references to review authorities throughout Chapter 38, Unified
Development Code, and expand administrative approval authority. (Saunders)
Assistant Planning Director Chris Saunders presented the Staff Report noting the proposal was a
little odd as there were two ordinances being reviewed under the same application number at the
advice of the City Attorney and to keep relevant documentation in a single location. He stated the
changes were largely driven by City Commission directives on policy. He stated the ordinances
and Staff Report would be available online until the City Commission hearing action. He stated it
would likely be scheduled for August 20, 2012 City Commission hearing and had been tentatively
scheduled as such.
Assistant Director Saunders noted that the first actions in Ordinance 1827 had been proposed to
simply relocate the text for the convenience of the reading public. He stated the second action in
Ordinance 1827 had been proposed as the State of Montana requires the City of Bozeman to have
a Board of Adjustment, but the City Commission could be the Board of Adjustment themselves
and exercise those responsibilities. He stated each time a change was executed, it took several
months and a lot of Staff time; the code would now include a process that would allow the
activation or inactivation of the Board of Adjustment and would include a public hearing instead
of a code amendment each time. He noted the City Commission could choose to delegate some
or all types of projects at such a time they decided to activate the Board.
Assistant Director Saunders stated Staff had proposed to group all the approval authorities within
a single location so something didn't get missed. He added the approval authorities would also be
specified. He noted that the City Commission had retained certain review authority as required
but there were some things that could be passed off to other approval authorities. He stated the
exact scope of the review authority would vary from time to time and there had been a proposed
expansion of the administrative review authority. He noted some of the items that would be
included in the administrative review authority amendments. He stated that Staff proposed that a
City property project not claiming any kind of an exemption could be administratively reviewed.
He stated the demolition of properties within the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay, if they met
code criteria, had also been proposed for administrative review authority.
Assistant Director Saunders stated well over 100 sections would be amended to remove the
specific name of the review authority and would instead refer to the new section relocating the
text that describes the advisory bodies and approval authorities. He stated any administrative
decision by any Staff member could be appealed but if the person knew of the proposal, had time
to comment, and did not do so the provision would prevent new information from being
presented; an amendment intended to make the process more fair. He stated Staff was asking for
two motions because there were two different ordinances involved and would provide a more
clean recommendation.
Mr. Minnick asked for clarification regarding the delegation of the Board of Adjustment duties.
Page 2 of 4
Zoning Commission Minutes—July 31,2012
Assistant Director Saunders responded that the City had to have a Board of Adjustment, but the
City Commission could choose to handle those duties themselves.
Chairperson Garberg asked how the Board of Adjustment hiatus would work. Assistant Director
Saunders responded that the City Commission would review and appoint applicants under their
current process for appointing members of boards.
Mr. Peck joined the Zoning Commission.
Chairperson Garberg called for public comment. Seeing none forthcoming, the public comment
period was closed.
MOTION: Mr. McSpadden moved, Mr. Minnick seconded, that having heard and considered
public comment, to hereby adopt the findings presented in the staff report and to recommend
approval of the text amendments to Chapter 2 and Chapter 38 of the Bozeman Municipal Code as
included in the draft Ordinance 1827 as requested in application Z-12064.
Mr. Minnick stated he found the proposal to be in keeping with the review criteria as set forth in
the ordinance.
The motion carried 5-0. Those voting aye being Chairperson Garberg, Mr. McSpadden, Mr.
Minnick, Mr. Peck, and Vice Chairperson Wall. Those voting nay being none.
MOTION: Mr. Minnick moved, Vice Chairperson Wall seconded, that having heard and
considered public comment, to hereby adopt the findings presented in the staff report and to
recommend approval of the text amendments to Chapter 38 as included in the draft Ordinance
1828 as requested in application Z-12064.
Mr. Minnick stated he found the proposal to be in keeping with the review criteria as set forth in
the ordinance.
The motion carried 5-0. Those voting aye being Chairperson Garberg, Mr. McSpadden, Mr.
Minnick, Mr. Peck, and Vice Chairperson Wall. Those voting nay being none.
ITEM 5. NEW BUSINESS
Planning Director McHarg noted there would be a Zoning Commission meeting on August 7,
2012.
Mr. Minnick announced that he would be resigning from the Zoning Commission after seven
years of service due to his work schedule and that he did not think he could devote the necessary
time to meetings. The Zoning Commission expressed appreciation for his service.
ITEM 6. ADJOURNMENT AND CALL TO ORDER OF JOINT MEETING
Page 3 of 4
Zoning Commission Minutes—July 31,2012
The Zoning Commission meeting was adjourned at 6:22 p.m.
Erik Garberg, Chairperson Tim McHarg, Planning Director
Zoning Commission Dept. of Planning & Community Development
City of Bozeman City of Bozeman
Page 4 of 4
Zoning Commission Minutes—July 31,2012