Nibley
residents tell concerns about 'commercial neighborhood'
zoning to council
•
Related story: Proposed business design code draws protest
By Diana Maxfield
November 19, 2005 | NIBLEY -- An ordinance
creating commercial neighborhood zones has been approved
and is now on the books, pending approval of a related
ordinance regarding commercial design standards.
In a public hearing held during Thursday night's City
Council meeting, resident Mike Duvall expressed concern
about "opening the door" for businesses to build in
Nibley neighborhoods.
"The door is already open," said Councilman Jim Waite.
The creation of commercial neighborhood zones, Waite
said, is to restrict what can be done within neighborhoods,
in a sense partly closing, or at least restricting the
door.
"This came about to be a more restrictive commercial
zone," Councilman Scott Wells said.
Right now a business can come in and request that
any area be zoned commercial. The commercial neighborhood
ordinance, he said, makes it possible for the council
to place more restrictions on a business while still
allowing it to be built.
One of the concern residents had is the name of the
ordinance. "The words neighborhood and commercial feel
like oil and water," Duvall said.
Commercial neighborhood zones are not unusual. Many
cities in Utah and across the United States have a commercial
neighborhood zone ordinance, Councilman Scott Larsen
said. Although the names of these ordinances vary slightly,
the intent is the same.
Larsen said businesses that will be built in the commercial
neighborhood zone will be "lower impact businesses.
We don't want just anything to come in."
The ordinance creating commercial neighborhood zones
allows businesses including bakeries, banks, day care
and restaurants to build, and conditionally allows businesses
like gasoline sales, laundry and dry cleaning and medical
clinics.
Whether Nibley wants commercial coming in at all is
another question entirely, said resident Duane Davis.
"I for one wouldn't want any business next door," he
said.
The council is trying to do what is best for the city,
said Wells. "People request rezones all the time and
get rejected because it doesn't meet the general plan
or it's not in the best interest of the city. It's all
about planning."
Nibley resident Jared Nichols said the ordinance has
been put together to benefit the city. "People are driving
through every day and all we get from it is pollution,"
he said. Giving people a reason to slow down or spend
some money in Nibley isn't such a bad idea, he said.
Waite said it is important to keep in mind that passing
this ordinance does not set it in stone. "If we find
this is bad legislation, it can be changed," he said.
"The only guarantee we have is that this is a continual
process."
The process of drawing up an ordinance creating commercial
neighborhood zones has been ongoing for about two years,
said Mayor Lynn Welker. "We are not rabbits. We are
probably turtles in this matter," he said.
A related ordinance regarding creation of design standards
was discussed in a public workshop Wednesday. The commercial
neighborhood zone ordinance makes several references
to these design standards, which are not yet approved.
There was no discussion about what will happen with
commercial neighborhood zones if the design standards
are not approved.
The council also canvassed the votes from the Nov.
8 election. The new mayor, Gerald Knight, and the two
new council members, Bryan Hansen and Thayne Mickelson,
will be sworn in on Jan. 5 at the first council meeting
of the new year.
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