Minutes - Planning Commission - 11/07/2019 - Work Session

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Community Development Director Gladhill noted that the City has begun updating its website to become more user friendly and has been posting more updates to its social media as well. Commissioner Anderson recognized that it is hard to coordinate everyone to meet together from different Boards and Commissions but noted that it would be helpful to have an annual or bi-annual joint meeting of the different Boards and Commissions to provide updates on the activity of other groups. Commissioner Woestehoff commented that perhaps a better idea would be to attend some of the meetings of the other Boards or Commissions. Commissioner Anderson explained that when you attend a meeting of another group, you are attending as a citizen and are not provided with an opportunity to speak, whereas a joint meeting would provide an opportunity for open discussion between the groups. Commissioner VanScoy commented that the open houses have been very helpful for the residents and the developers. Commissioner Gengler recognized that staff sends out notifications as required but there are still a lot of comments from residents stating that they were unaware of the topic. Community Development Director Gladhill noted that residents can sign up for development alerts through the City website. He moved to the topic of zoning for religious uses. Chairperson Bauer stated that he would like to review the zoning districts to determine which zoning districts would be appropriate and to ensure consistent regulations throughout the different districts where that use is allowed. He stated that he does not like the use of interim use permits and would prefer to allow the use as a conditional use. Community Development Director Gladhill provided additional input on why the uses is allowed as an interim use currently and confirmed the topic could be added to the work plan. He asked for input on the administrative/procedural items. Chairperson Bauer stated that there should be a review of the ordinances that receive a lot of variance requests to determine if adjustments should be made to the ordinance itself rather than continuing to issue variances. Commissioner Woestehoff stated that perhaps use of the consent agenda would be helpful for items that simply need approval of the Commission and would not require discussion. Commissioner Anderson stated that he would like some additional notification from staff on potential upcoming projects which would allow the Commission members to visit the site if desired. Planning Commission/ November 7, 2019 Page 3 of 5