Minutes - Council - 07/27/2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Councilmember Riley requested clarification from Councilmember Howell regarding her position on abatements. Councilmember Howell referenced Oak Terrace Estates, stating the City should apply standards consistently across the Highway 10 businesses. She added she does not support enforcing standards for some Highway 10 businesses but not others. She noted maybe the standards need to be relaxed. Mayor Kuzma stated the city has historically been very strict about businesses with unpaved and gravel areas, and there have been cases where businesses have been forced to pave their lots. He added it would not be appropriate to relax regulations and let people park on their grass when previous standards were more restrictive. Councilmember Specht asked whether the applicant has come up to Code standards, and this amendment is to have something in place in case they violate the Code again, and they will go straight to abatement. Planning Technician McCann agreed that is the intention. Councilmember Specht stated he does not support having a Code violation go immediately to abatement without first working with the business. Councilmember Heineman stated there has to be a standard, and the City Council should use their best judgment to navigate these nuances. He added this applicant is already in compliance, and the abatement will not happen. He asked what will happen if the amendment is not approved and the business violates the code again. Senior Planner McGuire Brigl stated, without abatement, conditions would still apply. She stressed the importance of having a document to support findings and show that the City Council is taking the matter seriously. She noted, in this case, there have been 10-12 violations since 2013. Councilmember Riley stated he would support removing the first two bullet points related to expedited compliance. He stressed the importance of remembering that when there is a Code enforcement issue, there is also a resident or neighbor who made a complaint. Councilmember Riley stated Highway 10 historically has been an eyesore for the City, and the EDA has battled for years to make Highway 10 a more welcoming gateway to bring in businesses. He added parking on improved surfaces was an item of importance that was often considered. He expressed concern that if the City Council backpedals on these improvements to help local businesses, all that hard work will be undone. Councilmember Riley stated the mobile home park is not a good template for how to deal with businesses, since most of the Code violations are residential in nature set in place in the 1960s. Councilmember Musgrove requested clarification regarding Councilmember Riley’s comment about removing the first two steps of abatement from the Code update. City Council / July 27, 2021 Page 22 of 25