Minutes - Planning Commission - 07/27/2023

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City Attorney Knaak stated that the usual reply would be no in terms of expanding a legal nonconforming use and provided additional explanation. He provided some scenarios that could be considered to not be an increase in the use and therefore allowed. Acting Chairperson Bauer stated that the new regulation would allow one license, noting that many of these smaller dealers have multiple licenses. He used the scenario where a business currently has six licenses but one person were to leave and asked if that sixth license could then be held by a new person or whether the business would continue to dwindle as license holders left until they reached one license. Planning Manager Larson commented that would depend. He noted that some of the multi -license dealerships have very tiny office suites with one dealer in each space and in that case a new dealer could occupy that space. He commented that there is another shop where license holders do not have defined spaces and, in that case, he would not think a new license holder could come in. City Attorney Knaack stated that he would disagree. He stated that in the situation where there are multiple small suites and one person were to leave, a new license holder could not come in. He stated that the business needs to move towards conformity. Commissioner Heineman asked if the license refers to the license each dealer holds, or the number of cars that can be kept onsite. City Attorney Knaack stated that a person needs a license to sell vehicles. He stated that a large dealership has one license for the premises. He stated that the new model has one person that rents space within the larger area to others that each hold their own license, so the one site may have six licenses. He commented that the larger the volume, the bigger the problems are in the eyes of the City. He stated that the multiple license scenario is a new phenomenon. Commissioner Heineman used the scenario that there is a business that currently has two agents/licenses operating as a business and one agent were to leave. He stated that it would seem that under the current zoning, that agent/license could be replaced but under the proposed zoning, that agent/license could not be replaced. City Attorney Knaak stated that in that scenario, the license would end up being transferred and it should not be a problem if the two licenses were operating under a common business name. He stated that if the agents were operating as two separate dealerships, then the issue would arise where the transfer could not occur. Commissioner Van Scoy stated that he requested clarification on the current Conditional Use Permit and the legality issues. Planning Manager Larson replied that the examples from other communities are outdated. He explained that a conditional use is a permitted use which may have additional conditions placed upon it to make it a better neighbor. He stated that a conditional use cannot be an ambiguous use that can be approved or denied based on whether people like the proposal or not. Planning Commission/ July 27, 2023 Page 4 of 18