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<br />staff is looking for direction from Council regarding whether or not the most recent elevations are <br />adequate; if not, what other specific changes are desired by Council. <br /> <br />Associate Planner Geisler stated the Planning Commission reviewed the preliminary plat and site <br />plan at their September 7, 2006 meeting. The Commission recommended denial of the <br />Comprehensive Plan Amendment and Rezoning requests, but did want to. provide comments on the <br />plan and site plan in the event that the City Council is inclined to approve the plat. The consensus <br />of the Commissioners was that the current plan was an improvement over the previous plan that <br />showed 8 townhome units. Based on this, the Planning Commission recommended approval of the <br />preliminary plat and site plan, with further review of density transitioning requirements for the site. <br /> <br />Acting Mayor Elvig noted staff recommends' moving forward with this, and the Planning <br />Commission recommended denial based on there being no compelling reason to use it as a buffer. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look questioned amending the Comprehensive Plan for this project, as the <br />Comprehensive Plan will be changed in 2008. <br /> <br />Community Development Director Trudgeon explained the Comprehensive Plan will look at all the <br />parcels in the City, although it may not go into the detail of a lot this small. There is a public <br />participation process with the Comprehensive Plan and the property owners have the ability to come <br />forward and state their wishes. Council can decide what they choose to do; this rezoning would <br />amend the 2001 Comprehensive Plan that shows the property as a commercial use. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen inquired about the opposition among the neighbors for putting this housing <br />m. <br /> <br />Acting Mayor Elvig stated there were a couple of neighbors that spoke against the housing, feeling <br />as though it may be less valuable than some of the houses along the river. There was contest to that, <br />and whether the homes up the road were of like and similar values. The position of the neighbors <br />that spoke was that it may take the value of their neighborhood down. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen questioned what the neighborhood can rely on for future development if <br />they cannot rely on a blueprint such as the Comprehensive Plan, and that anyone can come to the <br />Council with a request for a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to do what they want. <br /> <br />Acting Mayor Elvig explained no one can automatically receive a Comprehensive Plan <br />Amendment; anyone can ask. The Council has been discussing that this is a very difficult piece of <br />property to do anything with. It has been on the market for years as commercial and no one has <br />picked it up, and it does not work well for single family lots. The other, side of this is that someone <br />could purchase the property for a convenience store, which would result in more traffic, and there <br />would not be much the City can say. <br /> <br />Community Development Director Trudgeon indicated the Comprehensive Plan is the expectation <br />of people on how the area will develop over a period of time. There are provisions to amend the <br />Comprehensive Plan, either City initiated, citizen initiated, or property owner initiated. There were <br />a lot of people present at the Planning Commission public hearing that were concerned about the <br /> <br />City Council / January 9, 2007 <br />Page 13 of 24 <br />