#EM2019 – Candidate Question – Opposing Neighbors

Question: You have two opposing land owners. Both of the properties are currently zoned Agricultural. A rezone has been submitted to rezone one of the properties as commercial with a conditional use of storage units. The other is being requested as a rezone for residential units. Both of the applicants have problems with the other rezones and proposed land uses. The General Plan shows that either land use is acceptable. How would you handle this and juggle the land rights of each party? How would you vote on each of the rezones?

Devyn Smith

Given this hypothetical, I would review each application independently and in the order they were submitted. I would review the application on its own, not being subject to opinions of applications later submitted. I believe each application needs to be reviewed as its own—I do not believe it is fair to force one application to be judged up against another. Because of the number of moving parts, and the need to review each application individually and independently, I do not have enough information to now indicate which way I would vote. However, I believe in the property rights of both current and future property owners. I would approach the decision with the question of how this impacts residents and the city and what is fair or right. Your rights are vested at the time you purchase the property—rezones grant additional rights.

Colby Curtis

First, I don’t know that the general plan could show that both land uses are acceptable. The general plan would either show the area in question in commercial or in agricultural. However, for the sake of argument, let’s say it’s on the border of two sections of the general plan. The simplest solution to me would be to work to get both land owners to agree to some kind of buffer that would allow both to achieve what they desire, and requesting that both set aside half of the buffer in their separate rezones. If both would agree to it, I believe that would work well. If they will not, my next question would be who owned their property first and historically, which use best fits the character and nature of the area. I would also consider which land owner made an application to the city first. Ultimately, my solution would attempt to allow both land owners to do as they desire, but if that is not workable, I would default with the land owner who existed/purchased first.

Jared Gray

First of all, if they are allowed under the land use, I would have to approve. Otherwise we would be open for a law suit. Then the parties would be forced to deal with each other civilly if there was action from one to the other. It wouldn’t be our place to be involved with a dispute between land owners. Having said that, planning commission had worked diligently to avoid these things from happening by fixing our building standards and zoning codes so this won’t happen.

Carolyn Love

The first step I would take is to refer to the general plan to see if either of these zones is more compatible than the other. The general plan currently includes sections of land zoned commercial directly adjacent to sections of land that are zoned residential. It is not unusual to have these zones next to each other. I would then attempt to alleviate the objections of the residential developer by requiring the storage unit developer to design the storage project with aesthetics and landscaping that is similar to the planned residential project to create a cohesive transition. I would work with the storage developer to understand the objections to the residential development and try to determine if restrictions on the residential developer could alleviate any concerns. These restrictions would need to be reasonable and not create an undue burden on either project. I would vote to approve both rezoning requests with the restrictions that were agreed upon. If we were unable to reach a compromise, I would rezone the property that most closely matches the surrounding areas on the general plan. The remaining property owner would then have the decide to go ahead with their proposed rezone or withdraw their request.

Ben Porter

It is really difficult to say how I would vote without additional details. Where we have two competing requests, each with equal validity and claim, I would first try to find a compromise that works for both parties. Failing that, I think I would support what is best for the city. I would also take into account future plans of adjacent land and other things like that. I would think that in a real scenario one of the paths would make more sense for the city than the other. Also important to note, in a real scenario my vote would be only one of many. I would be talking with city staff, the Mayor, other stakeholders, and other councilmembers to understand their thoughts and opinions. I think it is very important to remember that as city councilmembers we may be voting, but we are there to work as a legislative body, not as individual monarchs. As such the direction I would go would depend on a substantial number of inputs.

Rich Wood

It starts with the General Plan. If the requests are in line with the General Plan. This transition between Residential and other non housing zones is something that we are working on on the Planning Commission. I believe we need to have a detailed transition code for these types of transitions just like the one we worked on to transition varying lot sizes and types of housing