P&Z changes its meeting format

The Planning & Zoning Commission, at the request of Director of Planning and Community Development Howard J. Koontz, decided last night to alter the format of its meetings, at least through the end of this year, so that action items are decided on the second Tuesday of each month and the fourth Tuesday is reserved for workshops and discussions.

Koontz recommended the change primarily because the task of updating the city’s Comprehensive Plan will be undertaken by the seven P&Z commissioners this year. The plan is updated every five years and usually a consultant has been hired to perform this duty, but, according to Koontz, the city has not been happy with the consultant’s performance.

"So why throw good money after bad?" Koontz rhetorically asked.

He said there may be some instances when an individual will need a zoning case accelerated and if that happens an action item could make the fourth Tuesday agenda.

The change takes effect immediately. P&Z will spend the majority of its Aug. 25 meeting time fine-tuning a revised landscape ordinance it will recommend to the City Council and the fourth Tuesday meetings for the remainder of the year will deal with the Comprehensive Plan.

In other action last night, the commissioners:

• Voted unanimously to change the zoning on residential property located at 713 and 715 Old Highway 81 from Residential to Retail Service. According to Alberto Saucedo Sr., who appeared before the commission on behalf of the owner, his mother Ypolita Cruz Saucedo, the family has absolutely no plans to do anything with the property but realized they could get a higher price when they decided to sell it if it was zoned for retail. Koontz reminded the commissioners that a Mexican restaurant bordered the property on the north and he expects all the property fronting I-35 to be developed for commercial uses..
• Voted unanimously to recommend the City Council approve the city manager’s draft five-year Capital Improvements Plan. In addition to the road bonds, most of the funds proposed between now and 2019 involve improving the city’s water and wastewater infrastructure.
• Voted to ease the landscape requirements at Miscellaneous Steel Industries, which is expanding its facilities at the corner of Bunton Creek Road and Goforth. Normally I don’t favor action of this type because I’m all about having as attractive a city as possible, but in this case the action makes sense. Because of the Goforth Road improvement project, the city has to relocate the path of its underground utilities and that path will be directly beneath where MSI would normally be required to install the required landscaping features.