|
An idea we spoke about earlier is to:
<br />
<br />“Place an expiration date on a permit or zoning ordinance so that it automatically expires
<br />without the Director, Commission, or Council having to take further action.”
<br />
<br />Legally, we need to look into that to just make sure what that process would be; if that can be
<br />done as part of the permit or as part of the ordinance, or if it’s going to require an additional step.
<br />And, since I’m on this subject, one thing I wanted to speak about, there has been discussion that
<br />I’ve heard, too, about a number of timing request, like some people say you shouldn’t give them
<br />five years, give them three years, you shouldn’t allow an administrative, or whatever. One thing
<br />to consider, or to keep in mind, is that not every project is the same. Although we’ve been in a
<br />habit of making five years the normal time, there have been times where a project comes in and
<br />it’s obviously a very large project; five years, they wouldn’t be able to do most of their, even
<br />their infrastructure to get off the ground. So we’ve got to keep in mind that we should look at
<br />timing as far as the actual project itself. If it’s a smaller project, three years or five years may be
<br />appropriate; if it’s a much larger project, we should be looking at a reasonable amount of time
<br />that an applicant could realistically do that project.
<br />
<br />Next option is, or idea is, order to show cause. This is a process that is being done currently by
<br />the Land Use Commission. What will happen is if the – they are required normally to submit
<br />annual reports to the commission – and if they find that there is a lack of action on condition
<br />compliance, they would generate an order to show cause to require the applicant to come before
<br />the commission and address why they have not complied with those conditions. The, currently,
<br />the only options that the commission has, the Land Use Commission, is to allow the applicant to
<br />continue or to revert it back to what the actual boundary amendment approved. So if it was
<br />approved for Urban from Agriculture, it would be reverted back to Agriculture. So this, this
<br />happens on an occasional basis. We’ve, we just had a large hearing recently where the Land Use
<br />Commission did an order to show cause on a project for lack of compliance. The applicant has
<br />the burden of proof to be able to prove that they’ve complied, and the commission makes a
<br />decision whether or not they agree that they have or have not, and then they decide whether or
<br />not they are going to revert or not. So that is a process that we could possibly replicate and
<br />create rules for, and at times when we feel like we need to bring an applicant before the
<br />Commission to address compliance, we can issue an order to show cause. So that is one of the
<br />ideas.
<br />
<br />We also are considering, you know, it seems like there’s, there are times where the intention of
<br />the applicant is questioned; are you really going to do this project or are you just doing this for
<br />speculation? And so one of the questions that we might want to add to our forms is financial
<br />information that can show that the applicant is in the position to financially be able to go forward
<br />and do this project. It also places them in a place where they have to say whether or not they are
<br />going to do it, or whether or not where I’m just getting it ready so I can sell it. And then at that
<br />point the Commission and the Council know full well what the intention of the applicant is.
<br />There have been, you know, this issue comes up on occasion where an applicant comes before
<br />the Commission and/or Council and says this is my plans, elaborate plans, everything, you know,
<br />drawn out and everything, and then a year later it’s sold, you know, because maybe, we just
<br />don’t know, we thought that was their intention, we don’t know if something happened or, you
<br />9
<br />EXHIBIT B
<br />
<br />
|