Notes from the work session for the Planning Commission

The infill task force, which was formed 11/2005, submitted reports to the City Commissioners. In August 2007, (yes nearly 2 years later) the Planning Commission worked on what would be submitted to the City Commission. Here are some notes regarding that meeting:

Zoning ordinances are a challenge because it applies to the entire city, which includes neighborhoods that are vastly different from each other in character. That is why the minority report used a contextual based approach, so that scale relates to the surrounding buildings. But the difficulties in applying that approach is that it’s a lot of work for the city to administer, it’s extra work for the property owner to get height surveys of the surrounding properties and residents feel that they have the right to have a two-story house.

It was made clear in the planning commission meeting that the majority report recommendations would have allowed even taller homes (up to 42 feet was the City's estimation). They also tested the minority report recommendation by using an existing (anonymous) street in Oakhurst to see what could be built. The resulting house could be 29 feet tall.