[MissoulaGov] Missoula gov PAZ 8/19/09

[Stacy Rye]

Greetings all,

In the latest edition of PAZ, we granted a six month extension to the
Chickasaw subdivision so the developer and OPG can work out remaining
language regarding the condition of the subdivision and the developer(s)
realizes the market has totally gone off a cliff so this is ok with them.

We set a public hearing for Clark Fork Terrace #1 subdivision.  We went
over some of the pre public hearing items such as trail connections that
are a little sensitive since the developer is suing the city over Clark
Fork Terrace #2 which was approved a few years ago.

We took up the resolution to approve the Downtown Master Plan.  This was a
love fest for the most part.  The downtown folks brought some amendments
to the plan in light of the public comment we had received.  Things like
the Southside density should be at or higher than what its already zoned,
and that Broadway should be very thoughtfully designed when and if it
should ever need to go back to four lanes.

Nick Kaufman from WGM said he really wanted to thank all those involved
and that he and the Champion Mill Site folks might have a teensy heart
tick about the language that said future zoning changes to the Mill Site
zoning district would be considered in context of the Downtown Master
Plan.   Nick then thanked everyone for their work.  Matt Ellis and Ellen
Buchanan responded, that among other things, if tax credits could be spent
down at the Mill Site, some higher authority would most likely want to see
it be part of something like the Downtown Master Plan.  The committee
asked Nick a few questions trying to get a better idea of what he wanted. 
Nick thanked everyone and said perhaps he and other folks just needed to
talk a bit more before Monday night to better understand each other.  He
then thanked everyone.

We passed the downtown plan unanimously and it will go on the consent
agenda.  Everyone clapped.

We moved on to the zoning re-write.  I almost wrote zombie rewrite there. 
We only got into one issue, windmills.  Planning board took out the
windmill section because no one really has the expertise to write anything
technical about them.  Pam made a motion to put them back in the re-write.
 The proposed regs say things like how tall they can be, how much sound is
allowable, etc. and she specified they could only go in Heavy Industrial
zones only (where coal fired plants are allowed automatically, by the
way).  We had a very amiable discussion for a while about why or why not
they should be allowed.  Good points on both sides.  We talked about
whether the city gets enough wind to make them worth it unlike, say,
Livingston where people might not stand upright if the wind didn’t blow. 
The committee was informed that on Tuesday, news was released that the
arctic sea bed near Norway is leaking methane gas into the atmosphere
which is very, very bad and that it didn’t really matter what we did with
this amendment because we’re all doomed anyway.

The amendment failed, 3-8 with Pam, Ed and me voting for it and everyone
else not so much.  We all adjourned with everyone in good spirits.  We
were out of time and I decided to defer all contentious issues until Bob
gets back.

Stacy


Stacy Rye
(406) 543-9784