[MissoulaGov] Committee update 7-22-09

[Ethel MacDonald]

Anybody else confused about this one? -- Sounds like the vote was the same
on all three, but only two reappointed?  Thanks for clearing this up --

"Our last item was to confirm the Mayor’s reappointments to the board of
adjustment. There were no new applicants so he reappointed Lee Clemmensen,
Joe Easton, and Jeff Ralston-Clemmer.  Things got ugly when it became
apparent that Lee was not going to get the support of a majority of the
committee. All three votes were 7-5 with Joe and Jeff being reappointed.
We’ll get to fight about this again on the floor on Monday."


On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 11:20 PM, Bob Jaffe <BJaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us>wrote:


>  Greetings,

>

> This morning we started with Conservation and the Green House Gas and

> Energy Conservation Team. We approved a policy statement regarding forestry

> practices. Here is the link to the document. It was amended some in

> committee beyond what is on this link but just to clean up the language:

> http://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1844

>

>

>

> We also discussed the various goals of the committee. They have a number of

> projects they are working on including a cash for bus commuters program they

> are hoping to launch this year. The city pays for all of our employees to

> have bus passes. The program hopes to increase ridership by offering city

> employees a dollar for every bus ride they take during the three month

> period that the program runs. This is expected to cost $6500. The hope is

> that during the time of the extra incentive, more folks will discover that

> commuting by bus is cool. I offer my employees a dollar a day for not

> driving. It’s a nice little perk and it saves on our limited parking.

>

>

>

> In PAZ we picked up where we left off on Home Occupations. We made a number

> of adjustments which for the most part made the ordinance less restrictive.

> Everyone is for supporting small business so most of these votes were

> unanimous or close to it. We got rid of the restriction on hazardous

> materials since that rules out any businesses that have to do with

> landscaping, woodworking, photography, and lots of other stuff. These things

> are already regulated by the health department and other entities.  We also

> scratched the prohibition on machinery not normally found in the home. We

> already have a noise ordinance. If it doesn’t violate the noise ordinance

> who cares what kind of machines you are running. We spent a lot of time

> talking about how many people you could have on site. The draft called for

> one non-resident employee and up to two customers. We changed it to say

> three non-resident people regardless of if they are employees or customers

> with the exception of twice per month. So the pampered chef lady can have a

> big crowd over twice a month and still comply.

>

> We also spent some time talking about parking and the storage of vehicles.

> Everyone knows of a landscaping business with a bunch of pickups and

> trailers parked out in the street.  There was some interest in regulating

> this but Nugent pointed out that registered vehicles and trailers could park

> wherever they want as long as they don’t exceed the weight limit (8000 lbs)

> and move every 120 hours. There is also a state law prohibiting us from

> regulating what people do with vehicles on private property.

>

>

>

> Next was neighborhood character overlays. This allows people to create

> their very own zoning district to meet the desires of their immediate

> neighborhood. It applies to a minimum of five acres, or about two standard

> city blocks. There is of course some risk that we will end up with a

> different zoning district every two blocks but we were OK with that. The

> only change we made was to remove the requirement that it could only be used

> in areas that had a neighborhood plan or were part of an historic district.

> Residents will still need to go through a rezoning process which costs about

> $4000 and is subject to protest.

>

>

>

>  After that we did temporary uses.  We made a few changes here. The draft

> allowed for a temporary use to go on for ten days. You had to wait thirty

> days to do it again. We changed it so you can only do that four times in a

> year. In commercial and industrial districts a special use could be for 90

> days per year. This matches the current rule and covers things like the tree

> sales in the Rosaurs parking lot or the velvet Elvis’s, sunglasses, and

> chainsaw bears out on Reserve.

>

>

>

> We were out of time to get into lot line houses so we talked about the

> schedule for a few minutes. Still no one likes Tuesdays. Our normal 10-12

> slot is taken next week by the quarterly meeting with the commissioners. But

> we will fit PAZ in at some point on Wednesday. The topic will be signs. The

> time will be worked out and posted on Friday when we get referrals

> finalized.

>

>

>

> Our last item was to confirm the Mayor’s reappointments to the board of

> adjustment. There were no new applicants so he reappointed Lee Clemmensen,

> Joe Easton, and Jeff Ralston-Clemmer.  Things got ugly when it became

> apparent that Lee was not going to get the support of a majority of the

> committee. All three votes were 7-5 with Joe and Jeff being reappointed.

> We’ll get to fight about this again on the floor on Monday.

>

>

>

> Thanks for your interest,

>

>

>

> Bob Jaffe

>

> Missoula City Council, Ward 3

>

> 1225 South 2nd West

>

> Missoula, MT 59801

>

> (406) 728-1052

>

>

>

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-- 
"Apathy is a vice."  Oscar Wilde
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