DUPLEXES REVISITED
Lack of housing inspires revisit of duplex ordinance.
Councilor Fred Waidely opened a discussion on the status of the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Board at Wednesday’s March 3rd City Council Meeting.
The subject was started in February by complaints regarding Salmon’s lack of housing. The suggestion was made that perhaps the Bar Hill’s ban on duplex housing should be reevaluated which led to a possible need for changes to the city’s Development Code which in turn wound up on the P&Z doorstep.
Waidely said he hasn’t found anyone who knows who the P&Z commission members are, there is no City P &Z Administrator and as a result the council doesn’t know what questions to ask. He said the council hasn’t been paying attention to P&Z and the end result is total confusion. Waidely said there needs to be a P&Z Administrator and that is a very involved job which demands a lot of qualifications. He said, “We’re in trouble here folks with Planning and Zoning. We’re dead in the water.” He said the situation needs to be fixed right now.
In the recent past the city has paid the county $18,000 a year for P&Z administrative services. First, P&Z Administrator Gary Goodman retired and Teresa Morton was named as his replacement. Then Morton resigned to take on another county job leaving the administrator’s post vacant.
City Administrator Emery Penner agreed with Waidely’s assessment and said he and City Clerk Mary Benton have been working the problem, transferring everything back to the city, and the process has been going very well. He said there are some code changes already in the works which Morton will see through, so now would be a good time to review any other code changes.
He foresees that putting the $18,000 back in the city’s budget would allow the city to hire someone for P&Z administration in the future, but for now everything is manageable.
He asked the council to give him some ideas to take to a P&Z meeting scheduled for next week. He asked for specifics as to what the council wants the P&Z to do or to change so the process of a public hearing can be initiated.
Councilor Robin Phillips said the focus is; there is no available housing, which points to no multiple housing units on the Bar Hill.
Waidely said there are several things that could be done and that there is a chapter on each option in the current Salmon Development Code. He said it will take time to study and that perhaps the council should hold a special City Council meeting to examine and discuss the options and then hold a public hearing. Councilor Jim Baker said they need to determine who is on the P&Z Board and exactly what legal process to follow.
As far as what action to take that evening City Attorney Fred Snook defined the ‘action item’ on the evening’s agenda as a request for the P&Z Board to look into adding certain types of multiple family dwellings as a ‘permitted use’ to the Development Code. He said that would start the ball rolling and P&Z could then decide what action to take and what process to follow.
Councilor Phillips made a motion to formally ask the P&Z to look into adding certain types of multiple family dwellings as a permitted use in the LDR zone. Her motion passed unanimously.