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PC Minutes 07-02-2024City of Van Buren, Arkansas Planning Department 1003 Broadway •Van Buren, Arkansas 72956 PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES July 02, 2024 1. Call To Order &Roll Call. The Van Buren Planning Commission held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 02, 2024, at 5:30 P.M. The meeting was held at the Van Buren Municipal Complex in the City Council Chambers. The following Commissioners were present: Chairman Mark Evans, Vice -Chairman Philip Bagby, Jason Myers, Mason Shirey, Tiffany Webster, Jay White, and Nathan Wilson. Commissioners Jared Clark and Missy Hefner were absent. City Staff present were Planning Director Wally Bailey, City Inspector David Martin, Commission Secretary 7erurifer Willoughby,. VBMU Director Steve Dufresne and VBMU Operations Superintendent Chris Coombes. 2. Approval Of Minutes From May 07, 2024. A motion to approve was made by Commissioner Jason Myers and seconded by Commissioner Nathan Wilson. The motion was approved unanimously. 3. Rea's Addition Block E Lots 13A & 15A and Block 21A & 22A—Preliminary Plat Review —Anderson SurveyingBruce and Emily Holwick. The applicant postponed this agenda item before the meeting. 4. Planning Jurisdiction Discussion —Land Use Regulations (Zoning). Recently, residents fiom the Park Ridge subdivision spoke to the City Council about problems with certain land uses next to their residences. The land uses are on properly that is not within the city limits. The residents asked the City Council to consider implementing land use regulations or zoning regulations in the planning jurisdiction of the CiTy. The Council forwarded this discussion to the Planning Commission. Dm�ing this discussion, Planning Director Wally Bailey provided the following information to the Commission: The implementation of zoning regulations in the planning jurisdiction is a permitted process in Arkansas law. Van Buren meets the qualifications to establish zoning regulations in the planning jurisdicfion. Van Buren has adopted a designated planning jurisdiction that meets the limits established by the Arkansas Code. Van Buren does "not" have a Master Land Use Plan (MLUP) for the complete planning jurisdiction. Per A.C.A. 14-56-416(a) (1) MLUP is required to have a zoning ordinance. Therefore, an MLUP will need to be prepared and adopted by the City 1of3 Council before zoning regulations can be implemented and enforced. Following adoption of the MLUP, the Planning Commission would need to determine how to establish zoning on the properties in the planning jurisdiction, how to manage existing land uses and properties (grandfather), use existing zoning ordinance or create new zoning regulations for the planning jurisdiction. Mr. Bailey also stated that the implementation of the planning jurisdiction and the zoning regulations in the planning jurisdiction do not include all city ordinances. Only those regulations that are found in the zoning regulations. For example, property maintenance, construction inspections, police patrols, etc. are not included in the zoning ordinance and therefore could not be enforced. Zoning regulations would provide some assurance for property owners on the perimeter of the city and property owners in the planning juirisdiction that detrimental land uses would not decrease their property values and quality of life. James Gentry and Susan Moore were present at the meeting to represent the Park Ridge Property Owners Association. Mr. Gentry spoke to the Commission staffing that he does not believe implementing Land Use Regulations in the Planning Jurisdiction is a good fit for this particular issue they are facing but encourages the Commission to still consider doing zoning in the planning jurisdiction. Ms. Moore stated that the Park Ridge POA unanimously voted for them to come discuss the issue with the Commission; she stated that the need to discuss stemmed from a dog bite in the neighborhood. Attorney Genhy Wahlmeier and Larry Breeden were also present for• this agenda item discussion. The Commission stated that at this time they have no desire to continue the discussion on implementing Land Use Regulations (Zoning) in the Planning Jurisdiction Area. 5. Drainage Standards Amendment. A motion to approve recommendation of amendment to City Council was made by Vice -Chairman Philip Bagby and seconded by Commissioner Jason Myers. The motion was approved unanimously. A single word error has been found in the recently adopted drainage standards. The language error was also in the drainage standards that existed before the current standards were approved. Neal Morrison, P.E. made Mr. Bailey aware of this error and suggested we need to amend the drainage standards. The error is in section 2.5 System Discharge. The amendment is to the third sentence as follows: `All reasonable effort should be taken to ensure that storm water discharge velume- rate and velocity will be limited to the predevelopment discharge conditions in the 2, 1Q 50 and 100- year storm events for developments with property boundary areas greater than one (1) acre, including future phases." 6. Discussion About Building Permit, Zoning, and Sidewalk Construction Fees. After discussions last month with the Commission and discussions between staff and Mayor Hurst, it is believed that the best course for amending our building permit fee process is to be consistent with 2 of 3 communities. in our region. For example, using the methodology that Fort Smith, Greenwood, and Bailing have implemented. Connnissioner Jason Myers stated that he still has concerns on how to adjust the fees. The Commission asked for cost information related to the administration of building permits. Nh•. Bailey will continue to gather more information to further this discussion. 7. Pointer Ridge Preliminary Plat Update. Planning Director Wally Bailey reminded everyone that during the April 2, 2024, Planning Commission meeting that this preliminary plat was tabled. Since that time, the applicant has not addressed any of the previous comments or submitted an updated preliminary plat for approval. Vice -Chairman Bagby stated that no action will be taken on this preliminary plat since the applicant has not responded to the Commissions previous requests. 8. Old/New Business. 9. Adjourn. A motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Jason Myers and seconded by Commissioner Nathan Wilson. The motion was approved unanimously. j�//�i�i%/�.�G�Y ,��i.�� �i/�.�.y9.� Mark Evans, Chairman //V �.�.�—�� Wally Bailey, Planning Director 3of3