HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity/County Planning Board Minutes 12.05.2013 MINUTES
LAUREL CITY - COUNTY PLANNING BOARD
December 5, 2013 6:00 pm
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
MEMBERS PRESENT: Kathy Siegrist, Chairman
Dan Koch, City Rep.
Dick Fritzler, County Rep.
Judy Goldsby, County Rep.
Lee Richardson, County Rep.
John VanAken, County Rep.
Shirley McDermott, City Rep.
OTHERS PRESENT: Monica Plecker, City Planner
Gary Colley, Building Official
CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Kathy Siegrist called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.
ROLL CALL: A roll call was taken. Members present were Koch, Fritzler, Goldsby, Richardson,
McDermott, VanAken, and Siegrist.
PUBLIC INPUT:
Citizens may address the Board regarding any item of City business not on the agenda. The duration for
an individual speaking under Public Input is limited to three minutes. While all comments are welcome,
the Board will not take action on any item not on the agenda.
There was no public present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING: A motion was made by Judy Goldsby and
seconded by Dan Koch to approve the minutes of the November 7, 2013 meeting. The motion carried
by a vote of 6 — 0.
NEW BUSINESS: Discussion on L.M.C. 17.48.050 Fence Heights and L.M.C. 17.40.050 Parking
Monica stated that the discussion will only be on Fence Heights. She and Building Official Gary Colley
felt that the parking space sizes in Laurel's code appeared to contradict itself with the wording "parking
spaces need to be at least 9 feet wide but are encouraged to be 10 feet wide" but concluded that the
wording in L.M.C. is the same that is used in the City of Billings so most of the Engineers and Contractors
that do work in Laurel come out of Billings and are used to working with the code and there is no need
to change it.
The L.M.C. 17.48.050 on fence heights was put on the agenda because of the recent review of a fence
variance request from the Zimmerman's on their corner lot located at 802 1 Avenue. The Planning
Board had quite a lengthy discussion on the variance request as did the City Council upon their review of
the variance. The City Council asked that this issue be brought back to the Planning Board for more
discussion on some of the obvious issues where fence code changes should be considered.
1
Monica asked the Board to have a brief discussion on some things that the Board sees as being obvious
after which staff will do further review and the Planning Board will hold a public hearing on.
Monica stated that the fence code as it is written now is confusing and needs to state issues in more
simplified and concise terms. The drawings that are attached to the fence codes are vague and need to
be more defined and updated to show some clear vision and some better diagrams.
Monica states that by L.M.C. definition a fence is "a barrier of posts connected by boards, rails, panels or
wire constructed for purposes of enclosing space, for separating parcels of land or for landscaping and
including masonry walls, ornamental structures, privacy screens and shrubs ". It is not a structure and
yet in the past staff has required that fences follow the same setback as a structure would.
Monica stated that she and Gary have looked at the fence codes from Billings and Missoula and they
treat fences differently from structures and their codes make some exceptions for fences on corner Tots.
Because of the way L.M.C. is written residents that live on corner lots lose much of their useable space
because there are no exceptions made.
Clear vision for safety reasons will be reviewed as well as specific fencing materials that can or cannot be
used and how to allow fence placement when garages are set in front of the house.
Monica stated that she and Gary have come up with some ideas on what types of exceptions for fences
need to be considered and how to better clarify that by changing the wording of the L.M.C. This
includes which zones barbed wire fences should be allowed in and at what height. Another issue to
consider in regards to barbed wire fencing is how to allow it in areas where security needs to be used
such as down at Riverside Park at the shooting range.
The Board agrees that barbed wire should be allowed in industrial and some commercial zones where
security is an issue but not in the residential zones where it could become a liability.
Monica reminded the board that Laurel zoning goes outside the city limits one mile and L.M.C. allows
horses, goats, cows and fowl in the more rural zones. Those areas need to be considered for the
possibility of using barbed wire fences to control their animals.
Dan Koch asked whether or not a free standing privacy fence is considered a fence?
Monica stated that kind of fence does fall under the definition of a fence.
Gary Colley stated that the L.M.C. fence codes were written to use setback regulations and not property
lines because not all the houses are going to be facing the front street, some houses on the corners are
built facing the side street. The code was written to keep continuity of the fences. Unfortunately that
gives less consideration to the houses built on corners that face a different direction.
Monica stated she will have staff look at the L.M.C. 17.48.050 and come up with more specific wording
on the codes and bring it back to the board again for fine tuning.
Gary stated that the clear vision zone needs to be kept intact in the code for safety reasons.
2
Monica will bring a draft of 17.48.050 to the January 9, 2014 meeting for the board's review after which
a public hearing will be advertised for February 6, 2014.
Old Business:
a. The Growth Management was passed by the City Council.
b. The Community Hope variance was approved by the City Council with 4 additional conditions
that were put on by the City Council.
In 1994 Community Hope went through a Special Review to be allowed in a residential zone at
204 Cedar Avenue. At that time there were many conditions placed on the application that
were never done by Community Hope. The City Council decided during their review of the new
variance for an additional shed that the conditions previously not done are important because
of placing a non - conforming use within a residential zone. The conditions have to do with
fencing and landscaping and they have to be met prior to the building permit for the shed being
issued. The variance for Community Hope is good for 3 years.
Miscellaneous:
The next meeting will be January 9, 2014.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryll Lund, Secretary
3