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TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10TH BELOIT ZONING AND PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING

 

Beloit Zoning and Planning Commission

Tuesday, February tenth, two thousand fifteen

By Terry Bailey

 

The Beloit Zoning and Planning Commission met Tuesday evening, February tenth for the final consideration of whether or not to approve the Comprehensive Plan. This was to be the final meeting of the Commission culminating several months of attempting to construct a plan for the long range growth of the City of Beloit.

The Zoning Commission is composed of five members: Kathy Roberts, Andrew Grabon, Greg Drum, Nick Richmond, and the Chairperson, Cheryl Renter. At Tuesday night’s meeting they were joined in the City Council meeting room with a very crowded, standing-room-only gathering of well over sixty people. At past meetings similar crowds have been present to voice their opinion regarding the Comprehensive Plan.

Objections were not necessarily voiced about the Comprehensive Plan. The objections at past meetings and, once again at this meeting, was the three mile zoning clause in the Comprehensive Plan.

What everyone witnessed at the Commission meeting Tuesday night was true democracy in its most pure form – the town hall meeting. Democracy has its roots in the ancient Greek’s open meetings at which anyone could voice their opinion and could be heard. This did not guarantee then, nor now, that we will get our way, but instead that everybody in the community counts, regardless of economic status, position in society or where we came from or where we are going. The meeting Tuesday night was a demonstration of those beliefs in action.

Chairperson Cheryl Renter gaveled the meeting to order at seven oh four p.m. and announced that the public hearing for the Comprehensive Plan was office officially opened. She asked if anyone cared to comment. The answer was a resounding “Yes.”

Carl Eilert was the first person to move to the microphone. Eilert is a farmer and lives with the three mile zoning area that is under consideration. He posed seven questions to the Commission regarding language in the plan that is unclear or not poorly explained.

The next member of the audience to speak was Aaron Popelka, an attorney with the Kansas Livestock Association. He said he was there on behalf of the members of the Association that lived within the three mile area. He pointed out several areas in the Comprehensive Plan that deal with the three mile zoning that were non-specific and with intent that was difficult to determine. He asked that the Commission delay a decision for thirty days because the Plan was not available to the public until this past Thursday. The ideal solution to the problem, said Popelka, was to remove all references to the three mile plan in the Comprehensive Plan.

Rebecca Crumbaker thanked the Commission for their hard work with a difficult task. She understood that the Commission had been presented a plan by the “experts” and it was not a document of their creation.

Crumbaker once again offered common sense logic to the problem. She reminded the Commission that people do not stay in Beloit nor move to Beloit because of the shopping opportunities or the four star restaurants or the cutting edge night life activities. She said, “People are here because of the simplicity of our way life where we are not burdened with an overabundance of rules and where people are not overregulated.” She urged the Commission to raise up our way of life and to value and care for what it is that makes us unique. She encouraged the Commission to delete anything in the Comprehensive Plan that had to do with the three mile zoning.

Dave Porter told the Commission that the Comprehensive Plan was to be available on the City’s website last June and it wasn’t. He was told a copy would the available in September and it wasn’t. According to Porter this pattern has held true in October, December, and January. To the best of his knowledge it is still not available. He told the Commission that it is hard to consider a document that has not been available.

City Administrator Glenn Rodden said that the document had been available on the City website since this past Thursday. City Clerk Mandy Lomax kindly listed the steps necessary to access the document. A person unfamiliar with the website would find it somewhat difficult to find.

Dennis Mihm, local farmer and president of the Mitchell County Farm Bureau, distributed a memorandum explaining the position of the Farm Bureau on the Comprehensive Plan. He also noted that by making the Plan available only three business days before the Zoning Commission meeting, this left virtually no time for consideration of the issues.

Next was Tom Claussen resident of Mitchell County and the First District Commissioner for the Mitchell County Commissioners. He said the plan was most likely a good one but he had just received a copy. Claussen emphatically stated that by law, the County Commissioners have the right to zone in the rural areas of the County. Should the City attempt of Zone county lands, the County would pass its own zoning ordinances which would trump the City’s.

Leeanne Litton was the last person to address the Commission. She said that her family moved back to Beloit and hoped to stay here many years. They looked forward to the lifestyle of the area. She asked the Commission to proceed carefully and in a way that would not endanger our way of life.

At that point Commission member Andrew Grabon said, “I move that we NOT recommend the plan as it is currently written.” The motion was seconded by Greg Drum. The motion was approved by a four to zero vote.

The Zoning Commission will meet on March twenty-fourth to consider input received from the public and to discuss possible ways to proceed.

 

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA