Minutes-04-04-2023-Business Meeting

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41 John Roberts said that Vice-Chair McKee was correct, they could not consider a specific business or owner. Commissioner Hamilton said she wanted to understand the 20 acre issue. Cy Stober said there are three commercial zones but the two that are present are local commercial and neighborhood commercial. He said general commercial would be inappropriate due to the types of uses. Commissioner Hamilton said ten acres of local and ten acres of neighborhood are permitted in the plan. She asked if there is currently land zoned that way. Cy Stober said yes. He said in 2008 when it was approved that acre threshold applied to the use and not to the total property acreage. He said it has now been interpreted to include the entire property and this is a change in interpretation. Commissioner Hamilton said even if you add the proposed acreage, it will be over twenty. Cy Stober said no, that they are under twenty currently. Commissioner Hamilton said there could be other properties that could be zoned that way. Cy Stober referred to the map on slide #19 and said yes that those would apply to the properties shown. Commissioner Hamilton said the point the Planning Board is making is that given that potentially there is less than 20 acres zoned that way, others could be. She said with the addition of the conditional zoning, it would be twenty-four acres or even more if more conditional zoning applications are approved. Cy Stober said that was correct as currently written but could be amended. Commissioner Richards said this is hypothetical. Commissioner Hamilton said it is not hypothetical, under current regulations, it could be more than twenty acres. Commissioner Richards said that would be considered at the time and the Board would have to say that it was over twenty acres. Commissioner Hamilton said it is not clear they would have the limit to deny it for that reason. John Roberts asked for clarification, if Commissioner Hamilton was asking about a potential future denial. Commissioner Hamilton said it is her position that they would have difficulty denying it based on the acreage. Commissioner Greene said she understood where Commissioner Hamilton was coming from and what the Planning Board was getting at. She said she believes it is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and land use goal#3. She read from the plan and discussed the intention of reducing traffic. She said she felt this was consistent with a strip development and is not walkable and not consistent with walkable developments and away from sprawl. Commissioner Fowler said she appreciated the work done by the applicant and Planning staff. She said that after careful consideration, she plans to decline because she feels it does not carry out the interest and purpose of the Comprehensive Plan and does not seem to be necessary for public health, safety, and welfare and actually has the opposite effect. Vice-Chair McKee said he understood Commissioner Greene and Commissioner Fowler's comments but he does not agree with them. He said the area is not walkable, and will not be walkable in the foreseeable future. He said it is a not an issue they should be looking at. He said waiting for something better to come along speaks to the proposed user. He said the proposed user has a reputation and he agrees with some of the criticisms. He said some Dollar Generals are not well-managed. He said that some are nicer than Walmart. He said he cannot agree with the limitation on acreage. He said they should ask if it is consistent with the area. He said there are no homes within the sight-line. He said there are designated areas along 185 and 140 for major development. He said he was supportive of the proposal.