Minutes-09/06/2006

t Tiffin Planning and Zoning Commission September 6, 2006 A regular meeting of the Tiffin Planning and Zoning Commission was brought to order by Melvin.Reeve; 6: 30 p. m. at the Tiffin City Hall. Members present: Melvin Reeve,; Stephanie Surine, Shawna Colvin and Terry Richardson. Absent: Steve Berner. Also present: . Mayor Glenn R. Potter, Karin Dils, Ruth Demuth and Mark Petersen. Motion Surine, second Richardson to approve minutes with correction noted. Ayes: Surine, Richardson, Reeve and Colvin. Absent: Berner. Motion carried: Colvin has received comment on the proposed location for Forevergreen across the top of the city. Colvin asked if the location was as shown or if adjustment in the routing could be made later. Some concern that the westerly end of proposed Forevergreen was further j south than might be- desired. Dils explained that the route location could be changed later. One reason the city has proceeded with a preliminary plan for locating the Forevergreen extension is that getting the route on the niap makes it possible for the route to be placed on county planning maps and eligible for any type of area- wide grant possibilities that might' come up in the future. One main concern today is improvement of Forevergreen in the region of I- 380 because of new school transportation routes. Locating a school on the east side of I- 380 as proposed by the school will increase the need for improvement of routes returning to Tiffin on the west side of I- 380. Shawna reported that the roadway directly in front of the new proposed elementary in North Liberty will be improved by the City of North Liberty, however the remainder of f" the road to the location is at this time unplanned for improvements. Members considered the idea of allowing duplexes on corner lots of R- 1 single family zones. The developer has requested the city to consider a change that would allow this possibility. Colvin said she would prefer to see duplexes on corner lots as compared to seeing a row of duplexes going down the street that are ugly and all the same. Members considered that single family owners may not be' aware that a duplex could be in a corner lot when they are in a single- family district and be angry to find that later. Another concern that if duplexes were allowed on corners, every corner would then turn into a duplex because of economics, thus causing some concern for devaluation in a single- R family zone. Another problem may be in infrastructure placement. Sewer lines may only include one hook up when two could be needed later. This could cause problems if people try to circumvent utility lines already in place. If lines are owned conjointly then- arguments at the time of repairs could be a problem. The idea would cause more variances, a meeting for each' variance, more paperwork and more public hearings with the opportunity that the public would not find out until too late that their areas is affected 4 by this change, resulting in angry public. Motion Surien, second Richarson to not recommend a change in the subdivision ordinance for the purpose of making it possible to include duplexes on corner lots of an R- 1 zone, due to an increase in infrastructure, paper work and neighbor confusion. This kind of change could cause hook up problems for_utilities, increase paper load effort for the city, and cause angry citizens. Ayes: Surine, Richardson, and Reeve. Nay: Colvin. 1