title
JULY 22, 1987
body
A meeting was held July 22, 1987 at 12:00 p.m. with members of the MAPC and various City officials attending. Those in attendance were Lloyd McCracken, John Sloan, Ben Lamberth, Mayor Brodell, Joe Tomlinson and Jeff Gibson. The discussion evolved around what the MAPC is doing as far as planning is concerned and what the ordinances state the duties of the MAPC are. In recent meetings of the MAPC there has been much discussion on issues of annexations, rezoning, etc that the commissioners are undivided about whether or not they come under their powers. The commission is seeking some directives on how to proceed on these matters. One suggestion was to revamp the annexation committee that once existed especially with the 1990 census coming up. At one time a City Planning Commission existed but has been abolished. It was felt by some that the powers of the City Planning Commission, at the time it was abolished, were transferred to the MAPC.
A request was made that the ordinances establishing the MAPC, abolishing the City Planning Commission and any amendments to those ordinances regarding the duties responsibilities and the jurisdiction of the MAPC be found to provide some possible answers to many unanswered questions. Some members of the commission feel that the ordinance that established the MAPC has nothing to do with what the commission is doing now. There are many differing interpretations of the City Ordinances as a result of the way they are written and the dates on which they were written. At the present, requests have been sent to other cities in the state for information on their zoning and annexation ordinances. All in attendance were in agreement to the fact that the City Ordinances need to be updated and some deleted to meet the needs of the City which has experienced rapid growth in recent years and to provide direction for future planning. The League of Women voters undertook part of this task in 1986. The task would be to research the ordinances and eliminate ordinances that have been repealed, make the changes according to what the City Council has approved through the years and to add the amendments to the ordinances that have also been approved. While this will be a great help to all who deal with the ordinances on a regular basis, the need for actually rewriting and deleting was the consensus of all in attendance. The MAPC stated that they would be making recommendations for updating particular ordinances as they come before the commission. It was pointed out that some alderman have suggested that on annexations that everything be brought in as R-2 and then they would have to come before the appropriate bodies seeking rezoning, replats, etc. It was further noted that much more thought and research would have to go this before implementation.
A further need discussed was finding a way to help solve some of the problems caused by the requests and stipulations that have been made in reference to streets, drainage, fire protection, etc., Fire protection if not handled properly could result in loss of the City’s Class IV fire rating or possible spot ratings. Many requirements placed on annexations have caused financial hardships that could be possibly eliminated if the costs were spread out over a period of time. If the financial hardships are not eased the City’s growth could be stunted. Possible solutions to this problem would be to seek a member of the CW & L board to work with the City on this and devise some long range financing.
Another area of discussion was the lack of regulations on projects in the County. The MAPC stated that they would enforce the regulations but as of now there none to enforce. It was suggested that officials from the County and City get together and work to establish some regulations governing projects outside the City. Another suggestion was to start an improvement district in the County from which funds could be used to meet the requirements and stipulations placed on various projects.