Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Bellevue OKs restrictions on box store developments

City moratorium ends Oct. 20


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

The Bellevue City Council has implemented several changes to the city's zoning ordinance that will place restrictions on all new large-scale commercial developments.

Proponents of the new rules, approved at a Bellevue City Council meeting Thursday, Sept. 29, say they will ensure that future large-scale developments are of a size, character and quality that preserves and enhances the city's character.

Under the new rules, developers of buildings in excess of 15,000 square feet must apply for a special conditional use permit prior to construction. To receive the permit, developers will be required to pay for studies that look at the potential economic and traffic impacts of the proposed building.

The new rules also limit the maximum size of a building's gross area footprint to 18,000 square feet and the maximum gross floor area of two-story buildings to 36,000 square feet.

Thursday's meeting drew a number of Wood River Valley residents, most of whom said the size restrictions are too restrictive.

Nate Norris, of Bellevue, observed that a number of commercial buildings in Wood River Valley communities could not have been built under Bellevue's new maximum size restrictions.

Norris said that restricting the size of commercial buildings in Bellevue may negatively impact the recruitment of good-paying jobs to the city.

"I think this doesn't allow us to do this (bring in new jobs)," he said.

Hailey resident and businessman Mike Turzian, the owner of Sun Valley Garden Center in Bellevue and Ketchum, said restricting the size of ground-floor retail and pushing for more second-floor retail areas will be bad for business in Bellevue.

"There is no successful second-floor retail in this valley," he said. "There's a limit of affordability."

Rather than what the City Council ultimately approved, Turzian said a 36,000-square-foot maximum gross area footprint would better serve the Bellevue community.

"And then make them jump through all the hoops," he said, referring to the studies required for large-scale developments.

While approving the new rules, council members also stated a desire to revisit the issue soon and likely increase the maximum size restrictions on the footprint and floor area of new buildings. The council members decided to immediately approve the size restrictions, despite their reservations, so as to have an ordinance in place once a six-month building moratorium in Bellevue expires on Oct. 20.

The moratorium was put in place after home-hardware giant Home Depot expressed interest in building a store in Bellevue.

City Council member Jon Wilkes said the ordinance's size restrictions should be increased as soon as possible.

"I think it is a little too small and I think we can add to it," he said.

Still, Wilkes said restricting the size of large-scale development is good for the welfare of the Bellevue community. "We're not here to aid the developers, we're here to aid the town," he said.

City Council member Shaun Mahoney, although voting to approve the new rules as written, said he wanted to make sure that the city isn't shooting itself in the foot in terms of attracting new businesses.

"I'm pro-business. Restricting business is not in my agenda," Mahoney said.

He said the Bellevue City Council will revisit the rules in the near future to look at revising the size restrictions.

"It is a work in progress," Mahoney said. "It will be adjusted."




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