Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Sun Valley extends commercial moratorium

City adds amendment to allow for limited growth


By TREVOR SCHUBERT
Express Staff Writer

The Sun Valley City Council approved extending the city's interim moratorium on commercial development Tuesday, Dec. 5, by a unanimous vote.

The extension allows additional time to amend the city's 2005 comprehensive plan and design regulations. Amendments to the moratorium, however, allow for certain development to occur before the city adopts a final master plan.

The interim moratorium ordinance was initially adopted to halt subdivision or other land-use permits within Sun Valley's commercial district to allow time for the city to finalize building ordinances consistent with amended 2005 comprehensive plan update requirements.

The new ordinance approved by the City Council on Tuesday is drafted with the intention of allowing certain development to occur in the Commercial Center zoning district prior to the official approval of a master plan.

The City Council believes it is in the best interest of the city to change certain goals of the comprehensive plan update to allow greater flexibility in commercial development and to ensure mass and scale, and new planned unit development regulations are in accord, the ordinance states.

The amendment to the moratorium will not affect the proposed development of the Sunshine Parcel in Elkhorn.

"The proposal is already in the process" of evaluation, said Councilman Blair Boand.

The interim moratorium was initially adopted on May 24, 2006, and will remain in place until May 24, 2007, the maximum length of time allowed by Idaho Code. The current extension has been amended to avoid a stagnant growth period while the planned unit development ordinance and mass and scale regulations are finalized and in accordance with the comprehensive plan update.

The original halt to development began in January 2006 with the council's approval of a 182-day emergency moratorium in the commercial centers to allow for a revision of the city's development code. In May, the council repealed the emergency moratorium and enacted an interim moratorium.

This is the second extension of that interim moratorium. The first approved a 45-day extension in late September.

Initially, the city hired an outside consulting firm to assist in the draft and resolution of definitive criteria in relation to mass, scale, setbacks, and height in the commercial districts.

In late October, the City Council rejected a proposed mass and scale ordinance and planned unit development ordinance from the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The proposal was denied because the council desired regulations that were more limited in scope.

In addition, city officials requested a plan that provides developers more flexibility in the development process and "provides for better development incentives," according to the ordinance.




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