Zoning Board denies request
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
An attempt to rezone 20 more acres for Industrial Park III got a thumbs-down from the Emporia-Lyon County Metropolitan Area Planning Commission on Tuesday by a 4-3 vote.
The proposal would have rezoned the land industrial, letting Emporia Enterprises set it aside for a future company. It’s just east of another 20-acre lot at 1800 E. Logan Ave. that was zoned the same way in July.
The Emporia City Commission could still override the vote and approve the zoning, but would need at least a 4-1 majority to do so.
Neighbors in the area told commissioners they were concerned about having industrial land so close to a residential area. Emporia Enterprises had hoped to add the land to Industrial Park III, an area that already includes Lenze, Menu Foods, Camoplast and Norfolk Iron & Metal.
Emporia Enterprises does have other industrial land available west of town in the unoccupied Industrial Park IV. But that area still requires a lot of infrastructure work. Emporia Enterprises has preferred to add on to Industrial Park III, since the area has its roads and utilities in place and is considered “shovel-ready” — that is, at a stage where a developer could start building right away.
The motion for rezoning included the same conditions that had been attached to the other lot in July. Emporia Enterprises would have to work with city staff to get a professional designer and develop a plan for landscaping the ground, including some buffers to separate the industrial ground from its residential neighbors.
But at least one planning commissioner, Raymond Rogers, said he didn’t think a condition could be placed on a rezoning. He voted against the application for that reason.
Planning commissioners Kenton Thomas, Gilbert Stefan and Christopher Rech also voted against the rezoning. Rech said during the meeting that he didn’t feel it was good zoning practice, while Stefan said there didn’t seem to be an adequate buffer for the property.
Planning commissioners Pete Euler, Marjorie Werly and Creig Agler voted for the rezoning.
The commission did vote unanimously to recommend annexing the land into the city. The annexation requires a majority vote by the city commission.