Downtown lot zoning request must follow "sequence of events"

A variance request that would allow a used ATV business on the corner lot where higbee’s café once stood must follow the appropriate “sequence of events”, said Mayor Paul Brooks last week.

Jason Coder approached the council to present the proposal, explaining that he and his wife, Darlene, now own both the corner lot and the building next door, which was previously Sundance Realty.

The Coders would like to use the empty lot to display used ATVs, adventure bikes and other such vehicles and the building as the base of operations, he said.

Brooks noted that this would fall under used car license regulations and said that, from prior experience, “there is a sequence of events that has to be followed” involving the used car license for this to happen.

Though the information was not immediately to hand as to what this sequence of events would be, council members raised another issue with the proposal.

The property is currently zoned as “general business” and would need to be rezoned as “highway business”.

General business, according to Sundance’s zoning ordinance, is intended to provide “a focal area for the community’s business, government services and cultural activities” and describe attached, multi-story level structures with up to total lot coverage.

“Businesses in this area depend primarily on on-street parking and pedestrian circulation,” it says.

The list of permitted uses includes retail businesses with inside storage only, recreational facilities, public utility offices, government facilities, daycare centers, light commercial and commercial retail, personal service facilities, healthcare facilities, restaurants and bars, hotels and motels, financial institutions and gas stations.

The highway business district meanwhile is intended for businesses and services to service a mobile public and include any use allowed in general business as well as car washes, light manufacturing or industrial, commercial centers, automotive sales and repair, heavy commercial, self-storage and religious, cultural and fraternal institutions.

Council Member Joe Wilson spoke against the idea of an automotive business right in the middle of the downtown block, concerned that approving the request would obligate future councils to approve a business on the lot that goes against the spirit of the zoning code, which is to create a downtown area.

What would happen, he asked, if the Coders sold the business and the next person wanted to install a business that the council did not feel was appropriate in the downtown area? The zoning code could not protect against this happening, as it would already have been changed.

“My issue with that is 20 years down the road,” he said.

Though he misspoke during the meeting in stating that changing the zoning would prevent the lot from being used for the purposes outlined in “general business”, Wilson later clarified his concern is that it would allow for the tone and overall dynamic of the downtown to be altered in the future.

Coder responded that his desire is to do something now to help the community and impact the local economy. Wilson noted that, conversely, zoning is about the growth of the town into the future.

Brooks stated that, by the next meeting, the council will have a plan of what needs to happen available so that it can make informed decisions about the request. He stated later in the meeting that he suspects this issue will be so complex that it will turn out not to be the piece of property for what the Coders want to do.