Village of Mead Planning Commission MinutesApril 25, 2005 |
| Meeting was called to order at 7:35 by acting Chair
Pat Hannan. The minutes of March 28, 2005 regular meeting were
reviewed and stand approved with no corrections.
Members present: Billie Shook, Chris Kavan, Leroy Nelson, Connie Schliefke, and Pat Hannan Absent: Jodi Weible, Richard Wielage, and Melissa Konecky No guests. Permit requests: Robert Mulhair for a fence at 604 S. Elm Street, Mead. Mr. Mulhair would like to erect a pvc fence on the west and north side of his property. Currently a fence is already in place on the east and south sides. The permit did not detail the height of the fence and Mr. Mulhair was called. The village ordinance requires a 20 foot set back for fences to allow a vision triangle on corner lots. Additionally, the fence height requirements were reviewed over the phone and a copy of the fence ordinance was copied and left with the permit for Mr. Mulhair to pick up when he paid his permit fee with the village clerk. Approval of the permit was recommended by Billie Shook and 2nd by Chris Kavan providing that the fence meet all the requirements as outlined in the village ordinance. Roll call vote: all yeahs. Reissue of building permits that have extended beyond the 1 year completion requirement was recommended by Connie and 2nd by Leroy provided that each of identified permits were completed as originally presented. The permits include: Scott Moran - garage; Colleen Morrissey & Inez Rodriquez - garage; and Rick Miller - transmitter tower. Roll call vote: all yeahs. Noted that Todd Valley Farms has submitted an Improvement Information Statement to move a shed onto property. This action was recommended by Saunders County Zoning Administrator. New Business: Planning Commission appointments for June 2005 were discussed. There is one volunteer who would like to serve on the commission, Dennis Berry. Billie Shook is not seeking reappointment but stated that she would continue to attend planning commission meeting to insure the proceeding were going well. Additionally, Billie expressed a strong desire for members to rotate off of the planning commission at the expiration of their terms. Pat Hannan explained her tenure on the commission and reasons for wanting to stay on the planning commission. Jodi Weible would also like reappointment to the planning commission. After lengthy discussion, Leroy Nelson made a motion to ask the village board to reappoint the 2 existing members who wish to stay on the planning commission as regular members. These members are Pat Hannan and Jodi Weible. Chris Kavan seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Leroy, Connie and Chris all yeahs; Billie voted no; and Pat abstained. Connie made a motion to recommend that Rick move from alternate to regular member. The motion was seconded by Chris. Roll call vote, all yeas. Billie motioned to accept Dennis Berry as an alternate member and Leroy 2nd that motion. Roll call vote: all yeas. The village board will need to put planning commission reappointments on their agenda for their May meeting. Village map: Jodi did speak to JEO about the updated map and by next meeting we should have a status on that project. Added to the agenda: Letter from Dave Konecky concerning permitting a home based business that sells knives within a residential area. Dave referred to the meeting minutes from the March 2005 meeting. Additionally Dave's letter addressed a "stamp of approval" for a parrot business in town. As a matter of correction, we believe that Dave meant a show pigeon cage that was built in the village. While the commission did not look up the exact meeting minutes, it is believed that the planning commission turned down the coup permit and the town board approved it. This is not a matter of fact, however, because the bigger issue is the definition of a home based occupation. Chapter 11, Article 2 addressed home occupation related businesses and according to our current ordinance, a home occupation business can not sell any retail items that are not produced on the property. Further discussion of this wording would make us believe that anyone selling Avon, Tupperware, Home Interiors or doing sales on E-Bay might be in violation of this ordinance as well. This would also include the local beauty shops who may only have family members employed at their home business and may not sell products such as shampoo or hair spray. The planning commission would like to put this item on the agenda for our next meeting to allow time to further research what other communities are regulating for home occupation businesses and to clarify and update our ordinances on home occupation. We would like to ask Nate Mongan, our village chair, to explore his contacts to help us develop a better home based business ordinance. There being no further business, Billie motioned for adjournment and it was 2nd by Leroy - all yeas.
Respectfully submitted, Pat Hannan |