Zoning changes advancing across Boyle County
Published 4:53 pm Wednesday, November 27, 2019
By BEN KLEPPINGER and BOBBIE CURD
advocate@amnews.com
Governments in Boyle County continue to advance an overhauled zoning ordinance, though that progress is taking a different path with each agency member of Planning & Zoning.
The final proposed zoning ordinance amendments were recommended for the governments of Boyle County, Danville and Perryville by the P&Z Commission on Aug. 28, after more than a year of development and three months of public hearings. The modifications modernize zoning names; correct sign regulations to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling; strengthen existing protections against hazardous pipelines running through residential areas; define rules for short-term rentals such as Airbnbs; and update agricultural lot sizes, among other things.
Boyle County
In the unincorporated areas of Boyle County, the new rules actually went into effect on Wednesday, due to an inadvertent scheduling error, according to P&Z Director Steve Hunter and Boyle County Judge-Executive Howard Hunt.
Boyle County, Danville and Perryville all had 90 days from when the P&Z Commission passed the new ordinance to accept, modify or reject the recommendation. Boyle County Fiscal Court held a first reading of a slightly modified ordinance earlier this month, setting up the potential for a second reading at the court’s Nov. 26 meeting — the last day before the 90-day rule would take effect.
But the court unintentionally advertised for the second reading to be held in December, so it was unable to hold a second reading and pass its modified ordinance Tuesday, according to Hunter and Hunt.
As a result, the recommended ordinance went into effect immediately on Wednesday for Boyle County property not inside a city limits, Hunter said.
Boyle’s planned amendments would have set the effective date as Jan. 1, 2020; and required conditional use permits for short-term rental properties in agricultural zones.
Hunter said the P&Z Commission will now have to approve the fiscal court’s short-term rental modification in a new zoning ordinance amendment, which the fiscal court will then have to pass again through two readings. That probably won’t happen until the new year, he said, but “the change is so minute” that it’s not a big deal.
Danville
Although it was previously recommended by Danville city staff to reject the new ordinance, the city went forward with passing the ordinance this week; it was given a first reading Monday night, and a second reading Tuesday during a special-called meeting.
City Manager Ron Scott previously had an agenda item listed during a November meeting recommending the ordinance be rejected, but decided to remove the item after having discussions with Hunter.
“This does incorporate the agreements locally achieved through attorneys on the pipeline regulation issues, and it also brings conformity to the sign ordinance in keeping with the Supreme Court decision a couple of years ago, and makes other modernization changes, so it is recommended for your approval,” Scott said Monday.
Commissioner Kevin Caudill said, “There were some things in it that I have issue with … But I think it’s important for those reasons that Mr. Scott mentioned that we go ahead with this, but realizing that this is an organic document and we can go back and maybe tweak it or change some things.”
Mayor Mike Perros asked Caudill to organize issues he has with the ordinance and suggested that he “get those in front of the proper body and organization as soon as possible.”
Scott had previously said the ordinance should be held due to a Downtown Master Plan study currently under development.
Monday, he said that the city is “about to embark upon our pretty agressive downtown development master plan study, and our consultants in that process have suggested it’s likely Planning and Zoning changes would perhaps follow the completion of that study, which would reflect the emerging and expressed goals of the community members who would be involved … as well as the city commission.”
Scott said he sees it as a “probability that there will be some changes to this ordinance coming about next year.”
P&Z Director Hunter told the commission he will more than likely do a “housekeeping item” for the ordinance on a yearly basis, returning to them with things that could be removed or added; he said he welcomed their input.
Perryville and Junction City
Hunter said Perryville passed its second reading of the new zoning ordinance Monday night, without any modifications. The new rules take effect there on Jan. 1.
Junction City is in a different boat: The city is still working to fully re-implement zoning regulations after it left the P&Z Commission in 2011, which left the city without any enforceable zoning laws.
Junction rejoined the P&Z Commission this year. Subdivision regulations are now in effect again, but the city still has to approve a new zoning ordinance on its own, Hunter said.
The P&Z Commission was set to recommend that new ordinance for Junction City on Wednesday. But only five of the 10 commissioners showed up, leaving the commission without a quorum (a majority of members) and unable to call the meeting to order or take action.
Junction City P&Z Commissioner Sonya Kitchen was out due to recently having major back surgery, and Vice Chair Jeffrey Baird was in Lexington because his grandchild was being born, Hunter said. Commissioners Jim Boyd and Steve Griffin called in to say they wouldn’t be able to make the meeting; Wendy Rochester was also absent. That left only Anne Sleet, Vince DiMartino, Chair Jerry Leber, Susie Kelly and Terry Manon — one shy of the six needed for a quorum.
Hunter said a special called P&Z meeting is expected next week to approve subdivision plats that were delayed on Wednesday. But the P&Z Commission won’t be able to consider approval of Junction’s zoning ordinance again until December or January. Once the P&Z Commission approves a recommended ordinance, which Hunter said mirrors closely the ordinances being passed in the other jurisdictions, Junction City Council will then have its own 90-day window in which to give the ordinance two readings.