Planning Meeting

Tuesday, November 14th, 2023

The entire board was present for the meeting. The only changes to the agenda were to move item #4 from the consent agenda to item #8 as an agenda item and removed #1 and #2. Public comment was opened and two people had signed up to speak.

Ben and Kim Ellsworth spoke to the issue surrounding chickens. They would like to see the rules in White House changed to allow a reasonable number of chickens. He was raised with animals and would like to see his children raised the same way. The Ellsworths are having their first child next year and would like their son to have animals in order to learn about them and to care for them. White House is still a small town and people here are self reliant. Many of the residents grow their own produce and would like to also have livestock. Living in town, this is as close to homesteading as they will be able to get. Tending to land and animals can be therapeutic for people. Rules need to be set regarding chickens, such as no roosters. Of course an HOA will have the final say. To recap, Ellsworth believes that chickens will be educational, aid in self reliance, and are also for enjoyment of the owner.

Kay Stinson also spoke to the issue of chickens. She is opposed to having chickens in city limits. As someone who works in real estate, she knows that chickens impact property values. The city needs to have some sort of control over how many chickens people have, and how the structure is maintained. Will the city run into the issue of one homeowner building a chicken structure and then the next owner does not want chickens. What happens to the chicken house? Chickens bring predators. Coyotes, snakes, bobcats and raccoons are attracted to chickens. We already have an issue with raccoons in the city. Who will be in charge of animal control? The predators that are attracted carry diseases, and pets will be affected by these predators. Stinson showed a photo of a coop that was built by her neighbors. She stated the size of the coop is an issue. She can see it out of her back window.

Item #3- The developer has reached out to the city to decrease their bond, but as it is extended, it is still subject to the 15% increase. Approved.

AGENDA

Item # 5 Dollar General #30433/Green Lid Design: Requests Site Plan Approval for a proposed 10,535 sq ft retail store. The property is referenced as Robertson County Tax Map 117K, Group A, Parcel 004.00. Property is zoned C-2, General Commercial and is located at 2319 Highway 31W. Owner: The Koin Group, LLC/Sweets Design Builds This proposed Dollar General is located on 31W adjacent to the new Shell station that is being built. It will share access with the Shell station. The design is all brick, which is a deviation from what they normally build. The owner could not make the meeting, but a representative was there. Jennifer Collado asked if the other store, just south of the newly proposed one, would remain open. The representative stated that Dollar General does not like to close stores, and that it would remain open. The builder of this one is Turner. (I could not catch any more information than that and the representative left after she spoke) Turner is building Dollar Generals all over and they get it done well, and quickly. Because of their speed, there is very little disturbance in the area. Approved

{Deferred at October Meeting} Item # 6 Staff: Requests Recommendation to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to amend the Zoning Ordinance, Article 4, Section 4.170, regarding Residential Agricultural Uses. Jenna Nelms of planning has been working on this issue.

The list above is what Nelms has created for the city to review. Addam McCormick asked who would enforce this. Ceagus Clark, planning director, stated that currently it is complaint based. Dolly Peay asked about animal control. Her understanding is that we do not have it in the city currently. Nelms added that there are already a lot of chickens in the city. Planning gets calls about them. The only option right now is to cite them and take them to court, of they have to go in front of the board of zoning appeals. Planning is already dealing with chickens. Peay asked if issues with coops and property lines would end up in court. Clark stated that the city could add a permit to the ordinance. Peay asked if that would only apply to new chicken owners, or would everyone need to get a permit and comply. Clark said that permits are an option. Collado added that maybe a registration would be warranted vs a permit. The the city would know who has chickens. Clark responded that registration is an option. Peay said that maybe the permits would offset the cost of the time that planning is dealing with complaints. Collado asked about fees. Linda Silver stated that once it’s approved at the city, the fees would be decided. Clark stated that the planning department cannot assign fees, that has to be done at the board of mayor and aldermen. Peay asked what happens when people do not comply. Clark stated that it’s a process that ends with a cite to court. Peay added that they would end up in front of Judge Zanger. Daniel Whited asked how many issues is the planning department currently dealing with. Nelms answered 1-2 per month. Clark added that there are no steps currently to get more aggressive with repeat offenders. Tim Murphy wanted to know how this had come up. Clark informed him that there have been calls made to the city requesting chickens. Mayor Corbitt added that he too had been contacted and people want to have chickens. Peay stated that we want people to have property rights, but without adding an extra burden on the planning department. Silver stated that R-15 and SRPUD zoned areas all have protections in their HOAs. The issue is that some of these HOA subdivisions share property lines with houses not in an HOA. This is an enforcement issue the city does not need to get involved in. City Administrator Herman chimed in. Enforcement is already an issue. There are people in the city already violating the law. Any new regulations should include a coop size. That will help the zoning inspectors. The city can then warn and cite to court. With new regulations, things should start stablizing out. If necessary, the city can look at hiring another codes inspector. White House had animal control, but it was disbanded in 2010. It hasn’t been a big deal. The police department only gets 3-5 calls a month. The city would need five people to cover 24/7 animal control. 3-4 calls a month did not justify that. If the city creates a permit and a fee, along with rules, enforcement would be easier. If people already have them, they would need to get the permit/fee. Just an idea. Corbitt said he didn’t believe they would even get 100 applications for chickens. Peay asked why they aren’t enforcing the current code. Herman answered that they could leave the one acre in the ordinance. Nelms answered Peay that right now the rule is very vague which makes enforcement difficult. Coop size and design can be added to the regulation, however if they keep one acre, then nothing is actually changing. Herman added that 1/2 acre, 1/3 acre, 1 acre, it needs to be figured out. Murphy wanted to know why they city is spending so much time and energy on this. McCormick stated that this was originally put together for horses. If this is deleted, then there can be no horses. City attorney Webb added that this is an amendment. Nelms agreed, this is an add on for chickens, not a complete change. Corbitt asked for a vote with the stipulation that coop size will be added to the language. Peay asked for permits to be added. Herman said that BOMA will address the permit issue. Approved Cobitt, Collado, McCormick, Whited- Yes Peay, Silver, Murphy-No

Item # 7 Publix: Requests review regarding alternative exterior building materials. Publix is looking to change the materials on the rear and east elevation of the building. It is an alteration, not a plan change. The rear faces the buffer and the greenway. The buffer will remain. The change still meets the city’s design standards. McCormick stated that the city prefers the fiber cement board. Clark said that this change could have been made at the administrative level, but he felt better bringing it to the board. Silver asked if the visibility was still low even given the new commercial development. Clark said that it is back where deliveries are made. It cannot be seen from 76 and the buffer will be there between Publix and the new development. Approved

Item # 8 Staff: Requests Recommendation to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to accept Fields at Oakwood Phases 1 and 2.1. They are asking for acceptance. They are within 10% of their bond. Clark said that he didn’t have exact numbers with him, but they are almost complete with their build. Public works has approved. The developer is looking to get out of the bond. Approved.

Item # 4 Legacy Farms-Phase 1: Requests bond reduction and enter the one-year maintenance bond period. (moved from consent agenda) Clark has walked this development, and public works approves. They are requesting to be reduced to a 10% maintenance bond. Approved

Clark added that the planning department is working on updating the land use development regulations. Updates are in the works.

Meeting was adjourned. BOMA meeting will be held at 7pm on Thursday.

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