Burgin City Council Questions Planning And Zoning Representatives
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Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
The Burgin City Council questioned representatives from the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Joint Planning and Zoning Commission about what would happen if the friendly little city rejoined planning and zoning.
In February, the council voted unanimously to have the city attorney draft an agreement with planning and zoning.
At a special-called meeting on Tuesday, March 31, the Burgin City Council discussed the possibility of rejoining planning and zoning with Executive Director Kylie Donnally and Chairman Bobby Upchurch.
Upchurch said Burgin was an original member of planning and zoning back in 1978. He said Burgin’s City Council had modifications to zoning ordinances and adopted them after a public hearing, before appointing Burgin representatives to the planning and zoning commission.
“I think things went pretty well for a while,” Upchurch said, before Burgin voted to drop out of planning and zoning.
“Why did we decide to remove ourselves from planning and zoning?” Councilman Syndicat “Sid” Dunn asked.
Councilman George Hensley said he was the mayor the last time Burgin voted to leave planning and zoning. Hensley said people complained Burgin was being treated differently from Harrodsburg.
Dunn asked about lot sizes. Upchurch said that would be up to the city council.
“We can work with anything you all want,” Upchurch said.
“As long as the ordinances don’t violate state, federal or constitutional law, you can make the laws say whatever you want them to say,” he said. “We’ll try to enforce them.”
Planning and zoning does not employ an enforcement officer. Upchurch said they cut the position after the 2007 housing market collapse. Upchurch said they relied on people filing complaints. After an investigation to determine whether the property owner was in violation, they would send a cease-and-desist letter. If there were no response, they’d turn it over to the county or city attorney.
“We don’t get a whole lot, to be honest with you,” Upchurch said.
Councilman Travis Irvin asked about someone building a house in Burgin.
Donnally said they’d have to apply for a building permit. She said she would check and go over setbacks with the applicant. Then they would apply for a building permit. It was noted that, even though Burgin does not currently belong to planning and zoning—and, under state law, is prevented from enacting zoning ordinances on its own—residents still needed to apply for building permits.
“The problem is, there’s really no set restrictions on the potential of a property,” Mayor Keebortz said. He said builders could put multiple homes on a lot right now, and there was nothing the city could legally do about it. Keebortz asked about duplexes or single-wide trailers in residential areas. The mayor asked how specific the ordinances could be.
“It gets a little touchy when you talk about manufactured housing,” Upchurch said. “They’re covered by state regulations. You can restrict trailers, but most manufactured homes are not really trailers.”
“You have to allow an area for them,” Upchurch said.
Donnally noted that the building inspector checks trailers.
Burgin City Attorney John Wood asked about existing structures.
“Any existing use would be grandfathered in,” Upchurch said. If that usage stopped for longer than a year, it would not be able to be used that way again, he said.
Commissioner Melinda Wofford asked about representation.
Upchurch said representation would be decided under an interlocal agreement between the city and planning and zoning.
He was also asked about meeting times. Recently, the planning and zoning commission has been criticized for holding its meetings at 9 a.m. in the morning.
Upchurch said the commission is trying to move the meeting to Thursday at 5 p.m. He said the meetings, which used to be held in the evenings, were moved to an earlier time to accommodate their attorney’s schedule. Upchurch said he would prefer to hold meetings in the evening.
“That’s time away from my job,” Upchurch said.
Wofford also asked about variances, which are granted by the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Joint Board of Adjustments and Appeals. If Burgin joins planning and zoning, they would also join the board of adjustments. Upchurch said planning and zoning granted fewer than 50 variances a year.
“How often could we modify the map?” Councilman Dunn asked.
“Once you set the map, you wouldn’t modify it unless you wanted to do a zoning change,” Upchurch said. He said final approval of the map would depend on the Burgin City Council.
Every few years, they revise the current maps. He said planning and zoning had hired Vantage Engineering to draw maps of Harrodsburg.
Upchurch said the comprehensive plan is the core of planning and zoning.
“Zoning doesn’t really exist without planning,” he said.
Comprehensive plans mark areas for residential, business and industry. Upchurch said public hearings would need to be held and it could take months.
Dunn asked how Burgin would compensate planning and zoning. Upchurch said that would be handled under the interlocal agreement.
“It would be minimal for the City of Burgin to join us right now,” he said. Upchurch said income from building permits would go to planning and zoning.
Donnally said there were seven or eight building permits, which Keebortz said amounted to approximately $5,400.
“They’re not making a fortune off Burgin,” Keebortz said.
