MONROE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
June 21, 2022
- Chairman Bart Lee conducting- Meeting called to order- Prayer- Roll call.
The regular meeting of the Monroe City Planning Commission was called to order by
Chairman Bart Lee on June 21st, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. Opening prayer was offered by Commissioner Dickinson.
Present:
Commissioners:
Bart Lee
Gordon Dickinson
Bill Mecham
Janet Cartwright
Greg Northrup
Paula Roberts
Citizens:
SaraLynn Turner
Hadley Dowell
Jacob Dowell
Nathan Young
- Approval of previous meeting minutes held May 17th, 2022.
Commissioner Northrup made a motion to approve the minutes with the stated correction. Seconded by Commissioner Dickinson. All were in favor. Motion Passes.
- Citizens comments.
No citizens were present.
4. Conditional Use License “SaraLynn’s Snips and Styles” located at 454 East 600 South. Submitted by SaraLynn Turner.
SaraLynn is here seeking approval to do hair out of her home. She has a shed in the back of her home that she would like to use as her salon. She has plenty of parking in her driveway so there would not be an issue with customers having to park in the street. She has been doing hair for almost 6 years with clients in the Sevier valley. She would like to have a small sign in the front of her home, and she is getting insurance for safety and liability. She has the required smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. Her main reason for wanting to do the salon out of her home is to spend more time with her daughter. Commissioner Lee asked where she currently has been doing hair and she responded that she’s been working out of Accent Salon in Richfield. Commissioner Lee also asked if there were water hookups to the shed already? SaraLynn informed the commissioners that there is water and electricity to the shed, and she has it remodeled and ready to go. The only thing she is waiting on, is the approval of her business license. The commissioners had no other comments or questions.
Commissioner Northrup made a motion to recommend approval of “SaraLynn’s Snips and Styles” to the Monroe City Council. Seconded by Commissioner Mecham. All were in favor. Motion passes 5-0.
5. Conditional Use License “Muz and Poppies, LLC” located at 380 East 300 North. Submitted by Hadley Dowell.
Hadley owns 3 acres with ½-3/4 acres of flowers growing in fields. She would like to host workshops one time a month to inform and teach the community about flowers. She has parking spaces for 10 cars in her driveway and plenty of side parking. She also has a turnaround in her driveway so you can pick up flowers without taking up parking spaces. She would like to wholesale flowers to local florists or do subscription drop offs. In the summer she would like to host workshops more likely 2 times a month because she will have more flowers. She is hoping to restore the land, working with the soil to plant pasture and beautify her property. Commissioner Cartwright noted that it is a wonderful place, she has personally been there. Commissioner Mecham made a comment that he is impressed with the restoration of the land. Commissioner Lee is concerned about the parking, he would like a condition to be set if parking is a problem with the neighbors the license will need to be reevaluated. Commissioner Dickinson asked about irrigation water, Hadley said that everything is on a drip irrigation line to conserve water. To run water to all the flowers, the system uses around 8 gallons an hour. Commissioner Lee feels like it is a great addition to the town and sees no issues with it. No other questions or concerns were stated.
Commissioner Dickinson made the motion to recommend approval of “Muz and Poppies, LLC” to the Monroe City Council with the condition that if parking becomes and issue the license will need to be reevaluated. Seconded by Commissioner Northrup. All were in favor. Motion passes 5-0.
6. Lot line change of parcel 1-M20-95 AND 1-M20-96. Located at 125 North and 137 North Main Street. Submitted by owner Judy Walters and representative Katie Hunsaker.
Katie is here again in front of the commissioners to present their final line change. They have met all the requirements to have the lines changed. The property line is more than 10’ away from the building and the buyer knows they cannot make this parcel a residential dwelling. There is the required lot size, frontage, and all other required space for both parcels. The new buyer is also putting in a new septic system. Commissioner Lee feels like she has done everything the commissioner have asked her to do and the commissioners agreed.
Commissioner Northrup made a motion to recommend approval to the Monroe City Council for the proposed lot line change. Seconded by Commissioner Mecham. All were in favor. Motion passes 5-0.
7. Discussion on affordable young adult housing. Submitted by Nathan Young.
Nathan is here seeking approval to do dual duplexes on his property. He is looking to purchase .32 acres from his neighbor to add to his current property. He has approval from the health department to do the duplexes with the appropriate septic systems. Commissioner Lee informed Nathan that doing the 2 duplexes like he wants to then creates a flag lot. He will have to have a 30’ road and a 90’ turn around radius. He will have to split the property to avoid having to do the flag lot. Nathan said that purchasing the piece from his neighbor gives him the required acreage to do a fourplex. He asked the commissioners what all is required to do a triplex, fourplex or bigger? Commissioner Lee would like to have a refresher course on the requirements for anything bigger than a duplex, specifically a triplex. He does not want to misinform Nathan on what is required, especially on the frontage and road access. Nathan asked if his original plan of a single duplex was still ok to proceed with and the commissioners told Nathan that the original duplex is still good to be built with how he presented it. He would like to add a basketball court, common area and pickleball court to the duplexes he is building. He asked if there were any requirements for that from the city and there is not. No other comments were made.
8. Discussion on accessory dwelling units/short term rentals.
Commissioner Lee wants to continue to figure out the best way to manage accessory dwelling units. He relayed the message from city council that they would like to see in the code that if there is a separate building then a separate septic system needs to be required and passed by the health department. Commissioner Northup asked what if the health department says the one system is big enough for both? Then how does the city handle that? Another issue that the commissioners need to address is how to handle the excess parking for the rentals? The commissioners do not want to see a lot of parking in streets or an abundance of parking in one area. Commissioner Northrup brought up the percentage idea again that only allows a certain percentage of rentals in each area of the town. The discussion on the percentage idea came down to property values and how would they be determined if rentals were allowed in certain areas but not in others? Commissioner Lee told the commissioners that the city needs to try to make AirBnbs have a strict policy to follow to obtain a license but still maintain leniency to the property owner. He asked the commissioners to continue to think of how they would like to move forward with licensing short term rentals and what they want required to obtain the license.
9. Other business.
Commissioner Lee would like to change the rotation of the commissioners. The city council gave their blessing to change that rotation so that only 1 commissioner is leaving at a time instead of losing 2 one year and 3 another. He is suggesting that starting in December of 2022 Commissioner Mecham would have the first option to retire. Commissioner Roberts would end her term in 2023, Commissioner Lee would be 2024, Commissioner Dickinson would be 2025 and Commissioner Northrup 2026. All the commissioners were in agreement with the new rotation.
10. Adjournment.
Commissioner Northrup made a motion to adjourn at 8:02 seconded by Commissioner Mecham. Meeting adjourned.