Table weighed down

Agenda items tabled during planning meeting

In an approximately 20-minute Saratoga Planning Commission meeting every item on the agenda was tabled.

During the Feb. 12 meeting, the commission briefly discussed four agenda items and decided that these were all items that needed further research, modification or reading.

Three members, including Chris Duke, Bob Keel and chairman Tom Westring, were present at the meeting with Jim Beckmann absent.

After approving the agenda and minutes from the Jan. 8 meeting and finding no correspondence the committee turned their attention to agenda items.

Under new business, the committee first discussed the FCC Wireless Facilities Communication Management Ordinance.

When discussing the ordinance it was thought that the ordinance concerned small antennas in town right of ways. Council board member Bob Keel said he thought that the ordinance is set to deal with future technologies and Zoning Officer Dan Ferrin said it was likely a sample ordinance that could be put in place at a later date.

Modifying the ordinance and submitting it against future use was talked about, but ultimately it was decided to take a further look at the document for possible future submission to the town council.

The next item on the agenda was United States Forest Service (USFS) annexation. This item was added to the agenda because chairman Tom Westring had heard on the radio that this issue was to be brought back to the planning commission.

Though discussion was made about the current state of water and sewer to the local USFS office and the history of an annexation agreement, no official request had been made from any source including the town council.

This being the case, the item was tabled.

First on the two items under old business was the grading and excavation permit. Keel reported that there was wording in the document that needed to be clarified and Ferrin said that he could simplify information from the Uniform Building Code to clarify the permit’s intent.

Westring said he had a hard time forcing someone to get a permit to clear or grub sagebrush out of their back yard.

Ferrin replied that the town required a permit for that kind of thing but that there was no cost for such a permit. He then added that it was likely the town just wanted to be aware of this kind of activity so the town would know if phone or power lines were interrupted in those endeavors.

Ferrin said that the different definitions for grading, mining and excavating should be set by cubic yards, square footage or some other measure.

The board then asked Ferrin to provide those definitions and present the board with that at the next meeting.

The Flood Ordinance was the next item on the agenda. Zoning Officer Ferrin said that he thought all the board members had a rough draft of the ordinance with markups on it and that he thought, “We just need to keep beating it down until we get it figured out.”

Ferrin added that the ordinance should sync up, as far as flood elevations and building requirements, with the forthcoming FEMA flood map and that currently the map being used was a hard-to-interpret draft map.

Ferrin invited the board members to take a look at the ordinance and add their thoughts so they could be integrated into the document.

Westring said that he thought it would be hard to make a decision on elevations without seeing a final map.

Ferrin said he would send out the draft map by email to the board members and the board then tabled this issue also.

In the Zoning Officer’s report it was noted that eight building permits had been issued in Saratoga.

The agenda gone through, the meeting was adjourned.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission is set for 5:30 p.m. on March 12 at the Saratoga Town Hall.

 

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