PC Mins 02-06-2007
PLANNING COMMISSION
Meeting of February 6, 2007.
Chairman Rhoades called the Blair Planning Commission to order at 7:00 P.M. Members
present were Hansen, Tichota, Andersen, Rhoades, Cook, Young, Boettcher and Krogh. Members
absent: Nicholson. Others present were Assistant City Administrator Green and City Administrator
Storm.
Motion by Tichota, second by Hansen to elect Ken Rhoades as Chairman for the Planning
Commission. There were no other nominations. Commission members present voting Aye: Young,
Andersen, Tichota, Krogh, Hansen, Cook and Boettcher. Commission member Rhoades voting nay.
Chairman Rhoades declared the motion carried. Motion by Krogh, second by Tichota to elect Doug
Cook at Vice Chairman for the Planning Commission. There were no other nominations. Commission
members present voted Aye: Young, Andersen, Tichota, Krogh, Hansen, Boettcher and Rhoades.
Commission member Cook abstained. Chairman Rhoades declared the motion carried.
Motion by Tichota, second by Hansen to approve the minutes of the January 2, 2007 meeting
as presented. All members present voted Aye. Chairman Rhoades declared the motion carried.
Agenda Item #3 – Assistant Administrator Green stated C & R Automotive, Inc., 853 Iowa
Street, Blair is requesting renewal of their conditional use permit to continue operation of the sale of
motor vehicles secondary to primary use as an auto body shop and repair service for a period of ten
(10) years. Green reviewed site plan of the area and presented slides of the current condition of the
property in question. Green stated Staff had no concerns as there is ample parking and storage for the
vehicles and noted the property was well maintained. There had been no complaints to Staff during the
past year. Mark Van Der Hart, owner of C & R Automotive was present stating they plan to make no
changes to the operation of the business that would affect the conditional use permit. Commission
member Cook questioned if this permit has any restrictions placed on it when it was originally
approved. Green stated no restrictions or conditions were placed on the original permit. There were
no comments from the floor or in writing. Motion by Cook, second by Young to recommend approval
of a Conditional Use Permit Renewal Application submitted by C & R Automotive, Inc., 853 Iowa
Street, Blair, NE 68008 to continue operation of the sale of motor vehicles secondary to primary use as
an auto body shop and repair service on Tax Lots 134 and 195 in Section 12, Township 18, Range 11,
Blair, Washington County, Nebraska (853 Iowa Street) for (10) years. All members present voting
Aye. Chairman Rhoades declared the motion carried.
Agenda Item #4 – Assistant Administrator Green stated Mathiesen Grain, 1550 Nebraska
Street, Blair is requesting to construct a 78’ wide x 75’ tall steel grain bin for grain storage located at
1643 State Street for (99) years. The new bin will use the same ingress and egress as what is
currently being used for the existing bin and elevator on the adjoining tax lot and will be as tall as the
existing bin but wider. The current bin is 100,000 in storage capacity and the proposed bin will be
250,000 storage capacity. Green stated they are working with the State Fire Marshal for a permit to
have the Blair Volunteer Fire Department burn down the buildings that currently exist on the property
(previous Blair Feed Mill and old train depot building). Matt Mathiesen stated the structures will need
to be removed in order to construct the new grain bin. Kari Loeski, Mathiesen Grain, stated when they
purchased the property they were provided with a list of improvements required by the City’s property
maintenance code. The existing structures are not worth making those improvements; therefore,
demolition is the best option. There were no comments from the floor or in writing. Motion by
Anderson, second by Cook to recommend approval of the Conditional Use Permit Application
submitted by Mathiesen Grain Co., 1550 Nebraska Street, Blair, NE 68008 to construct a steel grain
bin for storage on Lots 1-5, Block 26, BC and TL 659 and TL 599 in Section 11, Township 18, Range
11, Blair Washington County, Nebraska for (99) years with the stipulation the existing buildings on the
property be removed prior to construction. All members present voted Aye. Chairman Rhoades
declared the motion carried.
Agenda Item #5 - Assistant Administrator Green reviewed the proposed Final plat for Pounds
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Subdivision stating the applicant is requesting to plat a three (3) lot subdivision west of 3 Street and
Jackson Street. The land is currently zoned RML – Multi-Family Residential Low Density District.
There would be no change in the zoning. Lot 1 will remain a single family residence. Lot 2 has been
purchased by the Catholic Church to expand the Holy Cross Cemetery and this lot will have potential
access to Jackson Street. Lot 3 will remain Pounds Printing. The main purpose for this plat is to
separate the house from the business so that it can be sold. The final plat does meet all city subdivision
regulations. The Preliminary Plat was approved on January 9, 2007. Ardith Pounds was not present.
There were no comments from the floor or in writing. Motion by Tichota, second by Young to
recommend approval of the Final Plat submitted by Ardith Pounds, Trustee, 795 N. Third Street, Blair,
Nebraska for Pounds subdivision, a subdivision of Tax Lot 128 and Tax Lot 129 lying in the NW ¼
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of the NW ¼ of Section 7, Township 18 North, Range 12 East of the 6 P.M., Washington
County, Nebraska as presented. All members present voted Aye. Chairman Rhoades declared the
motion carried.
Agenda Item #6 – Assistant City Administrator Green stated the proposed preliminary plat
contains four (4) lots. The property is currently zoned A/CH – Agricultural/Commercial Highway
District. This would be a small commercial subdivision with three retail lots and one large lot
prime for future replatting for development. Currently the property has no direct access to either
Highway 30 or Highway 133. The developer is working with the Nebraska Department of Roads
to complete a traffic study. This study will dictate access to the property and any improvements
that need to be made to either Highway 30 or Highway 133. The retail lots will most likely access
a frontage road first and then be granted access to either highway. John Krager,
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Schemmer Associates, 1044 N. 115 Street, Omaha, NE 68154, spoke on behalf of the applicant
confirming that once the traffic study is completed, they will be provided with access points and
possibly any improvements to be made to Highway 30 and/or Highway 133 such as adding turn
lanes etc. He noted the property has water and sewer available, all property is within city limits,
all streets will be city streets paved with curb and gutters and sidewalks will be installed within the
subdivision. He stated it would take approximately 30 to 45 days for the Nebraska Department of
Roads to review the traffic study after it is completed. There were no comments from the floor or
in writing. Motion by Cook, second by Young to recommend approval of the Preliminary Plat
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Application submitted by Chad Gutschow, 6401 N. 28 Street, Lincoln, NE 68504 and Gordon and
Beverly Soderberg, 9325 State Highway 133, Blair, NE 68008 for a preliminary plat of Tax Lot 117 in
Section 23, Township 18, Range 11, Blair, Washington County, Nebraska for a total of 3.94 acres
subject to a traffic study being completed and compliance with the State of Nebraska, Department of
Road Highway 30 and Highway 133 improvements. All members present voted Aye. Chairman
Rhoades declared the motion carried.
Agenda Item #7 – Assistant Administrator Green stated that due to the recent annexations by
the City of Blair, the two mile extraterritorial jurisdictional map needs to be amended to extend the
city’s jurisdiction in the south west and south east sections of the boundary lines. There is no change to
the northern boundary. Green presented a map outlining the current boundary lines and the new
boundary lines. By State Statute, the City of Blair has jurisdiction over a two mile area outside of its
current city limits. This two mile extraterritorial jurisdiction allows for the City of Blair to have control
over building permits and/or zoning issues. An arc method is used to determine the area covered by
the two mile extraterritorial jurisdiction. However, the City uses the arc method only to determine the
area but then follows property boundary lines. This is done so that properties are not split between the
city’s jurisdiction and the county’s. The new subdivision recently approved by Washington County
along Highway 30 will now be within the city’s jurisdiction for zoning and building permits. Next
month, a rezoning ordinance will be presented to the Planning Commission to rezone this subdivision
to bring it in to compliance with the city’s zoning configuration. The lots are lots of record and will be
grandfathered in reference to size. There were no comments from the floor or in writing. Commission
member Cook stated he would like to amend the boundary line so that it does not split Tax Lot 29 in
Section 33, Township18, Range 11, Washington County in half. City Administrator Storm stated that
boundary line could be moved to the north to avoid splitting the property in half. Motion by Cook,
second by Andersen to recommend approval of an Ordinance amending the City of Blair 2-Mile
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Map as revised by eliminating Tax Lot 29 in Section 33, Township 18,
Range 11, Washington County from Blair’s jurisdiction. All members present voted Aye.
Chairman Rhoades declared the motion carried.
Agenda Item #8 – City Administrator Storm and Assistant Administrator Green reviewed
with the Commission the following: 1) What is Tax Increment Financing (TIF), 2) What are the
steps involved in TIF, 3) Highlights of different TIF projects, and 4) What is a Redevelopment
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Agreement. Staff then reviewed the proposed Redevelopment Plan for Area #1 (19 & South
Street) stating the TIF funds would be used for demolition and public parking. Storm stated the
TIF project option has been available for use since the 1950’s but the City of Blair has never
taken advantage of this process in the past. The Redevelopment Plan was completed for the City
approximately 5 years ago to allow the City to incorporate a TIF project for the benefit of the
community. TIF is a municipal economic development tool used to publicly finance needed public
improvements in a specific geographical area which is often used to promote existing business and
to attract new business. TIF can only be used to redevelop substandard and blighted areas. He
also stressed that a TIF project does not give any property owners a tax break but allows the city
to capture the tax from the new value of properties within the Redevelopment Project. The
Planning Commission is required to make a recommendation to the City Council as to whether it
thinks the studied area meets the statutory substandard and blighted criteria. The City Council
will then hold a public hearing to determine whether to adopt the redevelopment plan as submitted
by the Community Development Agency. If approved, TIF is then pledged to the business or
developer requesting it and finance can take place. The city currently has a developer for this
project but as required by State Statue, the project area is being advertised to private redevelopers
or any persons interested in undertaking the redevelopment of any area within this redevelopment
area and giving them the opportunity to submit redevelopment contract proposals to the Agency.
The Cost Benefit Analysis for the project was reviewed outlining how the funds would be derived
for these improvements. The city would capture the TIF funds for 15 years. These funds could
also benefit some of the other properties included in the area for such things as installation of
ADA bathrooms and parking improvements. The city will issue bonds so that funds are available
immediately to purchase the properties and demolition. These are not General Obligation Bonds
backed by the City of Blair. The city will then transfer the property to the developer as soon as
possible in order to get the property back on the tax roles. The city will enter into a
Redevelopment Agreement with the developer to consummate the division of taxes, authorize
issuance of TIF indebtedness, pledge TIF revenues and grant proceeds from the indebtedness to
the developer. The Redevelopment Agreement outlines the obligations of the developer and
provides remedies for the city in the event of default. Motion by Young, second by Anderson to
approve Resolution No. 2007-1 making recommendations with respect to a Redevelopment Plan
in an area in the city declared as blighted and substandard pursuant to the Nebraska Community
Development Law.
There were no communications from the floor.
Motion by Tichota, second by Boettcher to adjourn the meeting at 8:10 P.M. All members
present voted Aye. Chairman Rhoades declared the meeting adjourned.
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Brenda Wheeler, City Clerk