Zones of control

Complex questions regarding zone changes were raised during the August 13 meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission, following a public hearing on a zone change request from retail business (RB) to residential (RD7200).

David Rousa said he was requesting the zone change for his property on 804 W Bridge Avenue.

Emery Penner, Director of Public Works, said the buildings on the land currently surrounding the plot were residential, making them non-conforming lots.

Rousa said his intention was to use the property to build a single-family house to live in, and if the zone change were to fail we would sell the lot.

“The realtor wasn’t very clear [how it was zoned] when I bought it,” Rousa said. “It was vague.”

No comments from members of the public were given.

Discussion on the requested change occurred during the meeting itself.

“My first concern with this, is that as I look at the map, this would be a small block in that area zoned residential,” said Saratoga Planning Commission Member Nancy Ford. “Do we want to break up that retail business zone? Is this something we want to continue doing in the future?”

”I don’t know why that strip was zoned retail business…but it was, and if we want it to be residential then it seems like that whole zone should change, but this feels like we’re starting to spot zone residential within retail business,” said Saratoga Planning Commission Chairwoman McCall Burau.

“This is an existing problem with the town—there are areas that are out of zone,” said Saratoga Planning Commission Member Johnny Portillo. “They’ve been sitting there non-conforming for forever and there’s been no direction to correct. So an individual gets a piece of property, and he sees residential and wants to build a residential home so he assumes that he can do that and he can’t. It’s difficult with these existing non-compliant zoned areas for us to start regulating.”

Penner asked what the odds would be in the next 30 years for the non-compliant lots to become retail businesses and suggested the block’s zoning potentially be changed in the future.

Sue Jones, Chairwoman of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners, spoke up to provide historical insight on the current zoning.

“Bridge Street’s been an absolute disaster for [decades]. It is spot zone central,” Jones said. “When [the Town] started to zone in the early 1970s I think they got a little confused and were down in the lower end of Bridge Street which truly was retail business, and they had this vision of going up the hill. For years, when I sat on the town council, we spot zoned.”

Matt Baker, Saratoga Planning Commission Member, asked if it was possible to do a variance for the lot instead of a zone change.

Penner said a variance would be a worse procedural option than a zone change because it would create a permanent non-conformity.

“At some point you have to start enforcing the zoning to improve non-conformities,” Burau said. “No one on this board made this zoning map—this zoning map has existed for 70 years, whenever they made the ordinances—it’s just our job to enforce it. There was a reason why that was zoned retail business and it feels like the intent is to clean up that strip for the purpose of retail business.”

Burau said a zone change for that lot should be a part of a larger zoning map change instead of being done on an individual basis.

“Long term, I 100% agree with that,” said Penner. “But that’s driven by developers with a ton of money who can come buy up a ton of property and change big strips of land…How long is this going to take for all those houses on that block to get torn down and become an actual retail business district?”

“The zones are wrong. It’s not the individual’s fault and we can help our residents with this process,” said Portillo.

The commission voted to approve the zone change to the Saratoga Town Council, which passed on a 4-3 vote. Burau, Ford and Chia Valdez voted in the negative. Portillo, Baker and Jodell Hone voted in the affirmative. Mayor Chuck Davis was the deciding vote, deciding in the affirmative.

The Saratoga Town Council will hold a public hearing for this zone change on September 17 during their regular meeting at 6:00 p.m. at the Saratoga Town Hall.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission will be September 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the Saratoga Town Hall.