Farmington City Council considers two rezoning requests
KEVIN R. JENKINS, kjenkins@dailyjournalonline.com
Two public meetings regarding zoning requests and several other business items were covered during the Sept. 14 meeting of the Farmington City Council held in council chambers at city hall.
Tim Porter, development services director for the City of Farmington, explains a rezoning request during one of two public meetings held before the city council’s regular meeting on the evening of Sept. 14. (Kevin R. Jenkins)
The first hearing dealt with an application for rezoning at 316 N. Jefferson St., requested by MAPA LLC on behalf of Carroll Simpson. The property is currently zoned as R-4: General Residential, with a proposed C-1: Central Business District zoning.
Explaining the reason why Simpson is requesting a zoning change, Tim Porter, development services director for the City of Farmington, said, “Mr. Mayor, the accounting firm of Thurman, Shinn, and Schweiss is seeking the purchase of approximately 2,402 square feet of property from the neighbor to the west, Mrs. Carroll Simpson, who is here with us tonight.
“To expand their parking lot for their accounting firm, our zoning ordinance doesn’t allow commercial parking in a residential area. So, in order to facilitate that, they’re requesting — before they purchase the property — that the council agrees to rezone the property to C-1, which matches the zoning designation of Thurman, Shinn, and Schweiss. Planning and Zoning made a favorable recommendation at last month’s meeting.”
Mayor Larry Forsythe asked Porter what the property’s zoning status would be if the deal fell through between the accounting firm and Simpson. Porter replied that a portion of her yard would still be zoned C-1.
“Is it just the section of the yard and not the whole yard?” Forsythe asked.
Porter replied, “That’s just a 2,402 square feet portion per yard. So, what will happen is, if the zoning goes through — the purchase goes through — they’re going to do a boundary adjustment.”
The mayor asked if the councilors or any members of the public had questions about the rezoning request. There were none, so Forsythe closed the meeting.
Later in the meeting, the council held the first reading of an ordinance allowing for the rezoning to take place. If the second reading of the ordinance takes place at the Sept. 25 meeting, the rezoning request will be approved.
The second hearing — submitted by Larkins Properties LLC — dealt with a requested rezoning of properties at 910 and 912 Joyce Drive. The properties’ current designation is R-5: Manufactured and Recreational Residential District, and it’s been proposed that the zoning be changed to an R-6: Two-Family Residential District.
In explaining the request, Porter said, “Mr. Mayor, first, for the record, on our letters that we sent out, we did have the proper legal description; however, the title company gave us incorrect information about the address, so we corrected it on the agenda tonight. But initially, on the letter we sent out, we noted it as 906 Joyce Drive, the property just to the south. However, the legal description was correct. The applicant, Mr. and Mrs. Larkin, have purchased the property. This is part of the M&P Swink Subdivision, which is the trailer park that’s off of Weber Road, between Weber Road and Karsch Boulevard.
“This is probably arguably one of the most blighted areas of that trailer park. I’m sure Mr. Larkin purchased this property, but what they wish to do is to build duplexes instead of manufactured homes or trailers. In order to do that, though, they have to get it rezoned. And ultimately, they’ll have to do some minor subdivision plots to remove lot lines to make them legal lots for that.”
Porter explained that the Larkins also purchased the property to the northwest of the Joyce Drive properties.
“You can notice on the map that it says, ‘special tax bill,'” he said. “That’ll be before you next month. We had to do an emergency demolition of that a couple of years ago and assess a special tax bill against the property. The Larkins, in purchasing that, cleared up that tax bill, so eventually, they’ll have all four of those lots, and the plan is to build two duplexes on that.”
Porter noted that the Larkins were in attendance at the council meeting and added that last month’s recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission regarding the zoning change had been favorable.
In answer to a question from the mayor, Porter said each unit would be approximately 1,000 square feet, with some being three-bedroom units and others two-bedroom. A second building would be the same size.
Later in the meeting, the council held the first reading of an ordinance allowing rezoning. If the second reading of the ordinance takes place at the Sept. 25 meeting, the rezoning request will be approved.
Mayor Larry Forsythe announces that a rededication ceremony will be held on Long Memorial Hall’s 100th anniversary in October 2024. The hall also serves as Farmington City Hall. (Kevin R. Jenkins)
In other business:
• Candy Hente, Farmington Regional Chamber of Commerce executive director, informed the council that the chamber took relocation packets to the utility office. She thanked the city for its help in getting the packets into the hands of community members, especially those moving into the city from outside the county.
• First and second readings were held regarding ordinances 1) the executing a deed of release for a special tax bill lien at 914 Joyce Drive; 2) vacating a utility easement at 813 Green Trail Drive (Lot 10A of Greenbriar Hills Phase 1; and 3) vacating a utility easement at 813 Green Trail Drive (Lot 11A of Greenbriar Hills Phase 1).
• Mayor Forsythe closed the meeting by announcing that the 100th anniversary of Long Memorial Hall (City Hall) will occur in October 2024. He said that, as there was a dedication ceremony held in October 1924, a second ceremony is planned for next October, with Councilor Vanessa Pegram coordinating.
