APPROVEDThe City Council held meeting # 1502 on Monday, September 17, 2018, in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Mayor Teske.
Present were Ms. Williams, Ms. Smith, Mr. Zimmerman, Mr. Beach, Mr. Dufficy, Mr. Taylor, City Administrator Jim Hammons, and City Clerk Audray McCollum. City Attorney Dean Chisolm was absent.
Philip Coblentz offered the prayer.
Mr. Zimmerman MADE A MOTION to approve the minutes from Public Hearing held on September 4, 2018, regarding the budget for FY 19.
Ms. Smith SECOND.
Williams, Smith, Zimmerman, Beach, Dufficy ,Taylor voted FOR.
MOTION PASSED.
Mr. Zimmerman Made a Motion to approve the minutes from meeting #1501 held on September 4, 2018.
Ms. Williams Second.
Williams, Smith, Zimmerman, Beach, Dufficy, Taylor voted FOR.
MOTION PASSED.
Announcements:
Mayor Teske invited the public to attended chainsaw carving contests this weekend and support the businesses that were putting it on.
Committee Reports:
City Administrator: Mr. Hammons thanked the county road crew for their help with the city’s chip sealing road project and the use of their equipment and manpower. The city will start sweeping the roads next week. Mr. Hammons said the new bathroom would be here next week for Fireman Park. The crew is finishing up on the concrete pad putting the plumbing in, and things should be ready to go.
Fire: Mr. Zimmerman reported there were 12 calls in the month of August ,3 in the city, 8 rural and 1 outside of the city.
Police: None
Resolutions/Ordinances: None
Lights/Streets/Sidewalks: None
Building: None
Water/Sewer: None.
Cemetery/Parks: None
Finance: Ms. McCollum will be submitting the budget to the state.
KRDC: None.
City-County Board of Heath: None.
Public Comment on Non- Agenda Items:
DC Orr, 1117 Nevada, said there was an update on the Commission of Political Practices case, the case had been moved to Lewis and Clark County, and he would keep council updated.
New Business:
Lynnette Haines, Lincoln County Domestic Violence Support Group, requesting a street closure on October 5, 2018, from 7 to 9 pm to walk Main Street “in justice for all.”
Lynnette Haines gave council background knowledge of the domestic violence situation in Lincoln County and asked for the street closure from the police station to the cul-de-sac then back up Mineral with a possible police escort.
Ms. Smith MADE A MOTION to grant a peaceful march on Mineral Ave to the cul-de-sac and back, either through police escort or though barricades as determined by the chief on October 5 from 7 pm to 9pm.
Mr. Beach SECOND.
Williams, Smith, Zimmerman, Beach, Dufficy , Taylor voted FOR.
MOTION PASSED.
Introduction-Downtown and Highway Commercial zoning district and presentation.
Ms. Smith thanked everyone for coming, then gave the council and public the reasons why the planning board wants to change the zoning. The existing zoning districts date to 1974 with no real standards. There have been changes in Libby’s economic demographics and vision. In 2005 the City of Libby adopted the Libby downtown revitalization plan that laid out goals and actions. In 2010 the city updated the 30-year-old growth policy. Smith said this is another step in the process, “implementing good zoning also establishes predictability for established property owners.”
Ms. Smith went over the goals of the Downtown Revitalization Plan in 2005:” Libby downtown must contain an appropriate mix of goods and service, be a cultural center and community gathering place. Provide a vibrant and attractive environment for customers with storefronts, window displays, merchandising, and customer service. Downtown must be pedestrian-oriented, agriculture unique, a district that attracts customers and encourages them to linger.”
“The policies, zoning, and codes need to provide a business and customer friendly district. Libby is effectively managed and promoted by using the national Main Street model of the downtown revitalization project.” Smith then covered the action plans that went along with the revitalization plan. The entire plan is available on the City of Libby’s website.
Ms. Smith went over the 2010 Growth Policy vision that states The City of Libby is a safe, healthy, friendly and attractive community that fosters a sense of belonging and pride.
“Libby is committed to advancing commerce, tourism, and recreation. Libby provides a diverse economic base, efficient public services and a variety of housing options.”
“That economic goals of the growth policy are improving the image of Libby as an appealing, healthy community and improving the business climate for downtown merchants throughout the year and especially during cultural events. “
Smith showed the public the existing main business district on a colored map and what the proposed business main district would look like.
Smith went over the present performance standards and uses.
The planning board has proposed to add parking standards in highway districts, identify transition /buffer areas between commercial and residential areas. New provisions are addressing fenestration building size, materials in downtown districts, r estrict stand-alone casinos and improve opportunities for mixed-use and auto-oriented commercial development in appropriate locations.
The changes will apply to new business or new construction, an exception being material on exterior renovations.
Smith explained the process to the public. The planning board made the recommendation on June 11th. Drafts were distributed to council and public on July 17th followed by an open house. Presented to the council and public on September 17th reviewed and edited by the council, followed by a public hearing. Public comments are accepted up until a final decision. Smith said the process is not over.
Public Comment:
Jacqueline Gamble, 318 E 8th St owner of TVA, (Treasure Valley Auto) 301 Mineral Av, said she was at the meeting in July and raised some very important issues. “According to the zoning codes if the business lapses for more than six months you cannot return to the business. This would be very detrimental to our business we are an automobile business, and this is banned from the new zoning codes.” “We were told at that meeting there would be a line item change for this and there is not.”
Smith said there had been no changes since the meeting; the council has not met on this since the meeting. The board will be compiling changes before the final draft will be presented.
Tom Gilmore, 400 California Ave, said this draft does not go far enough to protect his investment, efforts and the lives his business impacts. “Down the road, this leaves the door open for interpretation to someday expand the business.” Gilmore said the “first time he heard of the purposed zoning changes was Saturday afternoon and he’s been getting conflicting answers on how easy or hard it would be to expand an existing business. Depending on who’s on the board depends on whether you get your zoning permit or not. Gilmore said he has doubts on whether he wants to have a business here anymore or not. He is all for zoning. He would love to improve the aesthetic value in whatever district we agree on” Gilmore said. “There are businesses here that are vibrant, productive, major contributors to our economy and to the visitation into this community and he feels like naming us in the bad guy list, it hurts,” Gilmore said”. It makes him feel unappreciative. He doesn’t know what the solution is but would like expansion or sale of the business to an heir added to the zoning changes.”
Mayor Teske said, “there needs to be clarification to a lot of these points to ease everyone’s concerns.” Teske said this is the preliminary draft.
Smith apologized “nothing was intentional or personal, the board was just thinking about uses.”
Gilmore said “he had no issues with the materials part of the zoning code. He stated if in two years the lot beside him became vacant and he wanted to purchase it to do more commerce in Libby and went before the board and was told no because he sold trailers or he was in the service industry, that would be wrong .”
Larry King,319 California, Commander of the American Legion Post and a member for 36 years said the economy is getting worse, we are losing business in town. King asked about the purposed zoning paving recommendation for parking lots.
Smith said that’s on the highway district and only applies to new business and new construction.
Gail Burger,302 California Ave, Historic Hotel, Libby, asked because she was not currently open and is under restoration would she would qualify as a new business and need to pave her parking lot.
Smith did not have the answer.
Ryan Andreessen, 617 Mineral Ave, Timberline Auto,said he understands the intent of the proposal and agrees with the fact that the downtown appearance needs to be improved. Andreessen is offended that their business of 30 years is now prohibited in downtown Libby for future expansion or to be sold because it is not defined in the new proposed zoning plan.It bothers Andreessen that the head of the board is telling council members one thing and business owners another. Andreessen requested when the proposal goes before the council that they strike auto sales,trailer sales,truck sales, and automotive services from prohibited businesses. Andreessen is unsure why his business would be a detriment to the future growth of downtown Libby. “Input from businesses for this proposal would have been a huge benefit .”This proposal needs to go back to the drawing board, and the auto aspect needs to be taken out of it, in my opinion, we are not Whitefish Montana, we are Libby, Montana we have our own identity.”
Rod Beil, VFW. said the VFW would like to expand their business but would not be able to with these new proposals. The VFW provides services to the community, but these proposals would bankrupt the facility. Beil then asked who was on the planning board and who made these decisions and did they own businesses in town?
Smith said she is the planning board chair and the members are Jennifer Nelson,Mark Andreasen,Gary Neff ,Virginia Kocieda,Roberta McCanse .Smith said there was still an opening and all members were appointed by city council members.
Tim Whalen,136 Break Rd, Ortho Rehab and Studio B, said there needs to be more clarification. He would not be able to run his rehab facility in the current location. Whalen asked the board to be more specific with their definitions .
Vince Baken,420 Mineral, asked if there had been a financial impact study, then said this might produce some lawsuits against the city.
Ted Werner, 41 Sugarloaf Lane, is not adverse to zoning, it can entice solid businesses to come. Werner said “in this market based and in this demographic, based on these average household incomes it’s financially impossible to build a new building and put a new commercial business in here and get any measure of return with the new codes that exist , it’s impossible.”.” Let’s try and assists the small business guys to have more inclusions instead of exclusions.”
DC Orr ,1117 Nevada, said the council was ordered by the court to improve their transparency, you have a board not giving reports as all the committees do. They went off on there own created their vision of Libby . Mr. Orr said the only reason these people are here tonight was one member, Mr. Dufficy went out to the community. Mr. Orr recommended huge meetings with huge advertisements and said the Chamber of Commerce needs to be helping. Orr said these are peoples property rights and the city is infringing on them.
Ted Montgomery, 410 Cabinet Heights owner CampCreek Coffee and several rentals,asked how are the personal rentals going to be handled that are in the business district and vacant properties going to be handled in the business district? Montgomery asked are the taxes going to change in the downtown district? And if so who’s going to take the hit the city ’cause we know you (the City) can’t afford it. Montgomery said he was at the first meeting with 3 other people and only heard about it by a fluke. Montgomery said “we have codes and ordinances and he is not against that, he wants Libby to look better,he’s done his part,bought drug houses fixed them up, has teachers and kids living in them. There’s been a lot of successful business taking off in the downtown , new events coming to town, why do we need to change everything when we can’t uphold what we have.”
Don Thornton,220 California Western Home, and Auto said he is a prohibited business and wants to protect his business and wants clarification. Libby needs to attract business, not make the ones here leave and that’s what this feels like.
Jason Wamsley ,11541 Hwy 37,is looking at property in the downtown area to open a trailer business asked if he purchased it before the new zoning was passed “could he beat this.” Smith said yes.
Bruce Weatherbee,1009 West 9th St Sherpa Trailers, “What makes this community unique, they have supported our business; I’m a bad guy on your list,I’m not happy I think we need to be inclusive, not exclusive, I beg you to think about this.”
Allen Olen,33692 Hwy , said every business owner in Libby tries. “When I was on the council Chief Coker wanted to put cameras on the gut, Wayne Hirst said its time we start doing something for the people of Libby not to them.”
Council Discussion:
Brian Zimmerman applauds the planning board for trying to update the zoning districts,updated the building materials. Yet some of the prohibited uses need to be looked at ,with more input from business owners. Zimmerman said the public needs to be more involved with local government and possibly the Chamber of Commerce could have been more involved in letting the business be aware of the proposed zoning changes. Zimmerman thanked the group for coming out and asking good questions.
Kristin Smith said the process of changing legislation is very time consuming and all the comments tonight were refreshing . Smith said the board would look at all the comments from tonight and address them as they move forward. Smith said again the purposed rules only apply to new business and new construction ,everything that already exists, exists. Smith encouraged the public to provide more written comments and submit them to city hall so the board can address them.
Gary Beach thanked everyone for attending then said” we need to moving forward, we need to be more inclusive” “The proposed zoning could impact economic development we need to move forward positively and not hinder business and promote our local business, verses finger pointing at them.”
Peggy Williams thanked everyone for coming and said: “the conversation was good and opened up a lot of dialogue and revealed a lot of issues, we need to go back to the table and work on this.”
Hugh Taylor thanked everyone for coming and had concerns about the draft and council is not in a position to exclude any business, that is not illegal or immoral. We need to grow downtown with new ideas; we can not exclude someone who is not hurting their neighbor. We should embrace everyone.
Rob Dufficy thanked everyone for coming out and said efforts were not in vain, this was city government at work . Dufficy said “he had a lot of questions about the draft but kept them to himself and just wanted the business owners to come here for themselves to express your views and you did that well. Government should help, not control private business, and private money.”
Mayor Teske said,” this is the start, this is a draft, and this is how this is supposed to work, he was very encouraged by what everyone said and very appreciative by everyone coming out.” Teske said there is an opening on the board for a city resident.
Council recessed 8:30
Council resumed 8:40
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Adopt Ordinance 1927-An ordinance of the city council of the City of Libby Montana, amending chapter 8.08.010 of the Libby municipal code entitled “accumulation of trash and junk and prohibited.” First Reading.
Mr. Zimmemran Made a Motion to Adopt Ordinance 1927.
Mr. Beach SECOND.
Ted Montgomery,410 Cabinet Heights Road, said he had a classic pickup and was issued a ticket, he was wondering what the process was for junk vehicles.
Mayor Teske said Montgomery lives in the county and this is a city ordinance.
Jennifer Nelson , former Lincoln County Sanitarian, said a vehicle has to meet the terms of the definition of the ordinance and you can license it annually, then it is no longer a junk vehicle.
Montgomery asked how is this enforced?
Nelson said the owner of the vehicle is informed of the code they are in violation of. Nelson said the vehicle could be tarped with a car cover.
DC Orr, 1117 Nevada, asked if the utility box he puts on his truck would be considered junk?
Teske said this would be reflective in the state code in what includes component parts.
Williams, Smith, Zimmerman, Beach, Dufficy, Taylor voted FOR.
MOTION PASSED.
Adopt Ordinance 1928-An ordinance of the city council of the City of Libby Montana amending chapter 9.52 of the Libby municipal code entitled “loitering.” First Reading
Mr. Zimmerman MADE A MOTION to adopt ordinance 1928.
Mr. Beach SECOND.
Williams, Smith, Zimmerman, Beach, Dufficy, Taylor voted FOR.
MOTION PASSED.
Adopt Ordinance 1929- An ordinance of the city council of the City of Libby Montana, amending certain sections of chapter 5 of the Libby municipal code entitled “business licenses and regulations.” First Reading
Mr. Zimmerman MADE A MOTION to accept 1929.
Ms. Smith SECOND.
Williams, Smith, Zimmerman, Beach, Dufficy, Taylor voted FOR
MOTION PASSED.
Adopt Resolution 1930- A resolution of the City of Libby, a municipal corporation of Montana,adopting a schedule of fees for certain administrative services provided and regularly charged as specified by city code, and providing for the effective date of all fees.
Mr. Zimmerman MADE A MOTION to accept resolution 1930.
Ms. Smith SECOND.
Williams, Smith, Zimmerman, Beach, Dufficy, Taylor voted FOR.
MOTION PASSED.
Libby Web Site Re-Design: None
Council Rules and Procedure.
Ms. Williams gave council an updated version on Council Vacancy and Appointments to Various Boards, Agencies and Commissions. Council discussion followed.
General Comments from the Council:
Ms. Smith asked if the ski club had received the city’s letter of support for the grant. Mayor Teske said the letter was signed and was handed to Ms.Olphant tonight.
Adjournment:
Ms. Williams MADE a MOTION to adjourn the meeting.
Mr. Dufficy SECOND.
Williams, Zimmerman, Beach, Taylor, Dufficy voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
The meeting ADJOURNED at 9:07 pm.
______________ Attest; ______________________________
Mayor
Brent Teske Audray J. McCollum, City Clerk/Treasurer