Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council on April 11 denied a request to rezone and a Comprehensive Plan amendment that would pave the way for a 103-lot subdivision on Highway 20, east of 24th Avenue.
The 12-acre property is located north of Highway 20 and east of 24th Avenue, bordering both. The Coffee Hut is located on the land, which is zoned industrial by ordinance and designated light industrial and highway commercial in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The request was to change the zoning to recreation commercial to allow the construction of a residential and commercial subdivision.
The Planning Commission recommended approval of the changes at its regular meeting on April 3. The council heard the request during its regular meeting on April 11.
Voting for approval at the Planning Commission were Al Culver, Kim Lawrence, Dick Meyers and Frank Javersak. Voting no were Mike Adams, Dr. Henry Wolthuis and Scott McKee.
City Council members voting against the rezone and amendment at their April 11 meeting were Bob McIntire, Jim Gourley, Tim McQueary, Mayor Craig Fentiman and Rich Rowley. Dick Hill voted against the motion to deny the request. Jim Bean left the meeting early.
John Langdon and Van Melick applied for the amendment and zone change and are purchasing the property from Justification Holdings, LLC, and Lisa Lund.
The council’s decision centered on the need for recreation commercial-zoned land in Sweet Home. The burden of proof according to city codes for a Comprehensive Plan amendments is on the applicant.
Langdon and Melick argued that in recent years the city has changed hundreds of acres to recreation commercial, much of it from industrial, including 750 acres owned by two parties. That zoning was changed during the last Comprehensive Plan update.
They said that showed a change in community attitude favoring more recreation commercial development, essentially arguing that the city’s creation of so much recreation commercial zoning was proof.
Planning consultant Dave Dodson, who works for Dan Desler, managing trustee of Western States Land Reliance Trust, said the city has no industrial land for sale right now, and the council should not approve rezoning its existing industrial land.
Although the surrounding properties are owned by WSLRT and are in recreation commercial or highway commercial, Desler said, a residential development on the property in question would be more likely affected by plans to possibly build an amphitheater for the Jamboree north of it on WSLRT property.
Langdon and Melick said that the proximity to the amphitheater and other features of WSLRT are among recreational attractions to their development.
Their development would include a mix of residential with some commercial development.
“In the last 20 years, the property has been undeveloped, vacant and unused,” Melick said. Developing it as industrial or highway commercial presents problems. The highway access easement runs across a significant wetlands, so it is not useful.
It has a second easement, Dodson said, along with two access points to reach the Coffee Hut.
“Our intent is to minimize the impact,” Melick said. “Even though we’re not required to do so, we plan to create a riparian buffer zone (along Cotton Creek).”
Langdon and Melick also planned to set aside space for trails around the wetlands and riparian area.
Melick also told the council that Sweet Home has a surplus of industrial land.
“We’d be happy to have the Jamboree across the tracks,” Melick said. “In fact, we’re sort of banking on it.”
Recreation commercial zoning allows the greatest flexibility for development, Melick said, and the city’s creation of new recreation commercial demonstrates Sweet Home’s need for it.
The city asked the property owner to change the land’s zoning to recreation commercial in 2002 when the Comprehensive Plan was updated, but the property owner turned the city’s offer down then.
The applicants’ argument presupposes that the creation of new recreation commercial zoning demonstrates the need for even more recreation commercial, Rowley said. Given the amount of recreation commercial zoning already in place, he asked whether there might be a significant glut or a need for more.
The bulk of the existing recreation commercial is owned by two parties, Melick said, and he didn’t think it is possible to purchase it at a reasonable price.
“Do we actually need more RC (recreation commercial) in this area?” asked McQueary. “Is it the best thing for the city, not for developers?”
Langdon responded: “It’s compatible with what the city asked the owners previous to us.”
The applicants chose to argue a new community attitude as proof of need for the change, Rowley said. He said that argument is circuitous – that the creation of recreation commercial creates a need for more recreation commercial.
However, Rowley said he sees the corridor between the railroad track and Highway 20 as an opportunity for industrial development, he said. While he served on the Planning Commission, Rowley and his colleagues identified land like this as good places for light industrial, technology-based businesses.
But it was not conducive to residential development, Rowley said. If the rail line can be rehabilitated, it could help create a “corridor of opportunity”and induce other improvements.
He asked whether Sweet Home should become totally recreation-oriented or continue to have industrial and commercial land available.
He questioned whether the criteria for changing the zoning had been met.
“I think they are met,” Hill said, adding that, until a four-lane bypass is built around Lebanon, Sweet Home has no chance of getting industrial firms to move here.
Gourley said he wasn’t convinced.
“I was not in abundance shown that it met all the criteria,” he said.
Rowley said he did not find sufficient proof of need for the proposed change to approve it. He moved to deny the rezone. McIntire seconded, and the council approved the motion 5-1.