The Sweet Home Planning Commission voted 7-0 on Jan. 5 to recommend to the City Council the removal of the conditional use permit that allows the use of a temporary unit for medical hardship purposes from the low-density residential zone ordinance.
The recommended revision will appear before the City Council during its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 27.
Currently, temporary units for medical hardship purposes may be permitted through the conditional use permit process, LaRoque said. Over the years, the Planning Commission has approved 13 conditional use permits for medical hardship purposes, 12 for recreational vehicles and one for a manufactured home.
The Planning Commission began discussing whether the provision should continue to be permitted through a conditional use process or whether review criteria should be developed. The majority of the commissioners agreed that the provision should be removed.
Outside of this process, the city has two alternatives available, LaRoque said. Long-term, permanent accessory dwellings may be developed through the conditional use process in all residential zones. Short-term, non-permanent dwellings, namely RVs, may be inhabited for up to 60 days in a year through a permit process.
The council approved the RV permit process last year. Previously, the use of RVs had been limited to just seven days per year.
Chairman Henry Wolthuis said he is aware of circumstances in the county, not inside the city, where an individual has a caretaker staying in an RV.
“She’s on hospice now,” Wolthuis said of the patient. “What a great benefit it has been to have somebody there. I think we’re doing the right thing, but there’s going to be circumstances we’ll probably have other thoughts on.”
Attending the meeting and voting to to recommend the removal of the medical hardship permit were commissioners Lance Gatchell, Eva Jurney, James Goble, Greg Stephens, Edith Wilcox, Ned Kilpatrick and Wolthuis.
In other business, the commission re-elected Wolthuis as chairman.
Also, LaRoque said that changes in state law now allow fences to be 7 feet tall without a building permit.
The city’s ordinance currently limits fence height to 6 feet without a building permit. The commission will consider at its next regular meeting, Feb. 2, whether it would like to increase the limit to 7 feet and streamline the fence permit process by allowing staff to review variance requests for fences.
In one example, a backyard adjacent to a school is visible from the school at maximum height, LaRoque said.
Streamlining the process would allow property owners to request a variance to mitigate such circumstances without paying a high fee to ask the Planning Commission.
For more information, call the planning office at (541) 367-8113.