03-21-1985 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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• '' • • ..- Minutes, Regular Meeting La Porte Planning & Zoning Commission March 21, 1985, Page 3 Chairman Latimer stated that he had spoken with several persons concerning the Commission's role in approving the new ordinances. He stated that it was decided that the role of the Commission was to review these ordinances as citizens and that the consultants were hired to write and prepare these items for the City. He stated that the City Staff would review what the consultants had done and "fine ,tune" them to meet the citizens needs. Mr. Speake stated that the Staff is still reviewing the Ordinance and should be complete with the process as soon as possible. Several questions were asked and comments made on the ordinance. Time limits were a major concern of the Commission. The sketch plan requirements were also discussed. After further discussion on some of the main items stated above, Chairman Latimer asked Assistant City Attorney John Armstrong to tell the Commission what he had learned on the "Law on Parks". Mr. Armstrong stated that the Supreme Court in November of 1984, had overruled the requirement on parks. Municipalities are now within certain guidelines to require mandatory dedications of land in subdivisions by the developers. Small subdivisions would be required to dedicate less than one acre of land and may have a "cash in-lieu of" fund which would be in support of a comprehensive master plan of parks. The money must be used • in that specific area where the subdivision is located. The ordinance provides if the money is not used within two years, it will be reverted back to the land owners in the subdivision. At this point in the meeting, Mr. Fred Westergren asked to speak on behalf of some of the businessmen and developers in the City of La Porte. Chairman Latimer turned the floor over to him for his comments. Mr. Westergren stated that after having read some of the information contained in the Development Ordinance, he was concerned for the developer who owned small tracts of commercial property. He stated that as it appeared, it seemed that after all the setbacks were enforced, that there would hardly be enough room to build the actual business. He stated that it seemed to him that the City was reinacting the "Greenbelt Ordinance" which would put ~~:?