Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
COLFAX — The City Council met Monday night and passed two ordinances, one a nuisance code update and the other regarding home businesses.
For the nuisance code – which deals with derelict properties — the process for enforcement will now bypass the Board of Adjustment and go to the courts, in the event of an appeal of what is a civil infraction.
A written ticket would be a late-stage option in a process that includes site visits, warnings and allowing time for compliance.
“The last resort is a citation,” Mayor Jim Retzer said.
Moving the process to the courts from the quasi-judicial Board of Adjustment is expected to simplify things.
“It’s easier to follow that paper trail,” Interim City Administrator Chris Mathis said. “It creates a case number, a file that would state if it’s a repeat offender, any judgments rendered and so on.”
The council passed the new code on a motion by Councilman Mark Mackleit and a second by Jim Kackman. The vote was unanimous.
“We’re hoping people will be a little more serious about it,” Mathis said. “We’ve had some perennial offenders, but it’ll affect few people.”
For the home businesses code, the update drops the permit fee from $250 to $75 and puts a limit of eight customer visits/trips per day for a home occupation, along with other slight adjustments. Enforcement will be complaint-driven.
“It’s not that we’re gonna go out and hunt for them,” Mayor Retzer said.
The matter went to the City Council late last year after study by the city Planning Commission.
Originally, the council’s discussion centered on a limit of eight customer visits/trips, before being increased to 15, after concerns it was too limiting.
“What I don’t want to see... it’s the person who hates the person who has the stray dog who calls in the complaints,” contract City Attorney John Kragt said. “You’re trying to make things better, but you’re inserting yourself into neighbor drama.”
“Personally, I think 15 is too many, I think eight was fine... If you’ve got a business and you have 15 trips a day, you need a storefront downtown,” Kackman added. “You’ve outgrown your home.”
Councilwoman Crystn Guenthner agreed, before Councilwoman Crystal Christopherson asked if the ordinance could be based on the number of vehicles per hour.
The mayor then noted that the city has not had complaints in this area – traffic to home businesses.
Kackman made a motion to limit visits to a home occupations to eight in a given day. Mackleit seconded it and the vote was unanimous.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
Reader Comments(0)