‘Council Cleanup’ Being Planned; Short Term Rentals Approved Downtown
On Tuesday, April 14, the City Council of Council, Idaho held their monthly public meeting at City Hall. First there was a report from Great West Engineering. They said the contractor for the water project was on site and working, they have done about 710 feet so far.
Kathy Hughes gave a report on the Council Airport and said they are charging ahead for their open house, which is scheduled for May 2nd, and will include a pancake breakfast as well as the short takeoff and landing clinic. Gas sales have been on fire, there are about 14,000 gallons left in the tank. The next Airport Commission meeting is April 27.
City Clerk, Ashley Scott, said the city bathrooms are nearing completion, but they are not reopening them until the cameras are installed. She ran over some options and numbers for cameras with the council for the bathrooms and the new City Hall, some of which would also hopefully cover the park. They have also recently received complaints about the garbage cans in the downtown area and she was wondering about replacing them. They discussed options and ideas regarding replacing the garbage cans, as well as the plan to clean up Council. May 16 and 17 are the county free dump days where appliances and up to four tires will be free. The council discussed fronting the cost for residential houses who were interested in dumping more than four tires. Meredith Fisher with Planning and Zoning from the county is helping to organize the event, and she spoke to the council.
Fisher said they were going with the title “Clean up Council” and the main objective was to clean up the downtown area and the commercial corridor. It will be the third weekend in May. The county has proposed to provide a manned trash trailer and they are looking for volunteers to get additional trailers. They are building a list of organizations who may be willing to help. One suggestion Fisher had for non-compliant properties was to put them into a lottery to select which ones to focus on so it was fair and they were not accused of picking on certain people. “This is really an effort for community buy-in to clean up our town,” she said. Fisher also requested, as a Council resident, that the city look at their junk ordinance, as it was hard to define what “junk” was and could unfairly target certain people. “I would ask that you maybe consider taking a look at that junk ordinance to making sure that it’s clear and well defined what you’re considering junk,” she said, “that you’re focusing on health and safety and that would be a good way to sort of honor the community buy-in that we’re hoping to see.”
Caleb Shumway, with Public Works, said they purchased a new blade, it is a good machine and a big improvement. They have been busy with the water project.
Next, the city council held a public hearing for a conditional use permit for a parking lot at Adams County Health Center. Council member Mendy Stanford recused herself for the discussion due to a conflict of interest, but did talk on behalf of the applicant. She said after listening to the issues from last month’s public hearing, they reviewed the ordinance, which included the language “may” regarding a fence, so she proposed they did not build a fence at all. She said there was a plan to mitigate drainage issues and Caleb Shumway explained it. Public comment brought up additional concerns about drainage and pooling on neighboring properties and stated a desire to retain more green spaces.
The second public hearing was for a conditional use permit for a short term rental in the commercial zone on Illinois Ave. The applicant stated they were having trouble finding a tenant for the space and didn’t want it to sit vacant. They were interested in pursuing a short term rental situation as a temporary means to put some sort of profitable enterprise into the space. Public comment brought up the recent state law HB 583 preventing cities from making regulation on short term rentals, which the council thought didn’t apply since this was in the commercial zone, and other public comment from business building owner Cassidy Winters echoed the applicant with concerns about the rate of vacancies downtown and saying it was currently very hard to find tenants for her commercial space. “The people who own those buildings need to be able to pay for them,” said Winters. “What are we doing to help Council and the business building owners down there?”
The third public hearing was to accept public comment on vacating a portion of Brady Street along the old railroad right of way and there was no public comment.
After that the council moved on to business and issued a motion to proceed on the municipal airport lighting project before moving on to the ACHC parking Lot. Council Member Dave Tubridy mentioned that after the last public hearing the neighbor had put their house up for sale. He was concerned about how to move forward if a new owner came in and also said “we don’t want another unsellable house here in town.” Council Member Dan Huter thought all the concerns had been met aside from the fence. Mayor Wilson said he also had an issue getting rid of a green zone, which was brought up with multiple people. Mendy Stanford said on behalf of the applicants that there would be a 30 ft buffer between the property and the parking lot that would remain green. Wilson liked that the parking lot was gravel because it still seemed a temporary thing in his eyes, but thought it would be a better solution to turn the property the old clinic was on into a parking lot after it was torn down.
Council Member Mark Edwards moved to approve the conditional use permit as described. Dan Huter seconded. The motion passed 2-1 with Dave Tubridy voting no and Mendy Stanford abstaining.
They moved on to discussing the conditional use permit for a short term rental at 106 Illinois Ave. Caleb Shumway reminded everyone there was a no parking on Illinois overnight ordinance during snow removal months that would have to be enforced. Mayor Wilson asked the applicant how far into the project they were and how much they were thinking of investing into it. The applicant said not far yet, pending the results of the hearing, and that it would take at least $50,000 to make the necessary modifications. Wilson was worried about losing the commercial aspect of the buildings. Mendy Stanford asked if the space could be split into both a residential and commercial space. The applicants said he was planning on still leaving most of the space open and county building inspector, Kody Williams, weighed in on some of the requirements to both commercial and residential spaces as they pertained to the unique nature of the building. The council was also concerned about competing with the hotel. The applicant thought he would be catering to whole families and wasn’t really competition for the new Council Inn. Cassidy Winters didn’t think this was a long term solution, but advocated for it as a short term solution while they were rebuilding the downtown.
Mendy Stanford motioned to approve the conditional use permit with the stipulation that it be revisited after six years, the motion passed 3-1 with Dave Tubridy voting no. “I don’t like it,” said Mayor Wilson, “but hopefully it’s not forever, you know, and I also don’t like that it’s vacant.”
The Council Chamber of Commerce wanted to know if the city would go half with them on an ad to promote Council in a Weiser Signal American Expedition Guide magazine ad that is widely distributed. The city agreed to split costs with the chamber for a half page ad, which also came with a full page write up.
Next, there was a lengthy discussion on the possibility of putting an electric car charging station in Council. Local business owner, Channel Sanderson, proposed it as a way to revitalize Council. He said that Tesla is allowing municipalities to install charging stations and municipalities get the revenue. Additionally, there are grants for the installation costs through Idaho Department of Transportation that would cover 80% of the cost. The city would purchase and own the chargers but Tesla would be required to maintain and update it. The city would control the pricing and they would be open to all electric vehicles, not just Tesla. This was a new program. Sanderson thought not only would it bring in revenue from the charging stations, but could bring in affluent tourists into Council off the highway (if they were located downtown) and give them an opportunity to spend money downtown. “It’s captive visitors who see our shops and eat at our town and spend their money,” he said “and grow our downtown.” He also proposed pairing the charging station with space for food trucks, and collecting revenue from rent for that as well. The city council was intrigued but had several concerns. Overall, they were interested in more information.
The city deemed several shares of Lost Valley Reservoir surplus property so they could enter into negotiations regarding them. There was a lengthy discussion over what to do with the old grader. Shumway did not feel it was ethical auctioning it or selling it given its issues, however, a recent contractor who had done work for the city had looked it over and was willing to trade work for the blade and take it on as a project. Tubridy was concerned about not giving other locals the opportunity to bid on it, however, most of the council agreed if the contractor was willing to trade the work it was a good deal for the city and agreed to the transaction. They also declared surplus property on several other items, including a 2015 Kia, 1983 Dodge Pickup, and a 2004 F150. If anyone is interested in these vehicles, the condition was discussed in the meeting and the audio can be requested.
At the end of the meeting the city council discussed and awarded several bids for repairs to city property including the new City Hall and the museum.
