Story By: Grace Smith, Community Resources Editor
Photos By: Oliva Pelaez
A Planning Commission Workshop was held on Thursday, April 20 to continue discussion about short-term rental regulations and reviewing changes to the 2023 Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan. This workshop was scheduled separately from the regular meetings of the Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission is a board that serves the city and makes recommendations to the city council, especially with zoning, development and land use.
The workshop began with an update regarding short-term rental regulations. Percentage caps on short-term rentals in residential zones had been previously discussed as an option as opposed to flat caps. At this meeting, they discussed these percentage caps further, especially regarding thoughts on the matter that were brought up in previous public engagement meetings.
City Planning Supervisor Felix Landry was present at the public engagement meetings for this issue and spoke about the feedback that had been received and the questions that were asked.
“We spent most of the time talking about the overall percentage caps, what they could look like, what they apply to, and how it affects people who are existing on the ground,” said Landry.
Landry also brought up how the importance of differentiation between downtown and non-downtown areas when talking about zoning in regards to this issue was discussed during the public engagement meetings.
Two additional public engagement meetings were held after this workshop, one on the evening of April 20 after the workshop, and the other as a virtual session on Friday, April 21. This is because there was lower attendance at the previous two meetings, which Landry attributed to possibly being due to the meetings being held on weekdays when public school was not in session.
The discussion of short-term rentals left off with the assurance that there would be more discussion at the next meeting after the other public information sessions.
The other main point on the agenda for this workshop was the Pedestrian and Bike Plan. This served as an additional assurance about the plan before it was presented to the City Council.
Several staff members asked questions, and they also discussed the revision process that was done across several meetings. Towards the end of the discussion on this topic, there was talk of how funding fits into the plan. It was brought up that there are some funding options outlined in the plan, but that it does not go into detail since it is primarily focused on the logistics of recommended changes to bike and pedestrian paths.
“We don’t know exactly how it’s going to be funded,” said Community Development Director Tamra Allen, who also mentioned that it is important to keep broad flexibility in the plan for now when it comes to funding.
Discussion of the Pedestrian and Bike Plan finished once the questions about the plan were answered, and the workshop concluded after some additional miscellaneous discussion.
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