Allen Dinkel, City Manager
This past week I heard discussions and much confusion about Planning and Zoning for Junction City. Some of the comments were extremely inaccurate, so the topic of this week’s report was “born”.
For a number of years, the City and Geary County had an agreement for a joint Planning organization known as the Metropolitan Planning Commission or the MPC. I don’t know all of the history, but when it began there were seven members on the MPC. Three were appointed by the County and three by the City. The 7th was a joint appointment. At some point, the City of Milford became part of the MPC, and the 7th person was then appointed by the City of Milford. A couple of years ago the City of Milford withdrew from the MPC and then the number of members dropped to six. Discussions were held to increase the number of Planning Commissioners back to seven when the County decided to withdraw and form their own Planning Commission. Likewise, the City is in the process of setting up their own Planning Commission as well. The City Commission has determined to have a five-member Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals. All the these have to be residents and live within the City limits. The City will be creating a position and hire an employee to deal with Planning, Zoning, and other issues.
So, what changes other than there are now two groups? The former MPC addressed zoning issues for both Junction City and the unincorporated area in Geary County. The City issues followed the City Code and the County, which is zoned, had their code and guidelines. All the Planning Commissioners, regardless of whom they were appointed by, acted as one body and handled all of the issues regardless if it was a City or County issue. Now the City Planning Commission will handle zoning issues for just the City and the County Planning Commission will take care of the issues for the unincorporated area of the County.
Recently I heard someone inquire about a three-mile extra-territorial zoning area around the City. Kansas Statute allows for a City to have City zoning outside of the City limits for an area of up to three miles from the City limits. Of the cities I have managed in Kansas, two of the cities zoned into the unincorporated area of the County. One went the full three miles, while the other went about a mile out. The reason why some cities use this tool is to protect the area around the City. Most of the cities in Johnson County have extra-territorial zoning as they probably will grow into that area in the future. Other cities do it to protect water supplies or to protect the perimeter of the City. Of course, it can be controversial. Last spring there was a bill in the Kansas Legislature to limit this power, but it never moved out of committee. Yes, I testified against the bill as I feel it is a tool for some cities and since I believe in local control, each City can decide. Bottom line is the City of Junction City does not have extra-territorial zoning. As I said above, the unincorporated area of Geary County is zoned using the County zoning regulations and not the City’s. We can discuss the good and bad and reasons to or not to, but not an issue at this time here. When a City has extra-territorial zoning, two2 Planning Commissioners have to live outside of the City limits and in that area. Again, not an issue here.
The City Commission will be selecting five City residents to serve on the City Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals. Some cities separate these functions, but others do not. The Planning Commission can only make recommendations to the City Commission and final action is made by the City Commissioners. Simply by majority vote, the recommendations can be approved. If the City Commission wishes to override the Planning Commission it must be by a super majority or by a 4-1 or 5-0 vote.
The Board of Zoning Appeals deals with issues such as Conditional Use Permits or variances for items such as setbacks. The decisions they make are final actions as the City Code allows for those specific cases.
Zoning can be controversial at times. I have heard some say that it is my property and I have the right to do as I wish. However, zoning is needed to protect the rights of others and to dictate present and future development.
Simply put zoning is land use and density. Parts of the City are zoned single-family and require larger lots and spacing. Apartment complexes are zoned differently as more people reside in a given area and the buildings are closer together and occupy a higher percentage of the lot. Downtown businesses are zoned to allow the building to go to the property line while businesses in other areas of the City have a set back from the property lines and are less densely built on the property. Industrial areas are needed for those businesses, but also to protect other uses of property in the City.
Zoning is important as it can set the stage for the community both presently and in the future. We can look back at zoning decisions here in Junction City and we can argue if those decisions were the best. Areas such as along Highway 77 were zoned to allow housing, but we can wonder if they would have been zoned differently if there would be more commercial development in that area. Not saying it was a bad decision in the past, but one example of the importance of zoning.
Planning and zoning are tools. The key is how those tools are used.