FARMINGTON -- Farmington Planning Commission, along with Mayor Ernie Penn, began the formal discussion last week to require all existing businesses along Main Street to pave their parking lots.
The Commission has talked about a parking ordinance for existing businesses for some time but chairman Robert Mann said he believed it was time to "move off the fence and put something in place."
Penn agreed with Mann, saying, "I think this is the perfect time. If we are going to look at dressing up Main Street, we're going to have to tighten up the parking lots."
Commissioners pointed out they did not want the ordinance to be a burden on property owners and wanted to give them time to comply with its requirements. They also wanted the ordinance to allow property owners to have the ability to request variances if there were extenuating circumstances.
Penn said the ordinance needs to be consistent for all businesses and property owners on Main Street.
A new parking ordinance would affect at least 16 existing businesses or property owners on Main Street, according to a list provided to the planners at their July 23 meeting. Several of the businesses already have part of their lots paved but a new ordinance would require additional areas to be paved.
Businesses on the list are Ayers Drywall, S&S Auto Sales, Main Street Motors, Lee Auto and Equipment, Mahan Services, Stay and Play Daycare, To the Touch Massage and Kelley Animal Services, Broyles Wrecker, Holden Building, Mario Complete Auto Care, Jeff's Auto Repair, Shear Magic, Cutting Crew, DeMarco's restaurant, Autosource, Dairy Queen (employees park their cars on a grass lot behind the restaurant).
The Commission will have a public comment hearing Aug. 20 to invite these businesses to the meeting to give their input on an ordinance. City Attorney Steve Tennant said he wants to consider public comments and the commissioners' ideas when drawing up a new parking ordinance.
"I want to give these people ample opportunity to speak," Tennant said.
City staff had a list of questions for commissioners to answer to help give guidance to Tennant for a new ordinance.
As they answered the questions, commissioners agreed that none of the existing businesses would be exempt from the ordinance or grandfathered in.
Existing businesses or property owners would have one year to comply with the ordinance but could request a six-month hardship extension from the Planning Commission.
One idea, they decided, would be to offer the services of a contractor and potentially try to negotiate a better price to pave a number of parking lots at one time.
They said paved parking should be required for all areas, including storage of equipment, employee parking and customer parking. Another recommendation was to require paved parking for storage behind a fence.
"I think if you are going to drive on it or park on it, it should be paved," Mann said.
One of the questions asked if there would be any situations where unpaved parking would be considered? The answer was no but property owners could present their case and request a variance to paved parking. For example, one commissioner wondered if a landscape company should have to pave the area where it keeps plants and trees for sale.
Planning Commission member Judy Horne said her concern was eliminating green space and storm water runoff from paved parking lots.
"If we require them to pave from the highway back to their building and around the sides, let's not completely pave everything," Horne said.
The Commission emphasized no decisions had been made and public comments would be taken into consideration.
The time frame discussed was to have an ordinance ready for the City Council's October meeting and then the measure would be read for three consecutive meetings to give the public time to address the Council during that period.
If adopted, the ordinance would take effect in January 2019.
Commissioner Gerry Harris said the city needs to sell the requirement of paving all parking lots as helping the future of Farmington.
"We want to make it appealing for people to want to come here," Harris said.
She added, "If we do it now, in two years it will be taken care of and people..."
"...will not remember how much they hate us," Planning Commission Matt Hutherson said, finishing Harris' sentence.
The ordinance would have a penalty for not complying but Tennant said he would have to research possible penalties and how they could be enforced.
General News on 08/01/2018