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Public Meeting for Preliminary Plat

Council will discuss planning commission recommendation

WAITSBURG – At their meeting on Thursday, Waitsburg city council members appeared ready to send the Waitsburg planning commission’s recommendation to disapprove the Whoopemup Meadows preliminary plat proposal back to the commission for further review. However, code requirements prevented them from doing so without first holding a public meeting. That meeting will take place Thursday at 6 p.m.

Waitsburg’s planning commission – in order to meet a requirement to make a recommendation within 14 days of a Jan. 12 public hearing – recommended the city council disapprove the Whoopemup Meadows preliminary plat agreement due to a lack of information.

The commission did so with the understanding, as explained by council and commission member K.C. Kuykendall, that the council could reject the disapproval and instead request that the commission obtain the information they needed to make a more informed decision.

That may still happen, but not before it’s discussed at a public meeting. City Attorney Jared Hawkins explained that Waitsburg’s municipal code is very clear in requiring that the council set a public meeting (not a hearing) to specifically discuss any recommendations from the planning commission.

Kuykendall asked if there wasn’t a provision that allowed the council to send the recommendation back for more information instead. “I don’t understand the need to delay the process further by having a meeting to say we need more information,” he said.

Hawkins indicated that code was clear. “I would prefer there wasn’t a delay but the code is specific that the council should set a public meeting date,” he said.

Council member Marty Dunn stated that he was in favor of the development and wants it to succeed, but that the planning commission exists for a reason and that they still have work to do and the recommendation needs to go back to them.

“I’m for the development but we want it up and done right as it should be,” he said.

Whoopemup Meadows developers Gene and Mary Warren, who have expressed concern about the preliminary plat process so far, have retained Waitsburg attorney Mike Hubbard “to help keep this preliminary plat within the confines of the Waitsburg Municipal code,” according to Gene Warren.

The public meeting for the Waitsburg City Council to discuss the preliminary plat disapproval recommendation from the Waitsburg Planning Commission will take place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Lions Community Building at the Waitsburg Fairgrounds.

 

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