Proposed future land use map is presented to the city planning commission

A more than one hour session of the Rogers City Planning Commission, which was attended by nearly the entire Rogers City Council as audience members, was spent discussing the proposed future land use map as another step in adopting a new Comprehensive Plan. Wade Trim professional planner Fran Brink attended the meeting to present a draft map to commission members. The Comprehensive Plan update was the only agenda item. The future land use map, which has not changed significantly since 1992, saw some minor adjustments to borders during the meeting. A mixed-use boundary was altered slightly to better represent current land use, and proposed future land use was made in the area of Third and Superior, according to city manager John Bruning. The one-block area had been listed in the waterfront district.

?IT?S ONE step in the process of completing the Comprehensive Plan,? said Bruning. ?I think it represents current uses and allows for some modifications to zoning that are consistent with the plan that make sense for the future. I wouldn?t see any significant changes at future meetings. I think it is a fairly well put together plan. There has been a lot of effort put into it over the years.? The future land use categories include estate residential, single family residential, medium density residential, multi-family residential, residential Renaissance Zone, waterfront multi-family residential, mixed use, waterfront, schools, passive recreation, office service, downtown business, highway commercial, industrial/extractive/transportation, future development. Most of the area marked for future development is located to the west of the US-23/M-68 intersection.

?AT THIS point it is still a draft copy,? said Bruning. ?It is a future land use plan that we are looking at and trying to determine where certain things, uses of land, commercial versus residential, and things of that nature are, and how they will exist in the future.? The future land use map looks out 10 to 20 years, the city manager said. ?By state law it?s required that the plan documents be evaluated every five years,? said Bruning. ?So, changes may or may not be necessary in this review. It?s trying to look into the future.? ?Many of the areas are continuing in the uses that are in existence today. There may be some changes, through zoning, but at this point, I don?t see anything real significant.?

PART OF MONDAY?S discussion

revolved around some zoning regulations that may need to be tweaked in the future. There are several dwellings in the city that have restrictions on rebuilding if a fire destroys a house. Most commission members, and city council members that took part in the discussion, were in agreement that this is an area that needs to be looked at. One such property found about these restrictions when the house at the corner of Second and Superior streets was damaged by fire and razed. ?On top of having a tragic situation, it gets worse if a family cannot rebuild in the same location because of restrictions,? said Bruning.

?There are some provisions that allow rebuilding, but they are quite restrictive and pretty much impractical. It is likely, particularly from the discussion that took place, it wouldn?t be surprising to hear additional comments on the same topic that will seriously warrant looking at some adjusting.? At the next planning commission meeting in late February, the map will be distributed for review with the incorporated changes discussed.