Kearney commission adopts future land use map amendment, delays zoning code rewrite to Feb. 10

The Kearney Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 13 approved a resolution amending the city’s future land use map and directed staff to adjust the downtown-overlay boundary, while deferring a proposed comprehensive zoning-code rewrite for further study.

Planning staff presented a proposed update to the future land use map and related priorities drawn from the city’s fiscal-year goals, including actions to reduce minimum lot sizes, identify higher-density housing areas and adjust land designations near interstate interchanges. Alex Johnson of Lamp Rynearson participated online as the code and plan consultant. Staff said the proposed map fills previously uncolored fringe areas and identifies opportunity sites near the I‑35/Highway 92 interchange, Watson Drive and a Greenfield site on Nineteenth Street for potential multifamily, commercial or industrial uses.

Commissioners debated the downtown overlay boundary and asked staff to redraw the northern edge to follow property or right-of-way lines and the railroad corridor so the district is…