Commission recommends conditional use permit for landscape contractor yard with screening and floodplain conditions

The Kearney Planning and Zoning Commission recommended that the Board of Aldermen approve a conditional use permit for a landscape contractor yard and outdoor material storage at 15025 Jesse James Farm Road, subject to conditions including a one‑year expiration, additional screening and required permits for work in the floodplain.

Staff described the applicant’s plan for concrete block bins for landscape rock, covered dirt bins and designated mulch storage “mounds,” and said the application includes a conceptual future retail building that is not part of the current request. The staff report recommended the commission require a minimum of ten 6‑foot‑tall evergreen (juniper) plantings along the south property line to screen mulch piles, a sign permit for proposed signage, submission of a floodplain development permit for any work in the floodplain, and that the conditional use permit expire one year from approval.

Commissioners reviewed plan sheets showing proposed berms planted with junipers and crabapples, a limestone block monument‑style wall near the entrance and the proposed block bins. Staff reminded the commission that previous site plan approvals had lapsed and that any future retail building would require a new site plan review. Commissioners asked whether work would occur in a floodplain; staff confirmed the property includes 100‑year floodplain and that buildings must be elevated three feet above base flood elevation, though other improvements may be permitted with appropriate floodplain approvals.

A motion recommending approval to the Board of Aldermen carried on a voice vote.