Staff proposes zoning-code amendments; commission agrees to schedule public hearings

County planner Steve Josephson presented a package of proposed zoning‑code amendments at the March 27 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting and asked commissioners whether staff should schedule public hearings on several items. Commissioners gave consensus to begin public hearings on a subset of the proposals and to review larger or more complex topics in separate workshops.

Josephson described the items he proposed for near‑term public hearings: adding definitions for greenhouse, nursery, roadside stand and truck gardening; changing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) from a conditional use to a permitted use so qualifying ADUs could go directly to permitting instead of a conditional‑use application; and clarifying that certain recreational uses (golf driving ranges, archery ranges, miniature golf, go‑kart tracks) be listed as conditional uses within the agricultural zoning district for internal consistency.

He also proposed establishing an estate zoning district in the county’s extraterritorial zone near the city of Gladstone and listing stables as a conditional use in that district. Another proposed amendment would add more detailed application materials for banquet/reception halls so that applicants supply consistent information (floor plans, furniture layouts, ADA checklist, restroom plans) at the time of a CUP filing. Josephson said he has reviewed a draft violation/penalty section with the state’s attorney modeled on Dunn County’s code that would set notification periods, allow a reasonable cure period and treat each day of continued noncompliance as a separate violation.

Commissioners asked for two topics — data centers and large solar facilities — to be handled in separate review sessions because those sections are more complex; commissioners Claras and Riddle and Commissioner White agreed to work with staff on those drafts. Josephson said he would schedule hearings on the other items at the next available meeting.

Ending — Commissioners instructed staff to set public hearings for the listed cleanup and procedural amendments and to hold separate workshops for data centers and solar‑facility language. The commission also expects a meeting on May 1 with a temporary‑use application for a batch plant and a conditional‑use application for an accessory dwelling unit (if filed).