Planning commission schedules public hearing on Old Town Willard commercial zone, trims proposed uses

Willard City Planning Commission members on Sept. 18 agreed to schedule a public hearing in October to consider extending a commercial corridor along Highway 89 through the Old Town Willard area and adding an Old Town Willard zone to the city-use table.

During review of the draft zoning chart, commissioners flagged two conditional uses they considered inappropriate for the small Old Town area: a slaughterhouse (meat-processing with large animal throughput) and transportation/trucking uses that would locate in the center of town. Commissioners said those uses should not be allowed in the Old Town corridor; the commission directed staff to remove or mark those uses as prohibited or otherwise change the draft to better reflect the intended “Old Town” character.

Planner materials indicated the Old Town Willard zone was drafted to allow a range of small commercial uses while preserving the area’s character. Commissioners asked staff to revise the draft permitted/conditional-use table to remove slaughterhouse and heavy trucking from the list and to schedule a public hearing to solicit public testimony. The motion to set an October public hearing passed by voice vote.

Staff will prepare a redlined ordinance and a staff report for the hearing. No rezoning or ordinance adoption occurred at the Sept. 18 meeting; the record will be open for public comment at the scheduled hearing.

The commission also noted grocery and retail uses remain allowable and that the conditional-use process would still apply to uses that remained on the list.