Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council grants waiver allowing homeowners to rebuild residence at 15 Plymouth Highway despite commercial zoning
Summary
Council approved a resolution exempting property owners at 15 Plymouth Highway from the three-year replacement requirement for a nonconforming residence so they can obtain building permits to reconstruct after a 2019 fire.
The Ione City Council on March 4 adopted a resolution granting an exemption that allows the property owner of 15 Plymouth Highway to rebuild a residence on commercially zoned property after the original structure was destroyed by fire.
City Planner Susan Peters explained staff reviewed the application and determined the property is zoned commercial but has been used residentially; city code allows a nonconforming residential use to be rebuilt within three years of destruction. The owners sought an extension beyond that three-year window because the house burned in 2019, litigation followed, and ownership changed hands. Peters said staff prepared a resolution to permit the exception.
Property owner Patty Fisher (surname listed in the record as Fisher Miseraca) said the house was substantially burned in 2019, that litigation delayed rebuilding, and that lending and insurance companies find the zoning status complicates financing. She asked council to approve the waiver and to consider rezoning the parcel to a commercial-transition or mixed category to simplify future financing and rebuilding.
Peters noted that the municipal code already includes a provision that permits rebuilding a nonconforming structure that burned if action is taken within the three-year window; the applicants asked council for an exception because that period had elapsed. During discussion council members noted the broader planning context, including upcoming housing-element work and possible rezoning efforts. One council member suggested removing the time limit entirely for replacement of like-for-like homes, but the council voted on the staff recommendation as written.
A motion to adopt Resolution No. 2025-511 (request for exemption from Ione municipal code provision cited in staff materials) passed on voice vote; the mayor declared, "Ayes have it." Staff said ordinance changes or rezoning requests would be pursued separately if the owners or planning commission pursue them.
The resolution allows the property owners to move forward with building permits to reconstruct the dwelling at 15 Plymouth Highway; council members and the planner encouraged using the planning commission and housing-element work as an opportunity to consider broader zoning adjustments in the corridor.
