Pocatello commission recommends Title 17 zoning changes, including 25-year grandfathering and parking reforms

The Pocatello Planning and Zoning Commission voted on Jan. 8 to recommend City Council adopt proposed amendments to Title 17 of the Pocatello zoning regulations, approving changes that staff said aim to clarify legal nonconforming status, update allowed uses and provide more flexible parking and lot-size rules in targeted areas.

Jim Anglesey, the city’s long-range planner, told commissioners the package includes a 25-year sliding scale to determine when a use or structure can be considered legally nonconforming or "grandfathered." "We found that a lot of our records don't start until the nineties, and so it's really difficult to determine a property ... it's hard to determine if it's considered legal nonconforming because it predates any of our records. So a 25‑year sliding scale is what we're…