Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Yard Requirements topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Huron commission amends yard ordinance first reading to specify 6-foot opaque fences for certain residential areas
Summary
The Huron City Commission approved a first reading amendment clarifying primary vs. accessory structures and added a 6-foot opaque fence requirement for specified residential areas; planning staff and commissioners discussed re-advertising the public hearing date to accommodate the change.
The Huron City Commission on an initial vote approved changes to yard and accessory-structure rules and agreed to add a 6-foot opaque fence requirement for certain residential districts.
City Planner Barry Cranston told the commission the ordinance — identified in the meeting record as “ordinance 22 67 dash 23 dash 1 45” — revises ambiguous language that previously did not distinguish between primary dwellings and accessory structures. “The main thrust of these ordinances are to clarify language between the primary structures and accessory structures,” Cranston said, saying the change is intended to make enforcement clearer going forward.
Cranston also noted the ordinance includes a change affecting the R-2 residential district to address nonresidential uses such as churches and “protect the residential areas from sound and light wash.” Commissioners questioned whether the ordinance should specify a fence height rather than rely on general language requiring opaque fencing. “In all of our … language when we're talking about a fence for light wash and whatnot, we specify it must be 6 feet. Right?” Commissioner Smith asked.
Cranston said the ordinance’s current language requires opaque fencing and that staff could add a 6-foot specification. Commissioners raised a procedural point that adding a substantive change after the initial public hearing notice would require replanning the hearing. A commission member noted the public hearing had been set for Jan. 27 and that changing the ordinance for second reading may require re-advertisement and a new public hearing 10 days after re-advertisement.
The motion for first reading was corrected on the record to include a 6-foot opaque fence requirement where the ordinance references fencing; the commission approved the motion on a roll-call vote with all members recorded as voting aye.
The ordinance will return for a second reading and public hearing after staff adjusts the text and re-advertises as required by state notice rules.
