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Council rezones historic Hilliard house to R1D and approves conditional-use office permit
Summary
The council rezoned a historic property near 30th Street from R-1 to R-1D and approved a conditional-use permit to allow general office use in the Hilliard house, with conditions including hours of operation, parking and ADA modifications.
The Kearney City Council voted to rezone a historic home at 320 East 30th Street from R-1 to R-1D and approved a conditional-use permit that will allow general office use in the house while preserving its exterior character.
Craig Bennett of Miller & Associates presented the application on behalf of Gamma XV LLC (owner Russell Hilliard). Bennett said the request would enable an adaptive reuse of the property while maintaining its historic architecture. The site is within an LDR future land use designation, he said, and the requested R-1D zoning is compatible with that designation.
Conditions attached to the conditional-use permit include hours of operation limited to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, a minimum of eight off-street parking stalls including one accessible stall, a maintenance agreement for the building's elevator, and modifications to an existing ADA ramp (the applicant told council an additional four feet of ramp length would be needed to meet slope requirements).
Bennett said the property already has an elevator (installed in 2008, last inspected August 2024) and existing garage and driveway stalls; his presentation included several parking-layout options that would yield between eight and ten stalls depending on use of the garage and striping. He and council members noted that most of the applicant's clients operate remotely and that visitor traffic would be limited; Bennett said he expected an average of five to eight employees on site at typical times.
Several council members commented on the property's historic prominence. Council member Tammy noted parallels with adaptive reuse in other cities; another council member said the house has been on the National Register since 1983. Staff clarified enforcement of the permit would be complaint-driven: code compliance would respond to resident complaints and could revoke the permit if conditions were repeatedly violated. Staff also said permit approvals run with the land but that staff would review ownership changes and record new owner information for enforcement purposes.
Council members voted to suspend the three-reading rule and adopt Ordinance No. 87-23 rezoning the property; they then approved Ordinance No. 87-24 adopting the conditional-use permit for general office. Roll call votes recorded unanimous "aye" votes for both measures.
