Commission reviews draft ordinance to bar alley vacation where utilities exist

Planning staff presented a draft ordinance to guide the city’s process for vacating alleyways and to prevent applicants from pursuing vacations that interfere with utility access.

Staff said the draft follows state code and explicitly prohibits vacating an alley if utility lines exist within it. The policy intent, staff said, is to prevent situations in which utilities later have to be relocated at the applicant’s expense. ‘‘Please do not vacate an alley if we have services in there,’’ staff said they were told by South Central’s engineers when the issue arose in a prior application.

Commissioners discussed whether to place the burden of proof on petitioners to show no utilities exist or to require city staff to detect conflicts before applicants pay fees. Staff described a recent alley vacation request that failed at council after South Central identified fiber lines in the alley; staff said the department-to-department routing of the notification did not reach the correct South Central division in time, resulting in confusion.

The draft ordinance includes procedural steps: (1) early screening to detect utility conflicts, (2) notice to abutting property owners and affected entities before a council public hearing, and (3) documented signatures from affected owners where required by state law. Commissioners identified a duplicate signature/notice clause in the draft that staff agreed to correct and said a public hearing will be scheduled at a future meeting. If the hearing results in no unresolved concerns, the commission may recommend adoption to the city council.

Next steps: staff will correct the duplicate clause, schedule the required public hearing, and return the ordinance to the commission for recommendation to council, per state code notice and public hearing requirements.