Lowell City Council approves three budget amendments, adopts zoning text changes after public hearing

The Lowell City Council on an evening meeting approved multiple budget adjustments and adopted zoning text amendments after a public hearing.

Council approved budget amendment No. 4 to move $32,000 from the Powellbill fund balance to cover additional street-paving expenses after staff discovered an earlier bid and street list had changed. City Manager (S3) said the city will require more frequent weekly reports from department heads to improve communication and avoid repeat problems. "This amount would be, dollars 32,000," S3 told the council.

Council also approved budget amendment No. 5 to record $4,209 in disaster-reimbursement grant funds to reimburse Lowell police salaries, mileage and travel and training costs. Cheryl (S1) said the reimbursement "is going back in the salaries, and then the travel and training is going back in the police travel training." Committee member (S9) moved the amendment, and the council voted unanimously in favor.

The council accepted budget amendment No. 6 to allocate Powellbill interest income to Powellbill expenditures so restricted Powellbill funds are properly matched to eligible expenditures and the budget is balanced. Staff noted the amendment was intended to ensure compliance with state statute 159-8(a).

On a separate docketed item, the council held and then closed a public hearing on zoning text amendment Article 8 after a staff presentation and one public commenter. Planning staff (S3) outlined proposed changes that would raise minimum lot sizes and alter setbacks in two residential districts: for SFR-4 the minimum lot size would increase from 7,800 to 8,725 square feet and the rear setback would move from 5 to 4 feet; for RMST the minimum lot size would increase from 5,000 to 8,000 square feet and the front setback from 12 to 20 feet, with minimum lot width remaining 50 feet. As one attendee, Ed Jackson, said during the hearing, "I'm just interested in the details of this text amendment."

After closing the hearing, the council approved the ordinance-level text changes and separately made the finding of consistency with the Local Development Ordinance (LDO). A motion for approval and a separate consistency motion were made, seconded and adopted by the council.

What the votes mean: the budget amendments will be recorded in the fiscal-year accounts and Powellbill interest will be appropriated to Powellbill-eligible expenditures; the zoning text amendment changes the minimum lot sizes and some setbacks for the named residential districts in the adopted zoning code and will take effect as provided by council procedure.

Next steps: staff will place the adopted zoning changes into the formal ordinance documentation and return to the council if additional ministerial steps are required. Council also directed staff to advertise a planning-board vacancy and to present applicants for appointment after the advertised period.