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Fitchburg committee approves three land divisions and rezones, flags access issue on Cane Road lot
Summary
The Fitchburg Ag & Rural Affairs Committee approved certified survey maps and accompanying rezones for two properties and an ADR for a third; members raised access and easement concerns for a Cane Road parcel where farm equipment used a path across U.S. Fish and Wildlife land.
The Fitchburg Ag & Rural Affairs Committee approved multiple certified survey maps and rezones at its April 19 meeting, and flagged an access issue for a Cane Road parcel that staff and the applicant said currently relies on occasional passage across U.S. Fish and Wildlife land.
The committee first approved a certified survey map and rezone for Mark Jones to create an approximately 1‑acre single‑family lot at 2266 South Syene Road. Staff said the proposed lot meets rural residential development criteria and that the applicant intends to relocate an existing single‑family ranch house to the new parcel. The motion to approve carried by voice vote.
The committee then considered a CSM and rezone for Patrick Kane and Amy Johannon at 2105 Cane Road. Deanna Schmidt, city planner, said the proposal would subdivide the roughly 30‑acre parcel into two lots; because the proposed Lot 2 would be below the 35‑acre AX minimum, staff recommended rezoning to AS (small‑lot agriculture) to permit a caretaker's residence while retaining farm and woodland use.
Committee members raised that farm access to the rear fields currently occurs by traversing a narrow strip owned by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. One committee member suggested conditioning the CSM to include a permanent agricultural access easement across Lot 2 to ensure long‑term equipment access, recommending a 60‑ to 66‑foot easement. Amy Johannon, the applicant, said her family had relied on a long‑standing verbal agreement with U.S. Fish and Wildlife to use the path "in lieu of removing all those trees," and that staff had attempted, without documented success, to confirm the agency's written consent.
Despite the access questions, the committee voted to approve both the certified survey map and the rezone for the Cane Road property by voice vote; the record does not show a written easement or third‑party acknowledgement was submitted at the time of the vote.
The committee also approved a rural residential siding (ADR) recommendation for a roughly 20‑acre Shulman property on Wayland Road, to allow a barn and eventual house with access off Kathleen and required driveway widths for fire protection. Staff noted the lot is already zoned rural residential and does not require RRDC claims.
Committee members asked staff to note access limitations and to document any existing verbal arrangements in the CSM packet when appropriate. All three land‑division approvals were recorded by voice vote.
