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River Heights commission to hold public hearing to add senior-citizen PUD to general plan; chair recuses
Summary
After the city council adopted a senior-citizen PUD code, River Heights' planning commissioners agreed to update the general plan and schedule a public hearing; Chair Keenan Ryan disclosed a conflict and recused himself from any vote on including land behind his home.
River Heights '026-05-26
The River Heights City Planning and Zoning Commission agreed on May 26 to pursue a public hearing to insert newly adopted senior-citizen planned-unit development (PUD) language into the city's general plan. Commissioners said the change would formally add a zone intended for smaller-lot senior-focused housing and clarify where such a zone could appear on the city's land-use map.
Chair Keenan Ryan disclosed a personal conflict: part of the area discussed as an example is behind his home and owned by his family, and he recused himself from voting on whether that parcel should be included in the updated map. "This is a bit of a conflict of interest for me... I'm gonna recuse myself of voting on it," Ryan said.
Commissioner Noel Cooley presented draft text and proposed inserting a new policy and goal (suggested placement around policy 1.163) describing intent and strategies for a senior-citizen zone. Cooley said the proposed zone would allow smaller lots (the proposal referenced 6,000-square-foot minimums in the draft language) and would aim to encourage efficient land use, community formation and compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods.
Commissioners discussed whether the general-plan land-use map should show a candidate area (members identified an area across from River Heights Elementary currently shown as R18). Staff and commissioners clarified that the land-use map is a planning guide, not a zoning map, and that any actual rezoning would require a separate application and city-council approval.
The commission asked staff to schedule a public hearing on the general-plan amendment so the public can comment before the commission forwards a formal recommendation to the city council.
Next steps: staff will post the general-plan amendment for public hearing and include the proposed language and map change for review; Ryan recused from vote on his family-owned parcel.
