Plains ordinances discussed

PLAINS - Wednesday evening, Mayor Greg Eitelberg and the town council held a special working session to discuss set-backs and town ordinances. Issues of clarifying, enforcing, and the possibility of rewriting an ordinance set in place for what the official set-backs are for the town were the topics of the meeting.

Richard Gebhardt, the town’s lawyer, was called in to inform, answer questions, and clarify what the council is allowed to do to augment set-back ordinances.

The largest issue that was brought up by numerous town councilmen was the feeling that certain set-backs are unrealistic or unjust. It was expressed that property rights are infringed upon by the fact that set-backs hinder some from using their property in the way they wish.

The most recent set-back ordinance in place for the town of Plains states that a domicile must have a set-back of 5 feet on the side and back. For a corner domicile, the set-back on the side next to another domicile is 5 feet. The side facing the road and the front of the domicile must be set-back 20 feet. For a corner domicile, a fence or hedgerow must not exceed 3 feet within the set-back zone.

The Councilmen felt that if a person buys a small house with a small plot, they will not be able to use their property because it will encroach upon the set-back. It was said that it felt unfair and unjust that a person cannot use their property as they wished.

Gebhardt explained that the set-backs were put in place for multiple reasons: safety for police officers, the movement of fire personnel and equipment, fire prevention, and property value. He said that if there was no ordinance in place, then the possibility of one neighbor neglecting their yard without consequence could bring down the property value of their neighbor. The town would then not be able to hold a certain property tax level and could not raise its necessary funds.

Once the issue of property rights verses the set-back ordinance was expressed and clarified so that all understood the concerns of the council, questions were raised as to if anything could be done.

The town council has the authority to listen to individual cases about whether to allow a person to build within a set-back due to hardship or just cause. A hardship would be that an imposed set-back hinders or prevents a person with a medical need from utilizing their property. A person that expresses that a set-back creates a hardship will be given permission to build within a set-back. Eitelberg said that the council has and will always give permission to a person with a medical problem the right to build in a set-back.

For those on the council who felt that the set-backs were unjust or infringed on property rights, Gebhardt explained that just cause is an entirely different term from hardship and is a broad spectrum locution that has many pitfalls. His explanation was that to give permission to one individual based solely on his or her desires would then create a precedent and then everyone who pleaded a case would have to be given permission.

Despite the understanding that just cause and allowing more cases to be heard would create problems, it was voiced by a number of councilman that it was still the wish to find a possible rewriting of the set-back ordinance.

Gebhardt voiced to the council that if they were to write up what they believe to be a new ordinance that would suffice for safety standards, would not create a new precedent, and was just, then he would help write up the official ordinance. The councilmen who felt that the ordinance needed to be changed agreed to work to write up a draft.

When the discussion of set-backs was concluded, Eitelberg then asked Gebhardt about liability when a crash occurs on a lane that was originally an alleyway. Gebhardt explained that though the mayor and/or council did not design the road itself, it has the responsibility to enforce speeds and directions. If a crash occurs due to speed and direction designation, the town can be held liable. Gebhardt explained that the best way to counteract any problems is to have the mayor and police chief designate the lanes that were alleyways as one-way streets.

Small talk continued after all of the mayor’s and council’s questions were raised. Eventually it was agreed upon who would be working on which issue and the meeting was adjourned.