Follow Us 
Related News
Current Poll
| Growth areas under microscope |
 |
 |
 |
| News | |||
| Written by Robin Hixson | |||
| Wednesday, 21 January 2009 08:00 | |||
|
Miami County Commissioners revisited the issue of the growth surrounding Paola, Spring Hill and Osawatomie during their Jan. 14 study session. Miami County Planning Director Charlene Weiss met with the commissioners to follow up on the Miami County Planning Commission’s recommendation that the county government examine its working relationship with those cities and whether the growth areas over which city planning commissions hold authority are actually serving the purpose for which they were created. The recommendation also suggested the county commission terminate the interlocal agreements that established those growth areas and provide for joint regulation of land use within those areas. Miami County Administrator Shane Krull said it might be helpful to determine whether annexation that has occurred since the growth areas were established is growing those cities in the intended directions. Miami County Engineer Penny Evans explained her view of the purpose of growth areas, saying they were designed to centralize growth and create buffer zones of intermediate population density between the urban and rural parts of Miami County, providing for larger residential tracts than those in the cities, but avoiding sprawl that would encroach into the rural farming areas. Evans and Weiss discussed the benefits of various alternatives to growth areas for land use planning. Weiss also cited problems with city planning commissions granting building permits in flood zones and taking other actions without notifying the county. Commissioner Rob Roberts said there is a possibility that the city planning commissions have lost sight of how the plan was meant to work, because original “proactive” board members have been replaced. Commissioner Ron Stiles recommended meeting with officials from the three cities to discuss interlocal agreements for the joint management of land use. “I hope we can put together a plan to sit down with these other entities,” he said.
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 562 Trackback(0)
Comments (0)
 Write comment
You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
