(Estherville)– The Estherville City Council Tuesday set February 5th as the date for a public hearing on a proposal that would add a new classification to the city’s zoning ordinance. City Administrator Penny Clayton says the new Commercial Residential Classification would be limited to a specific area on the city’s south side (see map below)…
“It would allow both residential uses to continue and to be added, but it would also allow certain commercial uses like personal storage, shops, and such. The residential uses would include anything that is allowed in multi-family residential which includes single family and multi-family residential. The commercial uses in this new district would be, are significantly limited so as not to create an unacceptable residential environment.”
Clayton adds some provisions would be put into place to protect existing residential properties in that area…
“One of the things that the Planning and Zoning Commission talked about is how to limit the impact of a commercial-sized building in a residential neighborhood, and one of those things they talked about was the side yards and requiring a 10 foot side yard as opposed to what is now a six foot side yard, just to allow more natural lighting to access the neighboring home because my guess would be a commercial building is going to be taller than most of the existing houses in that area.”
Clayton says the new classification would also help satisfy requests the city is getting from some wanting to build shop type facilities in Estherville…
“We explored the idea of creating a new subdivision just for this type of purpose, however by the time you fully outfit it with water, sewer, electrical and streets and the subdivision itself requiring more land, you suddenly have spent more that people want to pay for building a shop, so you’ve just priced yourself out of the market. Here we have existing infrastructure that’s already in place that could be used in a matter better than it is being used as now, because like I said, there’s at least half a dozen different vacant lots in this particular area we’re talking about and then there are a number of houses. Some are in great condition, and others maybe not so much.”
Clayton adds existing businesses in that area not meeting standards of the new zoning district would remain as a non-conforming use.
Another public hearing February 5th will be on a proposal to actually re-zone the previously mentioned area to the new classification. The map below contains the area (outlined in yellow) that’s being proposed for the Commercial Residential zoning designation…
Below is a chart outlining the uses in the proposed new Commercial Residential area…
