By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Nephi planning commission and city council have been working together to separate one small piece of land from the rest of the holdings of the Painter Family Trust.
That is being done to make way for an immediate project, allowing sale of a two-acre piece to Shopko, but allowing for future subdividing of the remainder of the property in that area which will still be owned by the Painter Family Trust.
Glenn Greenhalgh, city planning commission chairman, met with council members to discuss the work which had been done to date.
"The planning commission met last week to review several items related to the subdivision plat and plans for plat A of the North Main Subdivision and has granted conditional approval," said Mark Jones, mayor.
Following the presentation by Greenhalgh, the council agreed to grant conditional approval for the plans for plat A, with the condition being that the staff verifies compliance with city ordinances and policies.
At one time, said Greenhalgh, both the city council and the planning commission were required to hold hearings on proposed changes to the general plan land use. Recently, an amendment to the city future land use map in the city's general plan was made but only the planning commission held a public hearing.
The state legislature determined that two hearings were no longer necessary so state law now requires that only the planning commission advertise and conduct a public hearing.
The planning commission holds the hearing and then makes recommendations to the council partially predicated, or based, upon the comments received at the hearing they hold.
"We are now going down two roads at the same time," said Greenhalgh.
One action approved by the council allowed the sale of one small piece of property and the other allowed a site plan to be developed.
The recent rezoning of the entire Painter Family Trust property from residential to combined use, would allow the eastern section of the property to be subdivided in the future but would also allow a piece to be separated from the whole so that it could be sold for the pending Shopko project.
The property that will contain the new store was already zoned CU, and no zone change was required to build the store there, said Randy McKnight, city administrator.
Shopko could have been built without the council approving changes to the general plan's future land use map because the piece was already zoned CU (Combined Use).
However, the change in the general plan requested by the Painter Family Trust included property in the area north and east of Painter Motor Co. All of that acreage is now designated as CU rather than residential.
Of course, in a CU designation, residential use can still be built.
"The western part of the property was already zoned CU along Main Street," said McKnight.
The CU category includes areas with a mix of residential and commercial uses, such as the current areas along Main Street.
Residential densities would be the same as Higher-Density Residential. Commercial uses would be of a variety of size and scale but would be focused on meeting the needs of the local community, such as grocery stores, restaurants, retail, services, and professional offices.
Greenhalgh explained that the subdivision process was required because the two-acre piece being sold for the Shopko project is being divided off from the larger parcel owned by the Painter family Trust.
"The property was not rezoned where the store is being built," said Greenhalgh. "The general plan was amended to allow for a future rezoning east of Shopko. The property had to be subdivided because Painters were selling a portion of a large parcel to Shopko."
Two weeks ago, the council unanimously adopted Ordinance Number 2-3-15, an amendment to the Nephi City General Plan's Future Land Use Map. The map was originally adopted on September 20, 2011.
