Monday January 11th, 2009 Mountain Home City Council Review
 |
There was a bigger crowd at this meeting than the previous meeting I attended with about 45 people sitting in chambers. This was likely due to the Catholic Church item on the agenda. All 5 members of the council were present and just waiting for the 6 o’clock hour to start the meeting. The meeting lasted longer than I was willing to stick around and I left after about 2 ½ hours. Below are some of the items discussed by our city council.
To Kennel or Not to Kennel
A lady was rightfully concerned that she would have to obtain a "kennel license" and "condition use permit" totaling about $275 in fees because she owns 5 dogs. The Mayor chimed in about how well behaved these dogs were as these animals live across the street from him. Looks like the City Council will be doing some tweaking to the new animal ordinance in the future to address issues that may pop up from time to time.
My Take on the Issue: Develop a cheaper and more citizen friendly type of license for people who have these and similar type problems. The license can always be revoked if the pet owner becomes a problem.
Wind Through Blades
There was a wind turbine ordinance on the agenda and the council briefly dealt with this issue before moving on to a related issue. The related issue was dealing with a proposed wind turbine at the new Richard McKenna Charter High School.
– What I remember about the ordinance discussion was wind turbines would be restricted to at least a "one half acre lot" before it coud be approved. I think there was an issue with the acceptable amount of noise a wind turbine could produce?
– The McKenna School wind turbine issue and decision was put off until some additional information could be obtained. This was due mainly to the noise issue and not having all the facts from the school and the turbine manufacturer.
My Take on the Issue: I’d be cautious with the restriction of an "half acre lot" in a city ordinance. Wind and solar power is an emerging technology and this type of restriction could have a adverse effect in the future. We don’t want to discourage clean "localized" energy production when/if the technology become available.
Heavy Metal Decisions
United Metal located on Airbase Road wants a variance to exceed the fence line height restriction of their scrap metal pile. In short, "at times" the scrap metal pile does exceed the 10-14 foot level making it visible from the street. This issue will be revisited in the near future when the details are worked out. My Take on the Issue: The owner of United Metals is asking for a "high season" variance. High season would be considered the months of March-May and Sept-Nov or a 6 month period of time when they take in a lot of the Base and City scrap metal. While I am pro-business in nature, approximately 15,000 cars pass by this spot each day. Is this the type of scenery Mountain Home wants to project now and into the future? Eventually, the city will have to do some wheeling and dealing with United Metals to move them off "Main Street USA" for our own good.
Parking on Heavens Door
The Catholic Church wants to build a new parish hall on the current church grounds. There are problems with their plans and parking seems to be the main issue but not the only issue. The decision to approve/disapprove the church's current plan was put off to a later date. The City wants less "take" and more "give" on the part of the Catholic Church. My Take on the Issue: From what I gather, downtown parking is a MAJOR business issue. If Mountain Home has any hope of restoring its downtown to a vibrant and bustling business area, then approving a project that could, in the future make this current parking issue even worse, then some tough decisions need to be made.
Interesting Meeting
I enjoyed this city council meeting very much. Lots of food for thought. Our city council has to make some very tough decisions each and every week and don't get enough credit for the job they do. Why not reserve a few hours some Monday night and attend a city council meeting. Just to let you know, if you get bored you can walk out anytime you wish.
Thanks for visiting and commenting on this story.
Tim Bondy
The Bondyweb.Com webmaster