Commissioners Concerned About Planning and Zoning Bill

By Gordon Hopkins One of the myriad of bills currently under consideration by the Nebraska Legislature this session is LB (Legislative Bill) 633, which is intended to streamline the process for reviewing conditional use permits and special exception applications by setting deadlines for certain decisions. A number of county commissioners are worried that such tight timelines may not allow for enough time to thoroughly review those applications. On Monday, February 24, Jefferson County Commissioner Mark Schoenrock met with Senator Tanya Storer (R-District 43), the sponsor of the bill, along with representatives of the Nebraska Farm Bureau to discuss the bill. Schoenrock gave an update to his fellow commissioners the next morning at their regularly scheduled meeting, “This puts on some very specific time frames to a county for the planning and zoning process. And so, there has been a lot of concern that I have received from fellow county commissioners here in my southeast district regarding these time frames that are put in there.” According to the bill's Statement of Intent, “Upon receiving an application, the planning commission has 30 days to assess its completeness. If the application is incomplete, the commission must notify the applicant within 10 days. The process is then on hold until the applicant submits the required information. Once an application is deemed complete, the planning commission must either approve, deny, or forward a recommendation to the county board within 90 days.” The county board would also be subject to deadlines, “The county board then has 30 days from receiving the commission's recommendation to review the application. If deemed incomplete, the board must notify the applicant within 10 days. Again, the process is then on hold until the applicant submits the required information. The board must issue a decision within 90 days of determining the application is complete.” “The concern is that there have been, apparently, some counties which have used delaying tactics as a means to not take action on certain zoning applications. Of course, that's not right,” said Schoenrock, explaining the reason the bill was introduced. “We want to make sure we have all the information that's out there, that we're representing our citizens,” said Schoenrock. “Have a good, thorough, objective zoning process and not just sit there on it and use that as a means to not approve a permit.” Although he did not identify an individual, Schoenrock indicated the allegation came from the Farm Bureau, “So, apparently, there have been some counties in the state, I'm not personally aware of who they are, what the circumstances are, but Farm Bureau told me yesterday, in fact, that isn't the case, and that's the reason that they want to bring this legislation.” Testimony for and against the bill will be heard in front of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee this afternooon, February 28, at 1:30 p.m. Schoenrock said, “The hearing on this bill is on Friday, and what we're trying to do is come to a position so that we can have some kind of agreement with Senator Storer and the Farm Bureau.”

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