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<DIV><FONT size=4>From: <EM>The Daily News</EM>, 09-29-05</FONT></DIV>
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<H2>P&Z: Let Council deal with it; Parking regulations one sticking point in
Moscow zoning debate</H2><BR>
<ADDRESS>By Alexis Bacharach, Daily News staff writer</ADDRESS><BR>Sue Scott
said she isn’t going to do the City Council’s dirty work when it comes to
educational institutions and parking in the central business district.
<P>“They want us to deal with it because elections are coming up,” the Moscow
Planning and Zoning commissioner said at a meeting Wednesday. “Let (Council)
deal with it,” she said. “Let them water the ordinance down and gut it in
public.”That meeting marked the seventh time in less than three months that
zoning for schools, commercial schools and educational institutions appeared on
the commission’s agenda.
<P>The issue came about in January when three community members filed a zoning
complaint against New Saint Andrews College, claiming city code prohibits
educational institutions downtown.
<P>Community Development Director Joel Plaskon denied the complaint, but his
decision was overturned by the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
<P>Council also sided with the complainants and instructed the Planning and
Zoning Commission to reconsider how all types of school facilities are addressed
in non-residential zones.
<P>Commissioners recommended that conditional-use permits be required in all
zones and that educational institutions, except for the University of Idaho, be
required to provide one parking space for every one-and-a-half students.
Educational institutions in the central business district would have to provide
parking in a different zone.
<P>Council agreed with some recommendations, but requested the parking
requirement not be included in an ordinance to amend the zoning code.
<P>“We put a tremendous amount of time into this and heard hours of testimony
from the public,” Scott said. “I’m interested in protecting businesses and the
intent of the central business district. If an educational institution wants to
be downtown then they’ll find a way to make it work. We’re talking about
able-bodied people here, I think they can handle walking a few extra blocks.”
<P>She said parking in the central business district should be reserved for
business patrons.
<P>“I live downtown and I park out of zone,” she said. “Either the parking is
out of zone or you take the educational institution out of the central business
district.”
<P>Commission Chairman Jerry Schutz said he, too, was disappointed Council
eliminated the recommended parking requirement. He said the city had been
looking for a way to address the parking situation downtown. The school zoning
issue was the “perfect opportunity,” he added. Plaskon suggested the commission
take up parking as a separate issue. He said it’s unfair to impose requirements
on one entity without imposing it on any of the others.
<P>Schutz said the issue will never be taken care of if the commission keeps
putting it off. He told Plaskon he will go the Administrative Committee Oct. 10
to argue the commission’s case.
<P>“You have to start somewhere,” Schutz said. “We should be seizing on the
moment and dealing with it. If we have to piece meal it together, then so be it.
If an educational institution in the central business district leased space at
the Palouse Empire Mall or (Eastside) Marketplace they could run a shuttle or
something.”
<P>Scott said she won’t vote in favor of any ordinance that allows students to
monopolize downtown parking.
<P>Alexis Bacharach can be reached at(208) 882-5561, ext. 234, or by e-mailat
abacharach@dnews.com. </P></DIV></BODY></HTML>