DesotoExplorer.com / De Soto to create new rural zoning class

Archive for Wednesday, September 10, 2008

September 10, 2008

The De Soto City Council instructed staff last Thursday to create a new zoning classification that conforms with Johnson County's rural use zoning.

As a stipulation to the large annexation the Johnson County Commission approved in 1999, the county's RUR zoning was maintained on properties annexed into De Soto. It has been a city policy since to require a rezoning to the appropriate city zoning when a property owner with such a zoning makes application to remodel or add a structure.

After De Soto Planning Commissioner Mark Crumbaker questioned the policy, City Attorney Patrick Reavey expressed doubt that the policy was legal.

With that, city planner Linda Bohnsack suggested a number of possible options. Among those were rezoning all the properties to the city's Residential - Suburban District (RO), the city's least restrictive zoning and creating a new zoning designation similar to the county RUR zoning.

When Councilwoman Betty Cannon question the compatibility of some current RUR properties with RO zoning because of size - county RUR lots must be at least 10 acres while RO lots are a maximum of 5 acres - and restrictions on livestock, it was agreed the city should create a zoning similar to RUR.

"I doubt we can duplicate it exactly, but we can come close," Bohnsack said.

As for where the new zoning should apply, council members agreed it was most applicable to the properties east of Waverly Road - where the city has no plans to provide sewer service - and not to the 95th Street corridor.

Bohnsack said the initiative would be handled much like a land use plan, with residents notified of the proposed change by letter and informational meetings and open workshops.