After more than a year of work, the city of Umatilla has a new zoning ordinance.
A 136-page agenda greeted attendees of the Umatilla City Council meeting this week , and the bulk of the pages addressed the city’s new zoning ordinance and changes. The project to rewrite the city’s zoning ordinance began in summer of 2014 in response to resident complaints about the operations of adult businesses – primarily strip clubs – within the downtown area.
After a public hearing and extensive discussion, city staff updated the document for changes including:
- Removing the Highway Commercial Zone.
- Deleted “Medical Marijuana Dispensary or Marijuana Retailer” from uses permitted as conditional uses.
- Separated “Food Services and Drinking Places” into “Restaurants and Other Eating Places” and “Alcoholic Beverage Drinking Places.”
City council members called the effort mind-boggling and a work of blood, sweat and tears.
Planning Commission Chairman Boyd Sharp thanked the planning commission, the city staff, city council, and all who provided feedback and testimony during the process.
“Many, many hours have gone into this,” he said. “It’s going to improve our vision of our city movie forward. A hearty thank you.”
The council approved the document unanimously. The action was declared an emergency, so the ordinance went into effect immediately.
In other business, the council and city staff:
- Approved a liquor license application for Quality Inn. Golden Girls Catering plans to reopen the hotel lounge.
- Discussed enforcement of the city’s “moving transfer” ordinance, which prohibits exchanging items or money between individuals outside of a vehicle and those within a vehicle in a traffic lane. The document is designed to discourage panhandling at city intersections.
- Authorized Mayor Dave Trott to sign an application to take over management of vegetation at the Umatilla Village/Old Town Site. The application will be filed jointly by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the city for management of the property, which belongs to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Discussed a community development committee meeting to outline potential funding for the Umatilla Museum and the Umatilla Chamber of Commerce. Both entities are currently funded by donations, grants, and the city of Umatilla’s Transient Room Tax fund.
- Announced the annual tree lighting ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 10.
- Announced plans to begin discussing the fiscal elements of the city manager transition plan.
