They say all politics are local...

[Rafe Hollister]

and here's what's going on in my neighborhood right now. It's been a huge deal. I went to the Planning & Zoning meeting a few weeks ago when the request was voted down 3-2. Now the guy's appeal goes before the Webb City Council tonight, which I will also try to attend. Some of what has occurred reeks of misleading at best, corruption at worst.

Rezoning request

[Shawn]

Can they not grandfather her 8 acres. After all, she was there first.

I have no problem with controlled growth, after all, without out it, NONE of us would be here. At one time it was all grasslands and forests.

[Rafe Hollister]

It was made perfectly clear at the P&Z meeting that the bordering land will not be subject to grandfathering. Also, the mayor, who is a friend of ours, is insistent that "you're not in the country out there. That's in the city limits." By that logic, there should exist no A-1 zoning. I will attend tonight and be prepared for a long meeting. The P&Z meeting lasted from 5:45 until 8:45, nearly 2 hours of which was involving this issue. It'll be a very interesting night.

[Warmouth]

Party on Rafe.

[Rafe Hollister]

I could write a damm page on this stuff. Don't encourage me.

[Tigerhaze]

Why does Englert want to rezone anyhow? Doesn't A-1 zoning allow a single-family residence? Is it that he wants to put in a subdivision?

[Rafe Hollister]

TH, you hit the nail on the head. That's the argument of all the neighbors. If he wants to build himself a house, that's great. With A-1 zoning, he can put a few houses on his property. With R-1, he could put over a dozen houses there. Every house on this street has 2 acres minimum. Webb City Code of Ordinances specifies that developments must be consistent with the character of the neighborhood. Englert has specifically stated that he wants 10 houses there. The problem we're running into is his friendship with the mayor. Apparently, the property immediately East of Englert's is owned by the City. That property has no access to a road and is zoned Industrial. We suspect Englert wants this rezoned to sell part of it to the City for a road to their 40 acres, so they can re-zone theirs or sell it off to industries.

Last night, the council voted 5-3 to advance the request to a 2nd reading. Since the request was denied by P&Z it now takes a supermajority (6-2) to override P&Z's ruling. If the vote is still 5-3 in 2 weeks, the property stays A-1.

The mayor & city attorney both stated last night that the neighboring properties would be subject to grandfathering. We are over that hurdle. Now we just want to keep a development from sprouting up.

[Rafe Hollister]

Last night's meeting.

[Big John]

You know this code BS sucks, I have been fighting with these morons over building a playhouse and swing set for my 2 daughters. These fugging morons said I built them without a permit, PERMIT!! Now I checked the village code about buildings and there was NO MENTION ABOUT A PERMIT FOR A PLAYHOUSE AND A G*((*MN SWING SET!!!!!!! Let the guy build what he wants then tax him accordingly and piss off!!

[Tigerhaze]

That's why I like Bates County. There is no zoning, and building permits are not required in unincorporated areas of the county. My neighbor just built a 2-story house and didn't have to worry about inspections, as there are none. You don't even need to have a permit or inspection for septic installation.



I do have township zoning, but all it restricts is large CAFOs within 1/2 mile of an occupied residence. It was mainly put in when Murphy hog farms tried to buy up Henry County for a major operation.

[Rafe Hollister]

Tigerhaze said:
You don't even need to have a permit or inspection for septic installation.

You might want to investigate that a little more closely. It is true that inspections on septic systems on property of 5 acres or more are not required. It is a requirement on others, however. Also, there are other restrictions with where septic systems can be placed, relative to wells, property boundaries, etc. That should be statewide.

[Tigerhaze]

You are correct that there are some baseline requirements Rafe; I didn't want to bore eveyone with them.



To be specific, each county has it own requirements. My county (Bates) is an "Ordinance County" and has a "3 acre exemption". A septic system can be put in for the residence without inspection or permit as long as the property is 3 acres or larger in size and as long as it is for a single family residence. Multiple family residences or commercial establishments are not exempt. If you are the owner of the property, you do not need a license to install it yourself. Setback requirments and construction materials and methods specified in 19CSR20-3.060 to 3.080 are supposed to be followed. I guess I shouldn't oversimplify it.



Sorry Rafe; I couldn't resist. I am aware of the MO DHSS Onsite Sewage Requirements.



I still don't need a building permit; although the UBC should be followed.

[Rafe Hollister]

Joplin Globe article on Aug. 28 meeting. It got pretty heated at times last night. I expect that I'll get home from work one night this week and the dipchit will have a hog farm operating. Just because those of us in the neighborhood were able to stop the rezoning doesn't necessarily mean we've "won" anything.

[Tigerhaze]

So did Englert ever publicly discuss his true intentions for the zoning change or did that go unanswered?

[Rafe Hollister]

At the first council meeting, he said his only intention was to build his own house & maybe do something with the front half of the property later. This was after he'd already let the mayor know he wanted about 10 houses up there. At last night's council meeting, he said "3 to 12 houses". He said the "best reason" to rezone was that he felt it was in the best interest of the city to do so. City Code specifies property should be rezoned to R-1 whenever necessary for the benefit of urbanization. This did not fit that category, as we made clear last night, since the property immediately to the East is mine tailings & an old sewer lagoon, then immediately to the East of that is a small strip of unincorporated land, then immediately East of that is Carterville City Limits. All the property to the East has no road access. The only possible reason for the rezoning was to financially benefit Englert at the expense of the lifestyle of the neighbors. Thankfully, enough council members agreed with our argument.