Millwood council approves zoning, home-based business changes

The Millwood City Council unanimously approved three ordinances amending municipal code on land use, subdivisions and zoning on Monday night.

City Planner Tom Richardson presented the new ordinances to the council and highlighted specific amendments to each.

One of the most notable changes is that Millwood no longer permits “impact home-based businesses” to operate in residential neighborhoods.

Impact home businesses are those that affect a residential neighborhood by having employees, commercially licensed vehicles, signage and customers. The ordinance outlines 12 business distinctions that are restricted, such as dance studios, automobile repair and animal hospitals.

The ordinance says a non-impact home business activity “shall be incidental to the primary use of the residence as a dwelling and does not change the residential character of the neighborhood.”

This means home-based business employees must live in the home where the business is established, customer vehicles are limited to no more than two at one time, clients and deliveries are restricted to eight each day and business-operating hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The new zoning ordinance increases the maximum size of accessory buildings in residential areas to 1,200 square feet – up from 1,000 square feet. The allowed building height increases from 15 to 20 feet with a setback increase to 5 feet. The volume of these buildings is restricted to 75 percent of the main structure on the property.

The council opened the meeting up for public comment during discussion of the preliminary 2010 budget.

Though no members of the public spoke, Councilman Glenn Bailey questioned why there was no money allocated for sidewalk improvement.

“I think we should add some money to that,” Councilman Kevin Freeman said in reference to Bailey’s question. “There are always things that are going to come up during the year. That’s a good catch on your part, Glenn.”

The council agreed to allocate $5,000 to sidewalk improvements.

The budget features about $2 million in estimated expenses. The council intends to conduct another public hearing next month before final adoption of the budget. The required date for budget approval is Dec. 31.

The council also approved a resolution setting the 2010 tax levy amount. The levy constitutes a reduction of revenue of $12,744 from last year, totaling $369,800.

During the meeting, Richardson explained the city belongs to a special district along with the fire and library districts. The three together cannot exceed a levy rate of $3.60 per $1,000 of assessed valuation on a resident’s property. The fire district’s limit is $1.50 and the library’s is 50 cents. That leaves the city a maximum of $1.60 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. This year’s reduction to Millwood’s portions is a result of the fire district possibly taking its full amount, which it did not last year.

Cleve McCoul, maintenance supervisor, said a water sample from City Hall came back positive for coliform bacteria. He explained coliform bacteria could be an indicator for other harmful bacteria present in the water, but additional testing revealed no other bacteria present. McCoul plans to take more samples after temporarily chlorinating the water.

During public comments, Shirene Young, an Inland Empire Paper representative, announced the annual Tree Lighting Event on Dec. 4. An open house is planned from 5 p.m to 6 p.m., with the tree lighting at 6 p.m.