Lawyer tells supervisors to update plan

The Adair County supervisors plan to take a deeper dive in the future into their comprehensive plan. They received legal counsel that this is their best next step, during a regular meeting Wednesday, June 19.

The conversation stems from their recent desire to establish an ordinance regulating commercial and industrial development, but the county doesn’t have zoning.

Maria Brownell, with the Des Moines law firm Ahlers and Cooney, told the supervisors over the phone that the first step would be for them to revisit their plan they have, which was developed and adopted in the late 1990s.

“The county probably had a regional planner or agency assist with that originally. We would advise you to engage in assistance in comprehensive plan updates,” Brownell said.

Although the county’s plan is aging, it is still in effect and able to be followed. Brownell also said it can be amended by the supervisors, if they want.

A good first step would be for the supervisors to have a work session or meeting to review their current comprehensive plan and develop a list of things they like about it and things that need changed, Brownell said.

The planning part on the front side of a comprehensive plan update could take 6-8 months, but possibly less if changes to be made are minimal.

An ordinance update would require the usual three readings. Anything relating to zoning would then require the supervisors to develop a planning and zoning commission. Brownell also outlined aspects of a planning and zoning commission’s relationship with the supervisors and the process of developing zoning. Another body, known as a board of adjustment or variance, would decide on variances, conditional or special use permits and give accountability to whoever is the zoning administrator. A variance board is autonomous, meaning the supervisors wouldn’t have veto power over their actions.

Adopting zoning doesn’t require a ballot measure, Brownell said. The supervisors had once talked about asking voters to decide on whether zoning is needed, but Brownell said the public input piece of the process would be there through public hearings in the updating of the comprehensive plan.

The supervisors once had a proposed ordinance that would have regulated commercial and industrial development like a proposed data center on farmland south of Adair. It went through two public hearings and the supervisors received much public comment for and against it. The ordinance was paused because the supervisors were concerned it couldn’t be enforced if put in place.

Supervisor Chairman Jerry Walker said that in his eyes, one of the biggest reasons the supervisors hoped for an ordinance was so developers would have to communicate with the supervisors before building anything.

While by law agriculture is exempt from many aspects of zoning, Supervisor Matt Wedemeyer said any zoning the county decides to do could be as restrictive or non-restrictive as the supervisors want.

Editor’s Note: Jennifer Nichols of the Atlantic News Telegraph contributed to this report.