BELLA VISTA -- The City Council approved an amendment Monday to regulations on accessory buildings.
The amendment was proposed in the fall and sent to the Planning Commission earlier this year. With the commission's suggestions accepted, the amended regulations now use the corners of the primary building to determine the front plane, rather than the front door.
Additionally, the front plane is now drawn based on distance from the road to account for curvilinear streets, and the same setback is applied to accessory buildings on adjoining lots.
Under the adjusted regulations, building height will be limited to 25 feet overall and sidewalls are limited to 15 feet.
Council member Jim Wozniak proposed allowing a second accessory building on a neighboring lot if there is one on the primary lot. With the adjustment, he said, someone who has built a shed behind their house can put up a structure on an adjoining lot they own -- though if they own more than one adjoining lot, they only get one additional structure.
"You just get one," he said.
Council member Doug Fowler said he agreed this could help residents. A structure on the primary lot, he said, could be very small but it would still preclude the resident from using their extra lot. This adjustment, he said, could allow another structure for a resident who has acquired things they need to store.
"I think it's a great add," he said.
The council voted unanimously in favor of this amendment and passed the adjustments to the accessory building regulations.
The council also approved changes to zoning regulations for civic uses, accepting easements for new sections of trail, a lease for new desktop computers, financial policies and street resurfacing.
NW News on 04/25/2018