An ordinance changing the zoning laws in Neosho received unanimous first round approval Tuesday night by the city council, albeit with some major modifications.

The amended ordinance will now be taken up for consideration two more times as it goes before the council on separate second and third readings, pushing the final vote back to Jan. 6.

From the time of a public hearing two weeks ago, city staff made more changes to the document, watering down some of the proposed zoning restrictions or removing them altogether. Those changes were introduced Tuesday and, with the passing of the ordinance on first reading, will now be included in the draft that is posted on the city’s website (www.neoshomo.org) for public viewing. Further recommendations were vocally made by council members during Tuesday’s meeting and those changes will be placed into written form and voted upon at the next council meeting.

One of these had to do with a provision in the ordinance that would have, in practice, prohibited privacy fences, even in back yards. As it was written, residential fencing could not block airflow.
According to city planner Kim Messer, that would have included any solid fence, meaning only chain-link, picket, shadowbox or other similar types of open fencing would have been allowed.

She said there had been a couple of separate instances where residents had complained of their neighbor’s privacy fence blocking the breeze in their back yard.

“I don’t buy that,” expressed Mayor Howard Birdsong. “Certainly there’s wind above eight feet.”

Eight feet would be the new fence height limit in residential zones.

Councilman Jeff Werneke agreed and said that not allowing solid privacy fences was going “over the line.” He said that it would defeat the purpose of even having a privacy fence.

City Manager Jan Blase stated that there had, in fact, been real complaints in town of blocked air flow, but said city staff would remove the solid privacy fence restriction in the amended ordinance.

Werneke also wanted removed from the ordinance a clause that would have exempted the city from the new zoning regulations. According to Blase, the exemption was written in so city projects wouldn’t have to go before the planning and zoning commission each time something needed to be done. He had also previously stated that the city incorporates a varied amount of land uses all over town that didn’t always fit into one particular zone. Blase said that, in practice, the city tries to abide by its own rules anyway.

But Werneke said the issue of exempting the city from the regulations was more about “appearance.”

“It sends a message that says ‘these are new rules to improve the town and, by the way, we’re not going to do it,’” Werneke said.

The exemption clause will now be removed from the ordinance before it goes up for final reading.

City staff independently made several changes on its own to the ordinance that will now be made part of the document.

Among these was removing altogether a stipulation that garage sales would count as a home based business if more than one were held per month. There are now no rules at all in the ordinance having to do with the frequency of garage sales.

Regarding home-based businesses, those rules were lightened up across the board.

While only one home occupation would still be allowed per residence, most businesses operating from the home wouldn’t require a special use permit.

Those that would need to purchase a permit to operate would include cabinet building or carpentry shops, photo studios, catering and others.

Some home occupations that wouldn’t be allowed at all in residential neighborhoods include gift shops, rental businesses, or vehicle body work (which includes trailers and boats).

According to a memo written by Messer, however, unless there is unusual amount of traffic, noise, noxious odors or complaints from neighbors “staff will have no reason to suspect a business” is being run out of a home.

If a complaint is filed, staff will simply visit the residence and request the person fill out the registration questionnaire to determine if a permit is required.

City staff also amended a provision that would have prohibited industries from stringing atop fences barbed or razor wire that is lower than seven feet off the ground. Under the rewritten ordinance, that restriction would only apply if the wire extends outward beyond the normal fencing.
If the sharp wire inclines inward, it only has to be six feet from the ground.

In total, city staff made 33 new written revisions to the ordinance and the council will add at least 10 more. All will eventually be posted on the city’s website for public perusal before the ordinance is voted on for a final time.

To be included in the second amending of the ordinance — and in response to concerns voiced by Gary Miller, a trustee at Fellowship Baptist Church in Neosho — churches would be allowed two 50 square foot ground signs if the church building is on a corner with streets on at least two sides.

City resident Bob Elliot said he didn’t have time to read through the entire 140-page or so document under consideration, but said he still didn’t like some of the things he had read in the pre-amended ordinance. He said Neosho was not a “retirement village.”

“Neosho has got along fine for years with the way things have been going,” Elliot said. “There’s always improvements that can be made, but I think a lot of the things written in (the ordinance) are kind of overwhelming to a lot of people.”

Birdsong later said that there were probably people in Neosho 100 years ago who felt the same way about change.

“If there aren’t changes made to keep up with the changing environment then the community dies,” he said. “We have to adapt to the changes…if we’re going to survive and grow and provide the things that people want. Change is difficult, but it’s inevitable. If we don’t change and keep up then other communities are going to pass us by and instead of growing, we’re going to go backwards.”

Speaking of those zoning changes in general, which were first introduced last spring and have undergone several revisions in reaction to citizens’ concerns, Blasé said he thought it had been a “real positive process.”

“That’s why it puzzles me that as much as we democratized this, we get criticized for having multiple copies (revisions) — because our whole goal was to change it when people came up with better ideas,” Blasé said. “We did that. That’s democracy at work and I think it’s great.”

Birdsong said that no matter what the ordinance finally looks like when passed, it would still be a “fluid and dynamic document” that would need refining. He also said it wouldn’t be perfect.

“I’m not under any illusion that once this is passed it’s going to be etched in stone and never change again,” he said.