The City Council's decision to approve plans for a K mart shopping center at 175 N. West State Road may create future problems for a property owner to the west of the proposed shopping center.
The City Council has given final approval to Walt Gasser's subdivision plans, which include the K mart, two commercial outlets and another commercial lot to the north. However, council members said they are concerned that Gasser's development will cut off frontage to a one-acre parcel that is zoned for industrial use. City zoning ordinances require 80 feet of street frontage for industrial zones.The City Planning Commission previously zoned the one-acre parcel I-1 because then-property owner Jim Yates owned the property between the one-acre parcel and State Road, therefore giving it the required frontage.
But the one-acre parcel and three surrounding acres have since been sold to Sue Marie Young, and the property between the one-acre parcel and State Road will be sold to Gasser to build the K mart on, therefore leaving no frontage to a city street for the I-1 property.
"That I-1 zone is going to be a thorn in the side," Councilman Gerald Larson said.
The City Council told Yates and Gasser that with K mart between Young's property and State Road, the Planning Commission would not be able to issue a permit for industrial use on Young's property, and they wanted that understood before approving the plans.
"I'm not asking the council to do something they are not comfortable in doing," Gasser said.
Gasser and Yates said future plans to extend Pacific Avenue to the west and behind the proposed shopping center would provide the needed frontage to Young's property. However, Gasser wants the city's help in building the extension, and the city wants Gasser and other developers in the area to build the road.
"If we don't have a commitment for a developed road, then we don't know if we can depend on it," Councilman Crosby Mecham said.
Gasser said that by making the area a redevelopment district, the road and other improvements could be paid for with tax increments. He said the road and K mart will entice other development in the area.
"We're talking about a major connector highway connecting to another major connecting highway and the city should participate in that," Gasser said.
"The city does not want that highway. The people who develop that property want it," Mecham said.