Ronan City Council meeting heats up over subdivision

Issues between property owners and the legality of the city zoning requirements highlighted an otherwise calm Ronan City Council meeting.

Ronan City Council held its first meeting of August, only missing Ward 3 council member Marlene Melton. This meeting, much like July’s final meeting, was spent rehashing many prior items including the issue of Scott and Anita Beggs subdividing their lot.

The Beggs returned last week to discuss the legality of the city requiring the addition of a 30-foot road at the end of their minor subdivision. This, according to public works director Dan Miller, was a decision made to help improve street access for future developments.

“We're trying to fix mistakes that were made in the past,” Mayor Chris Adler said.

The Beggs are concerned about the legality of asking for a 30-foot road to be added to the end of their street as a requirement for subdividing their property.

Miller and Ward 2 city council member Calvin Hardy both visited the property to take a look at not only what the subdivision would look like but where the road addition would go.

This back and forth led to the Beggs and Chad Hoffman, one of the people the subdivision is for, standing at the council table and discussing the maps given to each council member. These maps outlined the location of where this subdivision and the road would go.

After some clear frustration was expressed by both parties, Adler asked them to calm down or they would be kicked out. This call for order led to a relatively smooth continuation of the conversation.

“We're not trying to steal anybody's ground,” said Adler, who is also Ronan’s fire chief.. “You've gotta understand how (Miller) is talking about access. When I've got a fire incident and it's burning up a whole block or something, you want more than one road access to that place.”

The recommendation from Adler to the Beggs was to let city attorney Ben Anciaux do some research on the legality of the situation and then they would converse about moving forward with the project.

“My proposal is really simple,” Hoffman said. “Can someone, and maybe Ben would be the guy, just show us this is where it's legal to make this a requirement of a minor low-impact subdivision? That's all I'm asking.”

If the Beggs are right in their concerns, and the forced addition of the 30-foot street is rejected, they would move forward with the project and send it to the planning board for further consideration. If not, they will not move forward with the project.

The meeting proceeded with votes on second readings for both amending terminology in the mixed commercial and industrial zoning requirements that will allow an annexation of tribal land for a meat-processing plant, and the allowance of up to six chickens within city limits.

Both readings passed, with Hardy again voting no to the zoning amendment and Ward 1 council member Ryan Corum voting against the amendment to the animal control ordinance.

Ronan City Council will reconvene on Aug. 23 for its second and final meeting of August.