Clinic issue will go back to City Council

RANDOLPH - A third public hearing was held in Randolph on Monday as the issue for a special use permit to build a medical clinic in a residential zone continues to be up for debate.

The Planning &Zoning Committee hosted this public hearing after the issue was sent back down from the City Council for more transparent reasoning regarding why this special use permit should be approved or not.

This public hearing hosted the least amount of people of the three. This week 35 people were in attendance, while the previous two public hearings hosted more than 50 each time.

Ultimately, the Planning & Zoning Committee overturned it’s original recommendation of disapproval for the special use permit, voting 3-2 on Monday in approval of both the special use permit and the building permit.

After listening to members of the audience for nearly 40 minutes and then combing through the seven factors used to determine whether a special use permit should be approved, as well as the Comprehensive Plan, the votes were cast in favor of recommending the City Council approve the two permits.

The City Council now will use this recommendation as a factor during the vote at the next meeting on November 7 at 6:30 p.m.

At the original meeting, Jason Schmit was the only vote recommending approval of the special use permit. His vote did not change, but Tom Guenther and Josh Rayford both changed their votes from disapproval to approval recommendations.

Crystal Junck and Marcus Papenhausen both remained as disapproval recommendation votes.

Randolph city attorney Keelan Holloway recommended any members voting for disapproval to provide a reason to the City Council upon the request of the City Council when they sent the issue back down to the Planning & Zoning Committee a few weeks ago.

The seven criteria points for granting a special use permit are as follows:

1. Be compatible with and similar to the use permitted in the district;
2. Not be a matter which should require re-zoning the property;
3. Not be detrimental to adjacent property;
4. Not tend to depreciate the value of the surrounding structures of property;
5. Be compatible with the stated intended use of the district;
6. Not change the character of the district; and
7. Be in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan

For any member to vote for a recommendation of approval of a special use permit, that member needs to find all seven criteria to be met. 

Junck cited that she doesn’t agree that the proposed project fits with the character of the district. 

Papenhausen agreed with Junck regarding the character of the district point, as well as the criteria point above regarding the stated intended use of the district.

This meeting was more cordial than the previous two, with fewer interruptions and interjections from the audience than in weeks previous. However, there were still some contentious moments including between different audience members arguing about the purpose of the Planning & Zoning Committee.

There were ten listed speakers for the public hearing. Two talked about the community not being torn by this issue and supporting the Committee regardless of their decision. Two more addressed traffic concerns and other issues regarding the property chosen for the proposed project. Two more were David Levy, the Osmond General Hospital lawyer, and Lon Knievel, the Osmond General Hospital CEO. Levy and Knievel reiterated points made at previous meetings, and Knievel shared more facts regarding health care for the committee to consider.

Levy called for a point of order twice during the meeting. 

First, he called a point of order at the open of the meeting regarding Korth’s conduct in the previous meeting, asking about how he will contribute in this meeting. Korth is selling the property in question and abstained from both the initial vote and Monday’s vote. Levy’s concern was with the amount Kroth contributed during the discussion in the first meeting before abstaining during the vote.

Second, he called for one after the public hearing closed, questioning proper procedure being followed when Schmit made the motion to open up reconsideration before the public hearing. Levy’s point was that one of the members that did not vote to approve had to make that motion. 

The proprietor of the project, Jim Recob, was at the meeting on Monday. Recob’s name is on the permit application, along with Bruncson LLC, the company looking to build the half-million dollar medical clinic in question. Recob was not in attendance at the City Council meeting a few weeks ago.

Recob answered questions from committee members during the meeting but mainly sat in silence, taking notes on a paper inside of a manila folder on his lap.

The Planning & Zoning Committee’s 3-2 decision to recommend for approval makes this issue even more interesting considering the decision in the first meeting to recommend for disapproval.

The decision now falls at the hands of the City Council at the next meeting. That will take place on November, 7 at 6:30 p.m.

The Planning & Zoning Committee finished the meeting by accepting the resignation of Rick Alderson and recommending the City Council appoint Brock Eledge to the Planning & Zoning Committee. The P&Z Committee decided to hold off on accepting Mark Korth’s resignation until a replacement is found.