What's the hurry on Palmer's T-Zone proposal?

Frontiersman editorial board

Normally known for erring on the side of caution in terms of zoning, planning and annexation, the Palmer City Council is considering moving forward with its T-Zone proposal for zoning newly-annexed land. The T-Zone, or transitional zone, category would apparently be applied when the final use for annexed land has not been determined. Presumably, this would allow the city to annex land under relatively strict, but impermanent, zoning regulations.

On the surface it seems like a reasonable idea, but some questions do exist, as evidenced by a lack of consensus on the council, and by the council's inability to reach agreement with the city's Planning and Zoning Commission for a T-Zone definition.

The new zoning category is partly in response to what the council perceives as confusion created by its current process of annexing new land under the R-1, single-family residential, classification. The council is concerned that this leads nearby property owners to believe the annexed land will be protected by strict, residential regulations. If the land is later changed to commercial or some other use, other landowners could feel that they've been misled.

It's likely that the use of the T-Zone category, in those instances, will do little to relieve the anxiety of landowners near property to be annexed. With the impermanent status of the new zone, property owners could reasonably get the impression that the city could annex property in a yet-to-be-determined zoning status, and then zone it in a way that is disagreeable to nearby property owners.

Some council members are eager to put the two-year debate over the T-Zone behind them and get something on the books, even though they admit the current proposal is imperfect. They'd like to have the transitional zone available to them before the next round of annexations. Other council members would rather stick with the current system until a consensus can be reached.

Whatever the decision, this is one for Palmer property owners to follow closely. It will be important to know what the council's long-term vision is for property annexed under the transitional heading. It will also be important to understand the role of property owners in the process of changing property from the T-Zone category to one of the permanent categories. The council and Planning and Zoning Commission should have good tools at their disposal, but those tools should only support annexation that makes sense for everyone.