Efforts to add a Habitat for Humanity home in Plymouth cleared a hurdle with the city’s Common Council this week.
Plymouth Planning Consultant Ralph Booker told council members that a currently-vacant lot at the southwest corner of Plum and Madison streets was donated to Habitat for Humanity, who intends to build a three-bedroom home there. However, the land was zoned as part of the city’s downtown commercial district, instead of residential. Booker noted that the lot sits on the edge of the city’s downtown commercial zone but is adjacent to several existing homes.
Marshall County Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Dean Byers said it’s a good opportunity for the organization. “It’s very difficult to find building lots in Plymouth that can be affordable, and this one is a donation and that makes it affordable,” he said. “We’re grateful for that, and we would project that we would be a year to a year-and-a-half before we would start construction on a house. We’re interviewing families now for a possible home.”
The Common Council voted to uphold the Plymouth Plan Commission’s recommendation to change the zoning designation to Traditional Residential.
During Monday’s meeting, council members also approved the Plan Commission’s decision to loosen some of the restrictions on the city’s historic neighborhoods. During the past year, the zoning ordinance was amended to require any construction in those areas to be approved by the city’s Technical Review Committee before being granted a permit. That included relatively minor work like decks, porches, accessory structures, and interior renovations,
After the changes approved this week, though, that will be limited to the construction of new homes and home additions. “So if somebody put up a swimming pool or something of that nature, [Plymouth Building Commissioner Keith] Hammonds could go ahead and just issue the permit, but right now any permit in that particular overlay district has to be taken to one or two meetings of the Technical Review Committee,” Becker said.
However, council member Jeff Houin felt the changes don’t go far enough. “I think we should let the zoning ordinance do the job of a zoning ordinance and not add a subjective review requirement for every individual building permit,” he said. “I still think even with this change, that it’s over-burdensome to require that process. I don’t think that this change is enough. I would like to see the entire requirement of presenting applications to the Technical Review Committee repealed.”
Houin, along with Gary Cook, voted against the update.
