Monday’s regular meeting of Lowell City Council clocked in at about a half hour and covered one piece of business. That item didn’t generate much discussion though, and a mixed-use development proposed for the east side of town was the main topic of conversation.
All councilmembers were present for the meeting as was Assistant City Manager Rich LaBombard who returned to the City of Lowell last month after serving as city manager for the City of the Village of Douglas for four years. During Monday’s meeting, LaBombard filled in for City Manager Mike Burns who was absent.
Public Power Week Presentation
At the start of the meeting, Lowell Light & Power General Manager Charlie West gave a short presentation about the utility in honor of Public Power Week.
West noted LLP is one of approximately 2,000 public power utilities nationwide. According to West, customers of LLP are five times less likely to have an outage than customers of other energy companies in the area, and residential rates are 27% cheaper too. West also noted that the payments in lieu of taxes that LLP makes to the City of Lowell account for 10% of the municipality’s general fund.
Public Comments and Conversation About CopperRock Proposal
During the public comments portion of the meeting, Pam and Bob Rowley spoke about concerns related to a mixed-use development proposed by CopperRock Construction for the east side of town.
The company has sued to have Horatio Street vacated and would like to place 44 residential units and a 3,800 square foot restaurant on approximately 1.5 acres. The proposed building would span 112 Horatio Street, Horatio Street itself and the south 800 block of E. Main Street, which is the site of the former RollAway Fun Center.
The Rowleys live on E. Main Street across from the proposed development, and Pam Rowley said she felt neighbors had been “bullied, disrespected and dismissed.” She said residents first learned of the development in July and questions asked at time still had not been answered.
Of particular concern to her is the fact that the proposed development does not have enough parking spaces on-site which may lead residents to park on Main Street. According to Rowley, it is already difficult for residents to safely pull out of their driveways and additional cars parked on the road will further reduce visibility.
Pam Rowley also expressed concern that the Planning Commission only allowed residents three minutes to speak during its September meeting despite city hall telling neighbors there was a five-minute limit. She also noted that there is no on-site management planned for the apartment building.
In his comments, Bob Rowley reiterated concerns about parking, noting that it was unrealistic to expect apartment residents to move their vehicles into the restaurant parking lot overnight. That had been suggested by one developer as a solution to the fact that on-street parking is prohibited overnight from November 1 to March 31.
“It seems like this is being ignored,” he said in concluding his comments.
At the end of the meeting, during council comments, Councilmember Cliff Yankovich said that the council wasn’t ignoring residents, but it was his understanding that since the vacation of Horatio Street was being challenged in court, that put a halt to the issue.
In further discussion, it was clarified that the site plan review process is continuing, and the proposal will be on the Planning Commission agenda for next Monday, October 9. At that time, it could be approved contingent on the vacation of Horatio Street.
Councilmember Marty Chambers, who is the council representative on the Planning Commission, said he had heard various rumors about how the development could change. Those ranged from the addition of a curb cut to the building shrinking to the restaurant being eliminated to the dumpster enclosure being enlarged. However, he had not seen any new plans yet.
“It’s called public comment for a reason,” Chambers said in regard to concerns about how the September Planning Commission meeting was held. “We can’t get into a debate. We’ll get absolutely nowhere.”
“It wasn’t about debate,” Bob Rowley said. “It was about we weren’t heard.” He noted that residents were timed and cut off before finishing their comments.
Mayor Mike DeVore said that when he was first elected to Lowell City Council, it only allowed three minutes for public comments. That had been changed to five minutes, but other boards have their own rules.
“The five minutes here was a deliberate decision,” according to DeVore. It was intended to make the council more accessible. “That being said, I can’t set policy for other boards.”
The rules of procedure for the Planning Commission, which were last adopted in February 2023, do not mention a time limit. Instead, they state:
“The Chairperson reserves the right to terminate a presentation or ask for a summation if comments become excessively repetitive or stray from the issue at hand. For large hearings, a time limit may be established.”
Lowell’s First Look has never before attended a Planning Commission meeting where a three-minute time limit was stated or where residents were timed and cut off while speaking.
Sale of Police Shotguns Approved
The one piece of business on the agenda was the sale of three shotguns by the Lowell Police Department. Police Chief Chris Hurst was requesting permission to sell the Remington Model 870 pump action shotguns and use the funds for a new patrol rifle instead.
Councilmember Jim Salzwedel asked about the difference between the shotgun and the rifle, and Hurst said the department transitioned to a patrol rifle that is an AR-15 style rifle with a stand-off distance of 300 yards. It will penetrate armor and also holds more rounds. Hurst added that the shotguns are so infrequently carried that no one on the force qualified to use them during their firearms qualifications this year.
A motion to approve the sale of the shotguns passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 7:34pm. The next regular meeting of Lowell City Council will be held on Monday, Oct. 16, at 7pm in Lowell City Hall.
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