Zoning change trapped family for a decade
Council indicates interest in possible action
by Laura Adelmann
Thisweek Newspapers
Photo by Laura Adelmann David Marsh has been trying to sell his home on First Street as a commercial property since about 2006 with no luck. Several buyers have been interested in his home, but once they learn the city has zoned his property commercial, they lose interest.
For the last decade, a zoning change has paralyzed a Farmington man from improving his home built in 1905.
David Marsh, 43, purchased a small home on First Street in 1999 with dreams of adding to it as his family grew.
In 2005, he presented to the city building plans to add more bedrooms and bathrooms, a larger kitchen and a three-car garage.
But his plans were sidetracked when he learned his residential property had been rezoned commercial, and he needed a conditional use permit.
So began Marsh’s 10-year quest to use his property as he wished.
He paid for permit reviews, an attorney and hearings along the way, but every time his request to return his homesteaded property to residential use was denied, sometimes by the Planning Commission, other times the City Council.
Initially, his property was in a designated flood plain, which further impeded his building plans, but that designation has since been lifted.
“This is the biggest loss of my life,” Marsh said of his initial $100,000 investment in the property.
After all the battles he has been through with the city, Marsh has his home for sale, but said buyers lose interest once they learn it’s been zoned commercial and there are extra restrictions for improving it.
However, late last year city officials allowed Greg Feeley, another residential property owner in the same zoning area, to revert his property to residential from the business zoning so he could sell it.
While Marsh said he’s glad Feeley was able to get his property’s zoning changed, he questioned why he has been denied that same accommodation.
Farmington City Planner Lee Smick said she was on extended leave from work until the day before Feeley’s zoning change was made and it was approved, although she opposed it.
“You never down-zone because both the status of the property and the value of the property would go down,” Smick said. “That’s kind of a planner’s pledge.”
Smick said Farmington’s Comprehensive Plan was changed in 2000 to include more properties in the city’s downtown to allow for business expansion.
“We needed more land to be designated B-2,” Smick said. “We were basically preparing for the future.”
But now the economy has stalled, and Farmington City Council members will soon begin to update the 2030 Comprehensive Plan.
The Planning Commission has started the process, and at a Jan. 24 workshop, members indicated they were still unwilling to recommend changing Marsh’s property zoning.
However, a majority of Farmington City Council members have said in interviews with Thisweek that they are interested in exploring the option.
Farmington City Administrator Dave McKnight said he expected that the council will review the Comprehensive Plan in March, and could consider zoning changes at that time.
Council Member Christy Jo Fogarty said Marsh should be able to upgrade his home, adding, “I think he should be rezoned.”
Farmington Mayor Todd Larson agreed that Marsh’s circumstances are a serious matter that the council needs to review.
He said realistically, a business probably wouldn’t want to locate on a property with a river so close in the back yard because of increased runoff restrictions.
“Maybe we should consider changing it,” Larson said.
Farmington City Council members Jason Bartholomay and Julie May also said they would consider turning Marsh’s property back to residential.
Council Member Terry Donnelly cited concerns about whether rezoning the neighbor in the similar circumstance was fair to Marsh.
“If there was some unfairness, we have to fix that,” he said. “I’d be willing to help him out if we could. At least somebody has got to explain why we don’t want to do it.”
