Although no action was taken, the Riley County Commission discussed two drafts during their Thursday meeting. Both were brought forward by the Public Works Department, as they involve existing policies they currently inforce.
The first draft was introduced almost five years ago, according to Public Works Director, Leon Hobson, but was put on the back burner for awhile. It involves design standards for subdivisions. This alone raised concern, as the draft is somewhat unclear of who will be impacted. County Counselor, Clancy Holeman recommended Hobson add some kind of language to explain this would only impact subdivisons, not benefit districts or townships.
Hobson mentioned the first step of addressing the draft was to revise it, as many of the regulations were outdated. Once that was completed, they addressed the Road and Bridge Advisory group with it, and sent it out to a number of county builders and consultants. The comments they received from those people were then implemented into the draft before it came to the commission.
It was discussed that the City has a pre-application meeting with 10-12 people (including sewer, water and fire department workers) to discuss the draft and get a better idea of what to do. The commission agreed this was a good idea so everyone can stay on the same page, and so the property owner knows what is going on.
The commission will discuss more of the specifics once the small changes and revisions are made. Hobson will bring the draft back during a later meeting.
Draft number two involved entrance policies on county properties.
Currently, if the landowner wants to put a larger culvert in, the county goes in and pays for it to be done. “The person asking for the entrance will still pay for everything, it’s just that we will put it in and do the work”, said Hobson.
The commission did not find as many changes as they did in the first draft, and agreed with the majority of the document. They did discuss whether there should be a limit on entrances, but Hobson suggested possibly making it a “case-to-case basis” situation, as some property owners require more entrances than others. Another reason is the differentiation in lot size.
This draft will also be re-submitted to the commission for approval at a later date.
