Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

That's when you just leave on a high note and call it a day, right?

All right, now we can go.

Good morning. I will call the August 18, 2026 Norfolk Planning Commission meeting in order, inform the public of the Open Meetings Act in the northwest corner of the building, and ask for a roll.

Waite?

Here.

Sock? Here. Simonson?

Here.

Hupke? Here.

Hoffert? Here.

Geiger? Here. Griffith?

Here. Peach? Here.

Rompelt?

I ask for approval of the full agenda.

So moved.

Second.

This isn't working, so we'll just do this. Who had made the motion?

Ryan.

And Brandon? Okay. Okay, and we'll do a roll call. Wait.

Yes.

Sock. Yes. Simonson.

Yes.

Hupke.

Yes.

Hoffert. Yes. Geiger.

Yes.

Griffith.

Yes.

Keech. Yes. All commission members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

Consideration of approval of the minutes of the August 4th, 2026 Planning Commission meeting. So moved. Second.

Okay. Waite? Yes. Sock? Yes. Simonson? Yes. Hupke? Yes. Hoffert? Yes. Geiger? Yes. Griffith?

Yes.

Keech?

Yes.

All commission members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

And consideration of resolution 2026 PC-7, approving a conditional use permit for an oversized accessory building on property addressed as 1024 State Highway 35. We will read this into the record. Be it resolved by the Planning Commission of the City of Norfolk, Nebraska that Aaron Geary is hereby granted a conditional use permit to construct and allow an oversized accessory building subject to the following terms and conditions. Total maximum permitted square footage at ground level for a detached accessory buildings on property described above shall be 2,400 square feet, which includes the multiple existing buildings of approximately 280 square feet with the proposed 2,112 square foot building as shown in the attached site plan. No commercial use of storage of commercial property shall be allowed. The accessory building shall be used for personal storage only as defined as garage, which permits a garage to be placed in the front of the primary residential structure. There shall be no storage of hazardous materials. There shall be no living quarters in the detached accessory building slash garage. Pursuant to the Norfolk City Code, this conditional use permit shall run with the land. Failure to observe and maintain the conditions and restrictions of the conditional use permit shall be considered a violation of the Code of the City of Norfolk, Nebraska, subject to penalty as provided herein, and may be grounds for review, including alteration or termination of the permit. All procedures and standards outlined in Sections 27-56 of the Norfolk City Code pertaining to conditional use permits shall be observed. the conditional use permit granted herein shall be subject to the provisions of the norfolk city code that provide for an appeal to be taken within 15 days of the decision of the planning commission and there shall be compliance with floodplain regulations and any other applicable city county state or federal regulations that may apply

I'll move for consideration of resolution 2026 PC-7, approving a conditional use permit for an oversized accessory building on property addressed at 1024 State Highway 35. I'll second.

And voting system is working now, so we can vote.

Please vote.

All commission members present voting in the affirmative. Resolution 2026 PC-7 is adopted.

I will open up the public hearing regarding the extreme blighted determination analysis for a site generally located south of Omaha Avenue and east and west of South First Street. Val?

Yes. Brianna, could you please put me up on the screen? I'll show the map. So this is an extreme blight analysis. that is south of Omaha Avenue and east and west sides of First Street. So Omaha Avenue is essentially this cut off right here and then First Street cuts right here. So you have the ability to request extreme blight if there's an existing blight and substandard designation already designated. So you'll see that this pinkish red area, that's the East Omaha redevelopment area that was blighted substandard years ago. And then this green area down here is the South Norfolk blight study that you guys saw and heard here a few weeks ago. That will come back to city council at the same time as the extreme blight. So one will just need to be accepted before the other at council. So unlike the blight and substandard that has quite a few factors, like the 12 factors that we have to look at, extreme blight looks at census tracts or block groups in regards to poverty and unemployment rates in comparison to states. So this extreme blight analysis only uses census tract 9611 block group 2. So there's another block group, but it didn't quite fitted. So you'll see the census block is kind of this turquoise-teal outline here. And then where they overlap, the census block and the blight and substandard designation, is the hatched areas. So you'll see it over some of the pink and over some of the green. So that is what we're looking at is just the hatched area. This census Track Block Group 2 has the data source being the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey. Block Group 2 has a poverty rate of 21.6%, which is greater than the 20% needed of the previous requirement by state statute. And it's greater than the 15% requirement as of 7-17 of 26, and LB 11-14 passed. they reduced those percentages with that. And Block Group 2 also has an unemployment rate of 16.7%, which is 391.2% higher than the state, which is greater than the 200% previously and the current 150% as of 7-17-26. So with this data, both requirements are met by the state statute for Block Group 2, Census Track 9611. And then I kind of explained the hatched area is what we're looking at. And the crossed hatch area contains approximately 364.2 acres. And so the anticipated schedule is begin with this. And then we, like I said, we paused the green blight study area, the standard blight study area. So this allows Hannah Keelan who did both the regular blight and the extreme blight studies to be here in person for the public hearings for both of them at city council so if you have any questions i will try to answer them for you what is the just would you be able to explain to the to the members as far as what's the difference

in the context of a blight study as opposed to an extreme blight study. What does that extreme blight study do?

I really should have looked this up. Council asked me this too. So you can potentially get 20 years instead of 15 years of the blight. And then the extreme blight does not count towards your percentage of maximum that you can have blighted of the city. And then also there's a tax credit, too. I don't remember how much that is. Martin, are you good at this? I want to say $5,000, but I'm not quite sure.

Sounds right.

Yeah. So those are kind of the big things.

Would you happen to have our percentages currently?

That one I do have.

Percentage of blight?

Yeah. So if the... The green blight study goes through the South Norfolk. Prior to the LB 1114, that same legislative bill that reduced the percentages, it also changed how we figured the percentages that we were allowed to have. So prior to LB becoming effective with that going in, we would have been at 28.45%. However, with LB 1114 going effective, It's not just the city limits anymore. We count the city limits and the ETJ. So with the blight study being accepted, we would go down to 7.44% and we can still go up to 35%.

35 is the cutoff.

Right. And then if the extreme blight passes, then you take that 300 and some out And we would actually be reduced down to 6.66% if the extreme blight goes through.

Interesting.

It'll take us a long while to get to 35%. Yeah, it will.

Some would call it an effective legislative bill. To all the public out there, this is still a public hearing. Anyone like to speak on behalf of this? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing. Open for discussion. Thanks for the rundown, Val. Living there in this area for the past three years, it's needed. the redevelopment aspect of everything, giving someone an incentive to do so. So we couldn't include that one, but that's okay with me. Don't own any waste, that's fine.

Lucky you can find your way home. Uh-huh. You ready for a motion?

Yeah. I'll make a motion for consideration of recommendation of extreme light and determination analysis for the site generally located south of Lamar Avenue and east and west of South First Street. Second.

The motion is second. Please vote.

All commission members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

And Val for the 2026 building permit report.

Okay, so July's building permit report. We had two new single family detached. So this year we are up to 20. Last year at this time we had 38. We did have six new duplexes come in, which equates to 12 dwelling units. So we are up to 30 dwelling units of duplexes. Last year we had four dwelling units. No new multifamily, so we still have not had any new multifamily for the year, and then the 166 last year foundry apartments. We had two new single family attached, so we are four units for single family attached this year, 18 last year. And total building valuation is approximately 33 million less than last year at the time.

Thank you, Val. Any other open topics or concerns? I'll take a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Have a good day. You too.

Thank you.

Thank you