Published: June 19, 2007 03:50 pm      

Bed-and-breakfast ordinance finally approved

By MARY KAYE DAVIS

mary.kaye@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — An ordinance approved Monday night by City Council will pave the way for bed-and-breakfasts to locate in the King City, but those who apply will still have to seek a conditional-use permit.

For several weeks the council had been debating the issue. Some residents opposed allowing the businesses to locate in residentially zoned areas citing safety, privacy and traffic concerns.

The original proposal to allow zoning for the businesses was drafted by the city’s zoning and planning commission, but council members found it too restrictive. Council members met last week in a workshop session to discuss the proposed ordinance and made several changes, including upping the number of bedrooms to five, allowing liquor on the premises, and allowing the own-er/operator to hire non-family do-mestic help.

“We wanted to tighten up the ordinance and make it more accommodating,” said Mayor Mary Jane Chesley before a vote was taken to approve the ordinance.

Before the unanimous vote came, Emily Ward Nixon, a resident who opposed the location of the businesses in residentially zoned areas, made one final pitch.

“Before taking a vote (I would like) council members to explain why there cannot be neighborhoods exempt from (the location) of businesses,” she said. “A precedence is being changed here.”

Chesley reminded Nixon that before a conditional-use permit would be granted for a bed-and-breakfast to open, the application would be fully reviewed and the specific address taken into consideration.

Councilman David Wood said he believed the city had a responsibility to allow the bed-and-breakfasts to operate in the city.

“I would like to have something that reaches out and says (Mt. Vernon) is open for business,” he commented. “I don’t think that the bed-and-breakfast proposals will have the negative impact that some think. I would hope we’d have a lot of applications for these.”

Councilwoman Shirilyn Holt said she saw approval of the ordinance important because it would allow for “something new to come to town and would draw people here.”

Councilman Mike Walker pledged to review each conditional-use permit application on a case-by-case basis.

He said the businesses should operate “where it makes sense,” but “if a neighborhood is vocal” he would also take that into consideration before voting.

Councilwoman Mary Burgan was absent from the meeting. Resident Steve Modert questioned what would happen if a conditional-use permit was granted, but it was then found that information supplied for the permit was false, incomplete or inaccurate.

“Can an illegal permit be revoked?” he asked.

City attorney David Leggans retorted that if a conditional-use permit was granted but then found it was granted under false pretenses, the city could take action to revoke the permit, as with any permit the city issues.

“A conditional-use permit is used as a foundation to safeguard, but (the safeguard) is useless to residents,” Modert said.

Wood said he was confident the city would take action if that situation happened.

Modert maintained he felt that the conditional-use permit process did not provide enough protection for zoning issues or to protect residents’ interests.