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On Tuesday, July 8, the LaGrange City Council held public hearings and first readings for separate ordinances that would eliminate the extended public hearing period for halfway houses and modify the UDO to only require screening for heating and air units on commercial and industrial projects.

The first ordinance comes after a change in state law that formerly required an extended public hearing period for any new halfway homes or rehabilitation facility. 

The state previously required a public hearing period of six months before cities could approve any halfway house or drug rehab center, so that was incorporated into local law.

This year the state approved a bill so that halfway houses will be rezone just like every other property with a schedule just like a normal public hearing, instead of six months later.

The other change will eliminate screening requirements for heating and air units for residential properties. The rule will still apply to commercial and industrial properties but they often have rooftop units anyway.

City Planner Mark Kostial said the interest for the change came from residential developers, who say it’s impractical to plant vegetation around HVAC equipment because it makes it difficult to maintain and leads to failure of the equipment.

No one spoke against either measure during the public hearing period. Both ordinances are expected to come to a vote at the July 22 council meeting.

In other business, the LaGrange City Council:

• Accepted water and sewer infrastructure and a pump station within the Silverton Townhomes development near Bryant Lake.
• Accepted water and sewer infrastructure within the Rocklyn Homes Townhome development phase 1B and 1C off of Hamilton Road.
• Modified the membership of the LaGrange Youth Advisory Council from 24 members to 32.