The director of the Pulaski County Community Development Commission (CDC) requested a transfer of funds to work on zoning ordinances.
Nathan Origer told the Pulaski County Council members that he is an advisor to the plan commission and said the zoning ordinances were not done professionally and they need to be to fit the needs of the county.
“The fact is the zoning ordinance very evidently was done in-house by people who have no professional background,” commented Origer. “Every couple of months we’re making more changes trying to catch up to fill in blanks that are noticeable. Last year we made some significant changes regarding manufactured homes and mobile homes. This year we’ve done a few tweaks and we haven’t even hit on the list of changes that I made last year.”
Origer said he’d be happy to help bring the ordinances up to a standard, but that would impede on his work with the CDC as the process would take months.
The plan commission voted to spend the money necessary to hire a professional firm to look at the ordinances and to write them in the correct manner.
Origer stated that the plan commission doesn’t have the funds, but the CDC does.
“I have a significant amount of money in the CDC budget that will not be spent this year because of where the progress is on our west side development project. We thought it would be in everyone’s interest if we tried to transfer the money within the existing budget rather than asking you for an additional appropriation. The CDC voted 8 to 1 in favor of the transfer so now I’m here asking you to allow that transfer. We’ve spoken with a couple of firms and we have one who has provided us with a quote of $46,000.”
The council approved the transfer on a vote of 5 to 1. One council member was absent.
