KEARNEY — The Kearney Planning Commission held deep discussions about a proposed rezone and conditional use permit to allow for offices in a house that is on the National Register of Historic Places during their meeting on Friday, Jan. 17.
The applications had been submitted by Miller & Associates for GAMMA XV, LLC, owned by Russell G. Hilliard, to allow for a rezone from R-1, urban residential single family to R-1D, residential district and a conditional use permit for general office at 320 East 31st St.
The home in question is the John Barnd House, a historic house that has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983.
“It was built in 1892 for John Barnd, a veteran of the Union Army during the Civil War of 1861-1865 who founded the Mutual Loan and Investment Company of Kearney and was the co-owner of the Commercial and Savings Bank of Kearney. The house was designed in the Queen Anne architectural style,” according to the National Register of Historic Places.
Craig Bennett with Miller & Associates appeared to discuss the applications. He noted the Hillard’s have moved from the site but the family hopes to keep the house under their ownership and seek to operate a family business from the home.
Bennett said the small advertising business employs eight people, many who work remote and not all would be on site at the same time.
There is an elevator in the home that is maintained and inspected routinely.
There would be a need for parking to accommodate the employees and Bennett said there are four existing spots and two that could be added with some changes to the area on the north side of the home.
Bennett noted this is an “adaptive reuse,” of the historic home with no major changes to the structure or exterior planned.
Ron Messbarger appeared on behalf of his parents who lived in the area and said they had questions about the amount of traffic that would be introduced if offices were allowed and what other uses could be allowed if the new zoning was approved.
The members of the Planning Commission had a number of questions, such as what other uses are allowed in the R1-D zone if the house was sold, how long the conditional use permit, (CUP) would last and the precedent that could be set with the approval of the zone and CUP.
Melissa Dougherty-O’Hara, City Planner, noted that not all CUPs have sunset clauses, and the city staff do compliance checks from time to time.
Dougherty-O’Hara also noted that information was provided to the surrounding property owners and five reached out with questions, with two having specific questions if apartments would be allowed with a rezone.
Dougherty-O’Hara noted that apartments are not allowed in an R1-D zoned area.
When the application for rezone came up for a vote, the planning commission voted unanimously to approve it, but Chairman Stan Dart and board member Dave Malone voiced some reservations with their approval.
During the vote for the CUP, Chairman Dart voted against the motion, but it was approved by the rest of the board members by a majority vote.
When asked about his vote following the meeting, Dart said he had some uncertainty regarding the CUP and was concerned about the precedent that was being set.
The items will be taken up by the Kearney city council at a future meeting.
The John Barnd House in Kearney, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
