With one member absent, the Arnolds Park City Council voted 4-0 Wednesday evening to accept a recommendation from the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission to no longer allow commercial, or C3 docks, in residential areas.
City official Ron Walker says the issue came to a head following a recent application on Lower Gar Lake, where a property with limited frontage proposed a large dock setup with multiple hoists. This practice is often referred to as “keyholing.”
Walker says concerns have grown as more of these setups have been proposed in recent years.
He says property owners have continued to find creative ways to maximize dock space, which led the Planning and Zoning Commission to recommend limiting them altogether rather than regulating each situation individually.
Walker also noted that C3 docks are intended to function as association docks and are not supposed to be rented, though that has not always been the case in practice.
Under the change, commercial docks previously approved in residential areas can remain, but any new requests will no longer be allowed. Existing docks would also lose their status if the property is sold or significantly altered.
This story is courtesy of fellow Community First Broadcasting station KUOO
