Building heights in Francis’ city center are capped at 45 feet. And city planner Katie Henneuse says that’s not changing.
What the city is considering is allowing four stories instead of three in the same amount of space. Engineers say commercial building stories are usually around 10 feet each, and residential buildings can be less.
“When we approved the 45-foot height, we probably should have looked at this one at the same time,” Henneuse said. “But we overlooked it, saw it later while we were going through some things, and realized that we had this three-story limit in our code.”
Residents have created a petition opposing the change, falsely equating building stories with building height, which the city says it isn’t changing.
The code change to allow more floors under the same height restriction comes as Best Western is building a hotel at Lambert Lane and state Route 32.
Dozens expressed concern, in writing and in person, at the Francis City Planning Commission meeting Jan. 16, saying a four-story hotel isn’t in line with Francis’ rural character. However, the city reiterated, the current 45-foot limit isn’t up for debate, only the number of floors allowed within that space.
A few residents went further, advocating for reducing the maximum building height in the city center.
Building heights on neighboring Kamas’ Main Street are capped at 35 feet and its city council voted against lowering the height limit four years ago. Oakley is considering 45-foot building heights for part of its city center development, which hasn’t been discussed at the planning commission in almost two years.
Francis’ planning commissioners voted 4-1 against recommending four stories instead of the current three.
“In addition to the comments that people made here, it's reflecting not just the optics of what they want the city to look like, but the kind of businesses that they want here,” Commissioner Rich Christiansen said. “And I'm not hearing or feeling any support for businesses that need four stories to survive.”
The commission also recommended a temporary ban on future commercial development.
Eastside towns have previously barred new buildings while they built new wells or water pumps.
The Francis City Council will make the final vote on the four-story issue at a future meeting, which hasn’t been scheduled yet.
