City of Goodland Planning Commission Minutes
9/16/2025
- CALL TO ORDER:
The September 16, 2025 meeting of the Planning Commission was called to order at 6:00 p.m. Planning commissioners in attendance: Dennis Snethen, Wallace Hansen, and Curtis Penrod. Matt McKenzie, Grady Bonsall, were not in attendance. Staff in attendance: Zach Hildebrand, Building Official, Kent Brown, City Manager and Joshua Jordan, IT Director. Public in attendance: Justin Bentzinger, Carol McClure, Joni Guyer, Terry and Roberta Webb.
2. Public Comment
No public comment.
3. Variance Request- 634 E. 19th Street- Lot size requirements for campground/RV Park
Commissioner Penrod opened the public hearing at 6:02 pm.
Zach Hildebrand, Building Official, stated a variance request should arise from conditions that are unique to the property. This property is unique in that it is only 1.7 acres and the code requires 2 acres for RV parks. The property is at 634 E. 19th St. and it is behind the Dollar General. The applicant is Cherry Street Properties, LLC. The variance request is to have an RV park on a site that is less than 2 acres. Zach continued from his staff report on the variance request.
UNIQUENESS: Zach stated that the properties around the applicant’s property is in the C-1 (General Commercial) District as is the applicant’s property itself. There are no residential properties around it.
ADJACENT PROPERTY: Zach stated only one phone call was received from the neighboring property owners and that there were no bad comments.
HARDSHIP: Zach stated the hardship is that it is just under the 2 acres required. There is nothing available to make the property bigger.
PUBLIC INTEREST: Zach stated that the variance desired will not adversely affect the public health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity, or general welfare. Zach stated it would seem to be a good area to have the RV park since it is in the same zoning district and streets that the other RV and mobile home parks are on.
SPIRIT AND INTENT: Zach stated that the request is not against the spirit and intent of the zoning regulations.
MINIMUM VARIANCE: Zach stated this is the minimum variance requested. The applicant is only asking for .3 of an acre as the variance.
Zach stated the intention is to have 8 spaces. There are more stipulations when you go above 10 spaces. Kent Brown, City Manager, requested the chair ask the applicant if he had anything to say about the application. Commissioner Penrod asked the applicant if he had anything to add. The applicant, Justin Bentzinger, thanked the Commission for their consideration of the application. Justin stated with the influx of people into town that approving things like this is good for Goodland. The reason that he considered this is a person from Troy Construction Company approached Justin about having a place for his RV that was closer than Stratton, Colorado. We don’t need money going to Stratton. This business would be good for Goodland and a number of other businesses in Goodland. Dollar General is certainly happy about it. Justin asked if the Planning Commission had any questions and they did not.
Commissioner Penrod then asked if there was anyone else in the audience that wanted to comment on the proposed variance.
Carol McClure, owner of 1901 Cherry also known as Bubba’s meat box, which is adjacent to Justin’s property. I was wondering how he came up with the 1.7 acres versus the 2 acres. Did you do it from a Google map? Zach stated that it is all from the open records from the Kansas appraisers. He’s allowed up to 6. Zach stated he is allowed up to 8 if the variance is approved – well, up to 9. Once you go over that number, you would have to have another variance to have a bath house on the property or not. After further discussion, Carol stated maybe tomorrow we could look into my place at 1901 Cherry and see how many I could have at my lot. I’d like to join him. Zach stated you are more than welcome to submit an application. Carol stated I have a stable place, men’s and women’s bathrooms, shower, a full kitchen. It would be nice common area for those RV owners.
Commissioner Penrod asked if there were any other comments.
Joni Guyer stated that she had asked questions of City Manager Brown the last couple week. Joni stated she has some campers at her lot at 1419 Cattletrail. The lot is a solid acre over there. Joni asked about the square footage. Kent Brown said he was going to correct one thing. The question tonight is on this property on E. 19th St. It’s already zoned commercially. And the RV parks are allowed in commercial zoned property. RV Parks are not currently allowed on residential zoned property. So, the property on Cattletrail is residential zoned property. But the public hearing tonight and the item on the agenda is just regarding the property on E. 19th St. Joni stated one thing she wanted to say is that the RV’s need to be spaced further apart and that is a fire hazard concern. If we’re going to have this, we all need to make sure we are abiding by all the codes that we do have in place. That is my concern. Some people were not here last night at the City Commission meeting. I have 8 campers on a waiting list. They were called this morning and told that they would be in Goodland by Friday. These workers had no idea that they were being sent here. Zach stated that he has done the inspections out there and they do look close together. However, they are at the limit of how close they can be to each other. They are 30 feet away from each other and the limit is 25 feet. In addition, Joni stated all spots should be marked so that emergency vehicles can respond to the correct location. Zach stated if anyone would want the code, he can print it out and provide them a copy.
Kent stated he wanted to point out one thing for the public hearing. The actual lot is not the entire upside-down U as it appears on the engineering map. It is just the property between the Fed Ex yard and the Dollar General. It is just the leg of one side of the U-shaped property. Zach said it is up on the screen. It was a separate map in the packet and it had a star on it identifying the property.
Commissioner Penrod stated if there’s no further comments, the public hearing is closed at 6:14 pm.
City Manager Kent Brown reviewed the procedure for the Planning Commission acting as the Board of Zoning Appeals. The Planning Commission shall hear all facts and testimony from all parties wishing to be heard concerning the requested variance. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Board of Zoning Appeals shall not grant a variance unless it finds, based on the evidence presented, facts which conclusively support all of the following findings in these categories:
UNIQUENESS: The staff report states that the property sits in an area of town were RV parks and Mobile Home Parks are located currently. The lot size is just a bit too small. Kent stated the KOA campground is just down the street from the proposed location and the Sunflower mobile home park is just a couple blocks in the other direction. Commissioner Penrod asked if that is a substandard lot or is there just that much variability. Zach stated Goodland has quite a variability in the lots in the commercial district. Commissioner Penrod said that he saw some lots less than 2 acres and some others that were between 2 and 3 acres. This lot is just under 2 acres; but it doesn’t bother him. Commissioner Snethen and Commissioner Hansen were ok with that assessment.
ADJACENT PROPERTY: Kent stated that the variance will not affect the property rights or adjacent property owners or residents. The property owner requesting the variance owns the property to the west at 1825 Cherry Ave. which is the Dollar General building. The property to the north is used as storage for construction materials. The property to the East is the Fed-Ex truck depot. To the south is a mixed use of vacant buildings as well as a game store as well as Carol McClure’s property. There is one residential home that is a non-conforming use. Commissioner Snethen agreed with the assessment. Commissioner Penrod confirmed that there was only one question from neighboring property owners. Commissioner Hansen had no comment on the adjacent property.
HARDSHIP: The requirement of a 2-acre lot as a minimum will not allow for the temporary housing of the individuals in our area reducing the economic benefit of them being in the community. Kent stated that is the hardship; the property owner is trying to respond to the request for temporary housing. All commissioners agreed.
PUBLIC INTEREST: The requested variance will not adversely affect public health, safety, morals, order, convenience, or general welfare of the community. The proposed variance shall not impair an adequate supply of light or air to adjacent property, substantially increase the congestion in the public streets, increase the danger of fire, endanger the public safety, or substantially diminish or impair property values within the neighborhood. Kent stated that with the Fed Ex property next door it will not increase congestion on the public streets significantly. Staff does not see it as affecting property values. Commissioner Penrod stated it would not affect property values or affect the public at large. Commissioner Snethen agreed.
SPIRIT AND INTENT: The requested variance will not be opposed to the general spirit and intent of the zoning regulations. Kent stated that because of the variance request, the property owners are notified and allowed to participate in the proceedings which helps in meeting the spirt and intent. Commissioner Penrod stated that otherwise the development would be allowed; it is just slightly too small a property. That is the spirit and intent.
MINIMUM VARIANCE: The requested variance is not the minimum variance. Dependent on the number of RV’s it is intending to serve I believe would be the determining factor on how small the lot can be in regards to space requirements foreach mobile home. Zach confirmed it does have enough space to meet the needs of 8 lots for RV’s.
Please remember that the Planning Commission members will be asked to provide an explanation for each standard which is found to be met for the variance to be approved.
Now, at the conclusion of this section, Kent said that the planning commission will need to make a motion to APPROVE, CONDITIONALLY APPROVE, or DENY the variance request.
Commissioner Hansen moved, seconded by Commissioner Snethen, to approve the variance request. Motion carried unanimously.
4. Site Plan Review- 00000 19th St (Lot North of the Roadway Inn.)
Zach stated this will be more difficult to visualize. A survey has not been completed yet. It will be 2 to 3 more weeks. Terry Webb stated he had old surveys. He owns all that property to the north of the Rodeway Inn. Terry went over the dimensions of the property and the proposed site plan with the GIS view on the screen for the Planning Commissioners. After discussion, Terry provided a sketch of the site plan and copies were made for the Planning Commissioners. The sketch showed the easements and the boundaries of the lots involved. Lohr’s Electric is already split off; but it was not showing the split on EBH’s map (GIS). The lines for the sewer lines were shown in Terry’s map. Kent stated he is putting the building in between the 2 easements for the sewer lines. Zach stated the building will meet all the required setbacks. Commissioner Penrod asked if they were putting up an engineered building. Zach said yes that everything will be stamped by an engineer that is required. Zach stated that there is not that much restriction on setbacks since the neighboring properties are commercial or industrial with the railroad property boundary across the street to the north. Zach stated it will be a metal building that will match the neighboring buildings but a different color.
Commissioner Penrod moved, seconded by Commissioner Hansen, to approve the site plan review. Motion carried unanimously.
5. Revise Parking Standard requirements- Proposal for Goodland City Code
Kent stated at the last meeting, the Planning Commission reviewed the parking standard requirements. The Planning Commission selected the example from Derby as a more simplified code and had the criteria that would be simpler to follow or to enforce. The examples that compared the current Goodland city code and the Derby code for parking standards for a number of different categories. Commissioner Hansen asked if the parking spaces that are set for Mom’s Kitchen since the owners are here in the audience would be adequate. After discussion about the occupancy of the restaurant, there would only be 11 spaces required. Zach reminded the Commission that this table is just the minimum requirement. Zach also stated that the Downtown Mixed-Use District excludes the specific parking requirement because it is shared parking. Commissioner Penrod asked if change of use or just a remodel is a trigger for review of the parking requirements. Zach stated a change of use would cause a review. Kent asked the Commission if the Derby example was still a good example to follow. Commissioner Penrod said that would be a good idea. Commissioner Hansen is there a problem with this example. If not, why don’t we just railroad it through? Kent stated that we do have to follow a procedure outlined in city code to make changes. On housing, Kent stated it did come up in the Community Matters recommendations to reduce the requirements for off street parking. Zach stated that Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU’s) were already addressed. Kent asked is it ready to set for public hearing? After further discussion, Commissioners agreed to wait until the other 2 members were at the meeting before setting a public hearing.
Because of two variance requests coming into City Hall, staff requested if the next Planning Commission meeting could be October 21, the third Tuesday, instead of October 14. Planning Commission members agreed to change the meeting date to October 21.
6. Reports
A. Planning Commission
Commissioner Snethen had nothing to report.
Commissioner Penrod had nothing to report.
Commissioner Hansen had quite a few people complement the city for taking care of the property at 10th/Kansas. Also, about 3 other properties in town where the building was removed. Kent stated that staff keeps working on it.
B. Staff-
Building Official Hildebrand had nothing to report.
City Manager Brown stated there was one more thing. Staff has been directed to develop a possible ordinance to add a conditional use for an RV park in residential zoning. Kent stated that it would require the same procedure that we talked about for adjustments to regular parking. It would be considered by the City Commission then sent to the Planning Commission, a public hearing, a Planning Commission recommendation to the City Commission and then approval or not by the City Commission. Commissioner Penrod asked if it was for a R-1 lot or for a R-2 lot? Zach stated either zoning district.
7. Minutes
A. August 12, 2025
Commissioner Hansen moved, seconded by Commissioner Penrod, to approve the August 12, 2025 minutes as presented. Motion carried unanimously.
8. Adjournment
Commissioner Hansen moved to adjourn, seconded by Commissioner Penrod. Motion passed
unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 p.m.