by John Dowd
The Hamilton City Council approved its preliminary budget for the coming fiscal year and gave a second reading to an ordinance updating the city’s subdivision regulations during its Aug. 4 meeting.
The budget, which allows the city to continue operating, is expected to receive final adoption Sept. 1. Council members also approved the second reading of Ordinance 473, with the updated subdivision regulations set to take effect Sept. 3.
City officials said the budget process has been lengthy, with the city taking a cautious approach to spending. “We were extremely cautious with taxpayer dollars and try to be good stewards of that,” city officials said.
The budget is available for public review on the city’s website.
Among the notable changes in the preliminary budget is a $1.35 million decrease in intergovernmental revenue. The decrease is largely tied to the use of the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act grant funds and the completion of other activities that had contributed to prior-year revenue.
The budget also includes a $228,066 increase in projected tax revenue. The increase is related to higher New Housing Unit Revenue District (NHURD) tax revenue. Those revenues are distributed not only to cities but also to school districts and counties.
Aside from those changes, officials said the budget is expected to remain largely as presented, with only minor potential changes before final adoption.
Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf thanked city staff and council members for their work on the budget, as well as Shepherd, who spent hours assisting with the process.
The council also approved the second reading of Ordinance 473, a comprehensive amendment to Title 16 of the Hamilton Municipal Code, which governs subdivision regulations.
Matthew Rohrbach, Hamilton city planner and grant administrator, said the changes are primarily intended to bring the city’s regulations up to date with state requirements and local design standards.
“There are not really any huge sweeping changes people need to be aware of,” Rohrbach said.
The city’s subdivision regulations were last updated in 2006. While state regulations have changed since then, Rohrbach said the bulk of the revisions involve locally controlled design standards and smaller changes to the process for dividing land.
The updates clarify review and approval procedures, including changes to the processing of minor subdivisions, and add provisions for subdivisions proposed for annexation. The revisions also increase the time between a pre-application meeting and formal submission from six months to one year.
Several design standards are also being updated. The regulations would establish requirements for flag lots, shorten maximum block lengths in several zoning districts and require stronger connections between new streets, trails and existing or adjacent properties. Larger subdivisions with 30 or more lots or 100 or more units would be required to have two vehicle accesses with at least 400 feet of separation.
The revisions also clarify requirements for mail delivery, parkland dedication and subdivision improvements agreements. Developers would need to provide a mail delivery plan with preliminary plats, while parkland provisions clarify the use of cash-in-lieu payments and requirements for park and open-space locations. The improvements agreement provisions clarify that public health and safety improvements, including water, sewer, streets, hydrants and turnarounds, must be completed before final plat approval or addressed through an approved agreement.
The ordinance also removes mobile homes and RV parks from the subdivision review process to reflect changes in state law.
“There’s a lot of little things,” Rohrbach said, adding that “most people, residents in Hamilton, are not going to notice a huge change.”
The ordinance will take effect Sept. 3, 30 days after its second reading. The preliminary budget and ordinance decisions are among several actions expected to reach finality in the coming month as the city continues its fiscal and regulatory updates.
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