The Hastings City Council has delayed action on an expected  request to its Planning Commission for one month to give city staff and council members  time to explain to the public what’s going on.

If they can let people know what they are going to do and why, it will reduce a lot of possible confusion and phone calls seeking clarification, City Manager Jeff Mansfield said Monday.

During routine zoning business, city staff learned that the city code mandates if an ordinance change affects the entire city, the city has to send notifications to every resident in the city by first class mail or personal delivery, he said.

That’s about 3,000 notifications, plus one for every one who lives within 300 feet of the city.

That’s a lot of money and work, especially when the state law says if more than 11 parcels are involved, the city must publish a notice in a general circulation newspaper. 

“Just one zoning district change still involves hundreds…even if it’s just the B-1 zoning, that’s 300 mailings,” he said.

Mansfield said they will change the code to align with the state rules. To do that, they must notify all the residents of the change of the code, and he wants the people to know what it means, and why it is being done, before they get the notice.

“We will still make notifications in the paper and also to those within 300 feet of the city after the change,” he said.

Mansfield asked for the one-month delay to “try to get the word out…We’re not trying to hide anything, it’s just if they don’t know about it ahead of time, the change will cause confusion and lots of phone calls.”