Final action on an ordinance sharply raising occupation taxes on betting-capable “games of skill” leads the regular part of Tuesday’s North Platte City Council agenda.
Council members also will hold a public hearing and first-round debate on rezoning the former St. Paul Lutheran Church near Westfield Shopping Center to allow its conversion into a rental hall.
They voted at their Aug. 1 and Aug. 16 meetings to advance the ordinance charging $500 a year per machine to operate skill games “with betting capability,” up from $10 annually.
A related ordinance adjusting the city’s overall occupation tax schedule accordingly also faces a third and final vote. Pinball machines, pool tables and other skill games where betting isn’t part of the machine would continue to face a $10-per-year occupation tax.
Both measures were introduced July 18 as part of a three-ordinance package extending occupation taxes. The council gave 5-3 final approval Aug. 15 to the third, which extended a longtime tax on wired telephones to include cellphones and other wireless communications devices.
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Scott and Melinda Standage of North Platte want the council to amend the city’s land-use map and rezone the former St. Paul church and adjoining parsonage they’ve purchased in the 2200 block of Anna Avenue.
If the council agrees, the couple would rent out the parsonage as a home and the church as the Old Church Hall for wedding receptions and other family-oriented events. The properties’ zoning would be changed from R-2 residential to a PB-1 “planned neighborhood commercial services district.”
The Planning Commission split 7-2 Aug. 22 in favor of recommending the rezoning, a month after its own public hearing at which several neighbors objected due to concerns about increase traffic and late-night noise.
After that July 25 hearing, the Standages submitted an operational plan that the panel attached as a condition of recommending favorable council action.
Among other details, it says Old Church Hall events could only be held from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Alcohol won’t be provided, and renters wanting to serve alcohol would have to provide proof of bartender certification and liability insurance.
In other business, the council will:
Decide whether to revoke a September 2019 conditional use permit for Creative Landscapes of Nebraska to develop a greenhouses, a nursery and a retail storefront at 2000 W. Eugene Ave. No progress has been made, and “the property has remained in disrepair,” Planning Administrator Judy Clark said.
Consider, as part of a five-item consent agenda, whether to accept a $91,287 purchase agreement with Bill Summers Ford for two new Water Department service trucks.
