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HomeMy WebLinkAboutA048 - Council Action Form dated March 28, 2000, hearing on zoning text ordinance r ITEM # 3-54.-- DATE 03/28/00 COUNCIL ACTION FORM SUBJECT: PUBLIC HEARING ON ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AND MOTION TO APPROVE AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT ON FIRST READING. ACTION FORM SUMMARY: The City Council is being asked to approve the text of the new zoning ordinance. This new zoning ordinance is the culmination of over seven (7) years of work by a large number of people throughout the entire City. This ordinance has been reviewed extensively by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council. Through the course of this review, a number of changes have been made to reflect the zoning philosophy of the City. The Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed this ordinance at their meeting of February 16, 2000 and have recommended that the zoning ordinance text be approved. Staff is recommending that the zoning ordinance text be approved. BACKGROUND: The City of Ames began the work necessary to re-write the zoning ordinance in the fall of 1997. In the time that has passed, a significant amount of time and attention has been devoted to creating the zoning ordinance text that is now being requested for approval by the City Council. The proposed zoning ordinance will replace the existing ordinance in its entirety. Extensive review of this ordinance has occurred on the part of both the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council. More recently, numerous changes have been made to the text as a result of the public involvement in the creation of the ordinance. This represents a significant action to create an ordinance that is directly linked to the implementation of the City's Land Use Policy Plan. The City has amended the existing zoning ordinance in the past and major revisions have occurred, but this proposed ordinance represents a new era in zoning administration for the City. Since the proposed ordinance represents a completely new approach to zoning, it is difficult to summarize the content of the ordinance in this Council Action Form. The following analysis represents a brief overview of each article and the most significant features in the new ordinance. ANALYSIS: • Article 1. A more complete and precise reference to the Code of Iowa relative to zoning authority and relationships to other plans and laws of the City. • Article 2. A more comprehensive and extensive listing of terms that are important in the administration of the ordinance. • Article 3. • Delineation of permissible and prohibited uses. • Adaptive reuse provisions. • More forgiving non-conforming use provisions. • Article 4. • Floor area, lot area, frontage, and coverage standards. • General landscape and screening standards related to development circumstances. • More explicit parking and loading standards. • Article 5. The entire article is devoted to a general description and listing of land uses referenced in the ordinance. • Article 6. An agriculture zone that is similar to existing zoning requirements, but written in a new ordinance format. Also, the Agriculture Zoning district will be applied to all newly annexed property until either a Village Residential or Suburban Residential rezoning is approved by the City. • Article 7. A residential zoning regulation that creates five (5) zones including Low Density, Medium Density, High Density, Urban Core Medium Density, and Low Density Manufactured Home Park. Regulations are similar in many ways to existing regulations, but in many ways there are different requirements addressing specific issues that are an outgrowth of the Plan. • Article 8. A commercial zoning regulation that creates five (5) zones including Neighborhood Commercial, Community Commercial Node, Downtown and Campustown Service Centers, Highway Oriented Zone, and Planned Regional Commercial Zone. The difference between these zones is reflected in the types of uses permitted and the intensity of development allowed. • Article 9. An industrial zoning regulation that creates two (2) zones including General Industrial and Planned Industrial. Both zones reflect the basic zoning policy of the City currently, but provides for a greater degree of administrative authority to staff in the Planned Industrial zone. 2 • Article 10. Special purpose zones are created to indicate the zoning standards in the Hospital Medical Zone and the overall zoning policy of the City relative to property that is owned by a governmental entity. The zoning standards for the Hospital Medical Zone are similar to past zoning standards with several obvious differences. • Article 11. The zoning ordinance contains five (5) 'overlay districts" that are designed to provide regulations for the development of land within the Single-Family Conservation zone, Historic Preservation areas, Environmentally Sensitive areas, areas that would be designated as Gateways to the community, and areas that are University Impacted. Each overlay zone would contain requirements that would be in addition to requirements that are found in base zones. • Article 12. This article contains three "floating zones" that would be applied to land based on a rezoning request from the property owner. These "floating zones" contain the requirements that would guide the development of future Village Residential development, future Suburban Residential development, and also provide for the creation of Planned Residence development similar to the previous PUD requirements. Frankly, it is these "floating zone" requirements that will be applicable to all newly annexed property that is brought into the City in the future. • Article 13. This article includes the additional regulations that are related to adult entertainment uses, bed and breakfast uses, home occupations, manufactured housing, salvage yards, and wireless communication towers. • Article 14. The portion relates to the powers and duties of the City Council, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Zoning Board of Adjustment as they relate to the administration of the ordinance. • Article 15. This article contains all of the requirements that must be followed in the process of obtaining a zoning permit, site plan approval, a special use permit, a variance to the requirements, requests for reasonable accommodations, and amendments to the zoning ordinance • Article 16. This is the last article of the ordinance, which explains the enforcement provisions of the ordinance. STAFF COMMENTS: The previous summarization of the ordinance is a skeletal overview of the proposed ordinance and is in no way a complete and thorough description of all of the requirements. Staff has indicated that the creation of an ordinance this extensive is bound to contain features that will have to be changed and adjusted in the future as the administration of the new ordinance occurs. It is staffs belief that where there is a need to approve a technical change or correction, a shortened process of Planning and Zoning Commission review and City Council decision on all three readings would be appropriate. Conversely, where there J is a need to amend the ordinance where the revision embodies a fundamental change in zoning policy, in these instances a more extensive process of ordinance research, alternatives consideration, and decision by both the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council is the appropriate procedure. As stated earlier, this ordinance represents a monumental effort on the part of a large number of people who have been involved in the process. Staff is recommending that the City Council approve the proposed zoning ordinance. PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: The Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed this zoning ordinance text at their meeting of February 16, 2000 and have recommended that the City Council approve the text of the zoning ordinance, as it is written. ALTERNATIVES: 1. The City Council can approve an ordinance adopting the Zoning Ordinance Text of the City of Ames. 2. The City Council can decide to not approve the ordinance that will adopt the Zoning Ordinance Text for the City of Ames. If the City Council does not approve the Zoning Ordinance Text, the City Council should also not approve the Zoning Map until the Council is prepared to approve the zoning text. 3. Upon completion of the required public hearing, the City Council can refer this ordinance back to staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission for additional review and recommendation. MANAGER'S RECOMMENDED ACTION: This action represents the culmination of over three years of very focused work on the creation of the zoning ordinance and over seven years of work since the beginning of the revision to the Land Use Policy Plan. The zoning ordinance contains many features that are similar to past zoning requirements. Additionally, there are many new ordinance provisions that reflect the current zoning policy of the City Council. It is the recommendation of the City Manager that the City Council adopt Alternative #1. This action will approve the Zoning Ordinance Text on first reading. This ordinance must be approved by the City Council in two additional readings and be published in its entirety before the ordinance is put into effect. COUNCIL ACTION: 4