Planning Commission Regular Meeting/Work Session

Justin Wallaceare different types of retail that might be accommodated in the flexible commercial frontage. And so that frontage will be focused more on how those types of development transition over time and so that's specific to accommodating different formats of retail and of course the open space frontage is what it sounds like it's where buildings face onto parks trailways or any type of open space that's available and accessible to the public with regards to mixed-use development in all of the small area plans. It called for mixed-use development. So that is a type of development that's envisioned for all activity center areas. And currently, mixed-use projects with the upper-story residential requires a special use permit

James FeatherThank you. Okay. Next item on our work session is a discussion of potential zoning text amendments regarding accessory dwelling units, occupancy, reducing special use permits, and other miscellaneous amendments. Nice to see you back, Mr.

Eric Formanstaffby voiceThe second one here pertains to a few different topics all grouped together, all under the theme of reducing the need for special use permits. The objective here really is to reduce barriers for businesses that are in practice, low intensity uses, but in reality, they're uses that currently require applicants to go through a full special use permit process. And then we also have some other amendments down there at the bottom, amendments that could help with administration of our ordinances, things that clarify inconsistencies, simplify the text, correct errors, and so on. I'll pause after the ADU occupancy section and I'll pause elsewhere for questions. and of course any of us on staff can answer questions at the end of the presentation as well

So our next big category here, it is that group of potential amendments that we're calling reducing the need for special use permits and really reducing the need for special use permits from certain types of businesses now uh all all uses all business uses in the city are listed in the ordinances principal use table it's 331. there's essentially three types of uses so permitted uses these are allowed in a given zoning district so permitted uses are allowed but it's not necessarily a free-for-all because there's often use standards that are associated with each use. The use standards are rules that have to be followed just to ensure that the use is compatible with the city. So it's a way to get somewhat complex uses in that permitted category.

At the other end of the spectrum are uses that are not permitted in a given zoning district, but then there's that in-between category, and that in-between category is the special use permit. The process for this, it's in the zoning ordinance in Section 6-7, but essentially a business wishing to operate in one of these uses that's a special use would file an application with the city, and ultimately that ends up in a public hearing before city council. So that process adds complexity. It adds time, frequently adds cost. to the process of opening a business. And that's justifiable in a lot of cases because the purpose of a special use permit is to give city council the opportunity to exercise discretionary powers

in considering whether or not a certain use that due to its characteristics, really belongs in the city because of potential impacts that that use may have, impacts either to adjacent properties or impacts to the city overall. But requiring that permitting process for businesses that really operate rather unobtrusively, that is thought to set up barriers to business creation, barriers that don't really need to exist. So these next three series of amendments fit into that category. So types of businesses that currently require special use permits, but really tend to be rather unobtrusive uses. And staff feels that the permitting process could work better in these cases without it being a special use.

athletic places, mixed martial arts studios, day spas, that kind of thing, those would simply be considered personal service uses. They would be able to operate on a permitted basis. And on account of that, those businesses would not be required to go through the special use permit process. Now these amendments also contain a few text changes, but it's really that size threshold that's the substantive change here, the intent of smoothing the business process. If there's any questions on indoor recreation, I think rather than going through all of them and having to cycle back, we can take questions on this now. If anyone has a recreation question.

feet. Right. So another similar kind of use is the big swimming pool or swimming facility in Fair City Mall, Big Blue. Is it Big Blue? So Big Blue is under 30,000 square feet. That might be 20,000 square feet. So the reason we think that it isn't really quite the same as a bigger use is, first of all, the size, and also those smaller facilities like pickleball or the swimming place are really on a it it's not a everyone can come at once kind of thing you need a reservation reservation or need a membership it's not the kind of thing that would really be overcrowded and and those are the type of situations where the special use permit really kind of can come into play

urgent care facilities were considered to be similar to a hospital emergency room. So in other words, a rather intense medical use, but really over the past decade or so, urgent cares have become essentially an everyday type of medical care. So this is now where a whole lot of people go for common medical care services. And not only do most urgent cares operate similar to doctors' offices, but a lot of doctors' offices and pediatricians' offices now contain urgent care functions. So it's one of those things that's becoming more difficult to separate because they've really blended together. So given all of that, it really doesn't seem beneficial to require urgent care facilities to go through a special use permit process,

Okay. We can move on to this is the last of those amendments dealing with reducing special use permits, so this includes animal care facilities. And you see the use interpretation for animal care facilities up here. It is basically a place where animals are cared for. Nice simple sentence. I mean, it's nice when the zoning ordinance tries for simplicity, but we've got it here. So right now, animal care facilities are permitted in industrial zones and again in CG, but they are a special use in commercial office and commercial retail, which again is the bulk of our commercial space. Now, the issue here is that as it currently is written, it's a rather broad type of use, and it really includes two very discrete types of businesses.

we're recommending standards for these types of uses that combine some of the current standards, because there are current standards in the ordinance, along with those conditions that have been commonly approved in special use permits for animal care. So we'll get again, get to that in a few slides. But really, the most significant recommendations are what you see here in the middle, and that is making veterinary clinics, and you see that on the right, veterinary clinics permitted in most commercial and industrial zones so veterinarians would not be a special use permit any longer according to this. Animal boarding, which is what you see on the left, we really consider that to be kennels. Kennels would continue to be a special use in the more in the more

But again, vet clinics would be a permitted use in CO, in CR, CU, CG, and industrial zones. This would eliminate the requirement of veterinarians to go through that special use permit process. So two slides on use standards. I mentioned this a few slides ago. The draft recommends updating the animal care use standards. This is all in your draft, and you can see how it's been changed and what's been carried over. but it, you know, essentially we're recommending a common set of use standards for both kennels and vet clinics, since the big issues, and the big issues really being noise and odors, can be consistent with both of these uses. So, you know, like I mentioned, these use standards combine some of the current animal care standards. These two are relatively similar to what's in

Four and five here relate to outdoor areas. So if outdoor areas are provided, so saying that those kind of areas must be at least 300 feet from the nearest residence and can only be used in daylight. Again, to minimize impacts on nearby properties. So that is it for animal care. And that's, again, the last of the special use permit topics. So if there's any questions on animal care or on the other SUP topics, I'd be glad to talk about it now.