Agenda - Planning Commission - 02/07/1995

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THE ZONING REPORT Page Four stantially change the character of a property or the neighborhood. A conditional use is a major approval that authorizes principal uses that, subject to limiting standards, can create favorable or non-adverse impacts on adjoining property i.n keeping with the character of the neighborhood and can favorably alter the char- acter of the neighborhood significantly within the purposes of the zone district in which it is located. There are general standards applicable to all exceptions and specific standards applicable to each of the exceptions authorized in the zon~ lng code. An applicant meeting all the stan- dards is entitled to approval of the exception. Any person can apply for an exception on any property, subject to the standards as applied to the property. The general standards are similar to the genera] standards required for condi- tional uses. The specific standards restrict or describe allowable site development and opera- tion of the use on the site. Typical special exceptions include: reducing. off-street parking and 16ading for proposed housing for the elderly, for the handicapped or for special group home care situations where residents do not have access to personal vehi- cles on the premises; allowing partial develop- ment to proceed for persons claiming a vested right in the amount of development of a prop- erty under construction upon its annexation or addition to the jurisdiction's extraterritorial zoning area (and not based on a rezoning, which creates nonconformities); approving tem- porary use permits, up to a maximum time im- posed by the zoning code for uses whose con- struction is of a temporary nature in keeping with the permit: time periods are six months to two years and usually involve substantially vacant property; allowing offstreet business parking in adjoining residential zones under standards of design, landscaping and screening that protect the residential area and minimize access to residential local streets; allowing off-site parking within a maximum specified distance for churches, schools, community cen- ters and other intensive traffic generating uses that commonly locate in residential zones by right; modifying zoning bulk regulations if a lot is bounded on two or more sides by noncon- forming uses or structures on separately owned lots; allowing fences, walls and hedges in street yards and zone walls greater than the maximum height aIlowed by the zoning code except in sight distance areas; and alIowing~ various types of towers as accessory uses in residential zones, up to a greater maximum height than otherwise allowed for structures in. the zone, for residential and essential utility LISeS. Conditional uses Conditional uses allow the broadest and most comprehensive grant of discretion of the five types of special approvals. They are uses whose function is compatible with by-right uses of the zone but whose characteristics could create problems of incompatibility and adverse impact with the character of adjoining proper- ties and the neighborhood. These uses are al- lowed in zones in a separate list of conditional uses fo]lowing the list of by-right uses. They have no right to be approved for specific sites. But if an application meets all of the condi- tions required for the use and accords with standards guiding the grant of approval by the deciding authority, it must be ajpproved. Conditions that regulate and limit develop- ment of the use on a specific site are imposed by the deciding authority based on standards for all conditional uses. The standards seek to reduce adverse impacts, avoid incompatibility and loss of property value, livabiIity or enjoy- ment of adjoining properties and the neighbor- hood. Conditions of approval must be those that minimally meet the standards. The conditions imposed by the deciding au- thority can be quite extensive in keeping with its broad grant of discretionary authority. Many conditions ar.e enumerated in the zoning code specifically for each conditional use. These conditions can be modified by the decid- ing authority to assure conformance to the general standards. January 20~ I995 issue