Agenda - Council Work Session - 09/26/2023

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2. 2. CC Work Session Meeting Date: 09/26/2023 PrimaryStrategic Plan Initiative: Create a positive image for residential neighborhoods, business districts and key g corridors. Information Title: Zoning Code Update Discussion Purpose/Background: Over the past year, staff and the Planning Commission have been working on updating the zoning portion of Chapter 117. This chapter has had several topic -based updates over the years, but nothing comprehensive. Cities are required to review their Zoning Codes after the adoption of a Comprehensive Plan to ensure the tools are in place to implement the Comprehensive Plans. Ramsey's Zoning Code is cumbersome to navigate, has lots of inconsistencies, has lots of redundancies, and has several burdensome regulations. Goals of this update are to make it easy to use and understand, to be consistent, and to make it less onerous for residents and businesses to invest in their properties. The City Council introduced Ordinance #23-14 on August 8. At that meeting, it was noted that the Planning Commission requested that the City Council dive into two topics more in depth: The definition of "Family" and regulations around car dealers. Definition of "Family" Currently, the Zoning Code identifies single-family dwellings in single-family zoning districts, but it does not define what a family is. The proposed Zoning Code includes a definition that is similar or the same as many other communities in the region: "Family means an individual; two or more persons related by blood, marriage, adoption, or foster care; or not more than four persons not related by blood, marriage, adoption, or foster care occupying a dwelling unit as an individual housekeeping organization." This definition is important to keep single-family homes from turning into rooming houses or small apartment buildings. It also acknowledges that people can have roommates, have live-in caregivers, be unmarried cohabitators, or have other reasonable living situations. The Commission received testimony from an investment property owner who has properties being rented to various groups of people that would not meet this definition. Staff did research on other area communities and discovered that the range of most communities is three to six with four being most typical. Some communities do not address it (like Ramsey's current Code). It should be noted that licensed residential facilities (i.e., group homes) and unlicensed residential facilities (i.e., sober homes) are proposed to be limited to six residents. These dwelling types have extra Building Code regulations that could require additional SAC/WAC payments, accessibility, and fire protection and given these extra regulations from the State, typically self -limit residents to four or five to avoid the extra costs. Car Dealers Cleaning up the Highway 10 corridor was something that was brought up several times in discussing business districts. Staff has had feedback from other Ramsey businesses that the corridor looks bad due to many of the auto dealer properties. The most problematic ones are the multi -tenant dealership properties. They are consistently in violation of their conditional use permits and they are difficult to coordinate clean up with due to the several dealers involved. These small dealers are generally not invested in the community, turn over frequently, and are usually not the dealer's primary business. Regulations are proposed to make sure that a car dealer is making an investment in the property and running an accountable legitimate business. These regulations