Agenda - Planning Commission - 07/10/2006

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dght to establish the use so Ion§ as it con- forms to the standards and cdteda of tht zen- in§ ordinence. There is an underyng belief that the permitted uses are simiJar in type and Business and industria[ districts aJso benefit from uses other than those permitted by right: For example, day care centers and restaurants are we[come near employment centers. Because the standards that are nec- essary for an industrial use or an office build- ing would not be appropriate for day care cen- terS. the conditional use process ensures the application of the appropriate standards. When a local government identifies some uses as potentially permissible through a conditional use approval process, the zon- ing board of appeals is obligated to investi- gate the proposal to make certain that suffi- cient conditions are assigned. R.EXIBIUTY BEGETS CR[A'rlVI1'f A rigid application and enforcement of the zoning ordinance often results in the similarity of the physical characteristics of a district. To achieve the prized certainty created by zoning. all development must meet the same set of standards within a district. Consequently, designers have little opportunity to exercise creativity. Standard or conventional design has little opposition in the approval process. but when a local government wishes to encourage creativity, the standards must include flexibility and the derision.making process must allow for discretion. One means tO encourage fle.~ibility is to identify in advance which conditional uses an appointed body would be willing to review to determine compatibilih/(or potential compati- bility) with the neighborhood and decide what additional standards should be met to guaran- tee it, The extra standards wiU mitigate the impacts af any possible incompatibility, The flexibility inherent in this approach encour- ages creativitT. The flexibility and discretion needed to assign conditions may teed to aign[Ecant problems in the implementation of the zoning ordinance--so planners, be cautious. Estab- lishin§ criteda to gu[de the assignment of conditions is a good idea. For example, if con- ditional standards are as detailed as dimen- aional standards For permitted uses the ffexibilit~ of the conditional use process is compromised. Conversely, if the standards are broad and general (e.g., 'must not be detri- mental to the health, safety, or weifare of the ZONINGPRACTIC~ 5.06