01-11-07 Planning Comm. Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Zoning. The site is zoned I-1, Light Industrial. The purpose of the I-1, Light Industrial District is to provide for the establishment of warehousing and light or limited industrial development which because of the nature of the product or character of activity requires isolation form residential or commercial use. The proposed uses are conditional uses in the I-1 District. Text Amendment. The applicant is requesting a text amendment to Section 911,040.(H).8 of the Zoning Ordinance which states, "No more than a total of two (2) motor vehicle sales lot licenses may be in full force at any one time in the B-2 and B-3 Districts, nor may more than a total of four (4) such licenses be in force at any one time in the B-2, B-3, B-4, and I-1 Districts combined." The City currently has four motor vehicles sales lot licenses issued. Therefore, no more licenses are available. As many as five licenses had been issued when Valor's previous permit was in force. The applicant is requesting that the ordinance be amended to allow five motor vehicle sales lot licenses. Consideration of this request is at the discretion of the City, The original purpose of the license limitation was to manage this use, with which the City has had an historical problem dealing with blight issues in general. Those issues were even more concentrated on the site in question, and with this applicant. As identified in the Code Enforcement report, City staff has spent an inordinate amount of time dealing with compliance issues at this location, over an extended period of time. In summary, planning staff would not recommend amendment to the ordinance. Given that the purpose of the ordinance was to limit motor vehicle sales lots due to blight and enforcement concerns, and given that this applicant has been the focus of compliance issues that the ordinance was intended to address, an amendment to the number of licenses would appear to be counter to the City's expressed policy in this area. Also to be considered is that legal opinions have established Conditional Use Permits as essentially a right, presuming that an applicant can meet the reasonable conditions of the permit approved by the City Council. As such, the City would have difficulty denying an application for a permit in which the applicant's proposal demonstrates compliance with those conditions. Once established, the applicant must continue to meet the conditions, but this requires regular monitoring, or a reliance on complaints, after which the City is left to attempt enforcement - an expensive and time-consuming process. In the case where a particular business is a disfavored use in the City, it is best to severely limit the ability for property owners to establish it in the first place. However, in the event that the City considers the amendment, the following material addresses the applications for the Conditional Use Permits necessary to re-establish the Valor business at the site in question. Retail Auto Sales CUP. Motor vehicles sales lots are allowed by Conditional Use Permit in the I-1 District, subject to the following conditions: 2