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Planning & Zoning Board <br />Pfmgsten Rezoning & Comprehensive Plan Amendment <br />January 8, 2003 <br />ANALYSIS <br />The chart below shows both how the subject property and surrounding properties are <br />guided under the City's comprehensive plan and how they are zoned. <br />Land Use & Zoning <br />Location <br />Guided Land Use <br />Existing Zoning <br />Site <br />Low Density, Sewered <br />Residential <br />Rural <br />West <br />" <br />Rural <br />North <br />c, <br />Rural & General Business <br />East <br />" <br />Rural <br />South <br />" <br />Rural <br />The comprehensive plan is the tool which guides land use in the City, with the zoning <br />ordinance the more specific tool that allows that stated land use to implemented. As <br />such, both are primary planning tools and must carry requisite weight and importance. <br />The comprehensive plan was adopted as the City's tool to achieve its goals, and we must <br />defer to it for guidance. Since the site is guided Low Density, Sewered Residential and <br />zoned Rural, the proposed use as a parking/storage spot for heavy equipment and <br />commercial vehicles is clearly at odds with what the City has planned for the area. In <br />addition, significantly, the site is abutting a residential area to the west, with the resulting <br />situation of conflicting abutting uses. <br />Overall, the site has a history of uses that were either commercial in nature (auto body <br />painting & repair) or supportive of commercial uses (storage for materials used in <br />conjunction with an auto repair business). However, these uses took place in the past and <br />do not over -ride the current guidance of the City's comprehensive plan or zoning. Such <br />past uses allowed the property to become what it is today: a site containing a large metal <br />pole building, a 6 -foot high privacy fence, and not much else. While such conditions <br />would not seem to readily lend themselves to a Rural or Residential use, the <br />comprehensive plan must be respected as a vision of what the City wants to become. <br />Additionally, it is not appropriate to change the land use and zoning of one single, <br />particular lot. Rather, in considering what uses should be allowed in such an area, it <br />would be appropriate to view the broader area, consult with property owners, and <br />determine if a larger area of commercial or industrial use is justified. In the present case, <br />it is important to remember that once any change takes place, that change would allow <br />not only the use currently proposed, but any other permitted, conditional or accessory use <br />that is listed in the City's Zoning Ordinance for that zone, any of which may be even <br />more intensive or conflicting to the abutting residential neighborhood. <br />• <br />