04/14/2010 P&Z Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • Interim Use Permit 2209 Phelps Road page 5 Similarly, the current zoning ordinance includes "Earth Moving and Land Reclamation ". This is allowed in all districts except that a conditional use permit is required when 5,000 cy or more is to be removed or deposited. The ordinance states that inclusion of this permit process in the ordinance does not automatically imply entitlement to such a permit. We have no record of a conditional use permit being issued to the site for Earth Moving and Land Reclamation. Communication towers like the one on the north parcel are allowed with a conditional use permit in the LI zone. It is not entirely clear just what activity on the site was allowed under the City's zoning ordinances over time. No zoning district allowed the storing of materials and equipment outdoors except by conditional use permit. As noted, there was the possibility of a conditional use permit, but there is no record of any being granted. Floodplain The site is within an unnumbered A zone on the floodplain map. This means it likely is within the floodplain, but the exact 100 -year flood elevation has never been determined. We have various documents that have assumed different flood elevations on the site and in the area. The differences are two feet or even more. The Rice Creek Watershed District is working with Arnt representatives. It is likely that they will come to agreement on how to address this issue. The recommended condition of approval is that the City accept the Watershed District's solution to the puzzle. Nonconforming Use Issues A nonconforming use is a use that lawfully occupied a building or land on the effective date of the zoning ordinance but that currently does not conform to the use regulations. Regulations change over time as a community evolves. What conformed to a city's zoning regulations at one time might not later in time after the regulations are amended. It is documented that Arnt operated beginning in the 1970s. The nature of the activity there has not changed. On the north side of the road, Acton Construction began on the site in 1968. However, the businesses and uses on that site have changed. The files include building permits and sign permits for Acton Construction, Mr. Miller's company. However, there has been a Bobcat equipment business there in the interim. That is, it appears that the site use has not been construction material storage the entire time. At least one other use operated there for more than one year. Therefore, the nonconforming use status expired, in accordance with the zoning ordinance both in the 1970s and the current ordinance. The relevant passages are highlighted below. The point is that the concept and intent of the "nonconforming" status has been recognized for many years in the City's zoning ordinances.