March 21, 2006 CCP - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lake Elmo Agenda Section: Planning, Land Use and Zoning No. 9G City Council March 21, 2006 Ordinance Background Information for March 21, 2006: Since it now appears that the City will officially have a new 2030 Comprehensive Plan by the end of April, we must (by State Statute) also have a corresponding zoning map within 9 months - February, 2007. Since the new Comprehensive Plan Land Use Map dictates several new totally new zoning districts, amendments will be not only required to the zoning map, but to the zoning text as well. In addition to the foregoing required zoning ordinance amendments, the City has for several years labored with enforcement of a 1980 zoning ordinance that is severely outdated (both in content and form) and that has been so amended/modified over 26 years that it contains numerous internal conflicts and inconsistencies. Even if the City were not embarking upon implementation of a new comprehensive plan the time is long past to address the zoning ordinance text. The Planning Commission began addressing the zoning ordinance re -write in 2004 utilizing consulting services funded (mostly) by a CDBG grant. The Commission initially looked at 3 possible options: 1. Re-write/clean-up of the present zoning ordinance text. 2. Drafting of a totally new (and contemporary) conventional zoning ordinance (also know as Euclidian Zoning — not referring to geometry but rather the city of Euclid). 3. Drafting a totally new zoning ordinance using the cutting -edge Performance Zoning format developed by Lane Kendig, and utilized by several cities throughout the Country. Early in the Commission's discussion it became apparent that there was agreement with staff that trying to resurrect the current zoning ordinance text would prove futile. That ordinance originally was based on a 1960's vintage "suburban" model ordinance and was over time massaged to (somewhat) fit the Lake Elmo (not typical suburban) situation. The current ordinance is also filled with modifications adopted at some point to suit a particular situation or property owner — never proper zoning practice. Zoning Ordinance — Continued on PaLye 2 Action items: Motion(s) providing direction to staff/Planning Commission regarding strategy/format of the new zoning ordinance. Attachments: I Time Allocated: