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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-09-26 PACKET 07.1.CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE MINNESOTA TO: Planning Commission Members FROM: John McCool, Senior Planner DATE: September 21, 2011 RE: Zoning Ordinance Amendments - Commercial Zoning Text and Districts In the process of discussing the proposed zoning text amendment for vehicle repair, staff sug- gested that the City should comprehensively review the commercial zoning districts in the Zoning Ordinance. Ongoing revisions are recommended and adopted for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to the need to ensure consistency with adopted plans; to respond to changing market conditions and development patterns where appropriate; to respond to changing policy direction; and to simplify and streamline where possible. The adoption of commercial zoning districts and standards is part of a larger project to comprehen- sively update the Cottage Grove Zoning Ordinance and to reevaluate and update existing zoning district regulations. Currently, Cottage Grove's Zoning Ordinance for commercial districts is divided into the following zoning districts: • Limited Business District (B -1) • Retail Business District (B -2) • General Business District (B -3) • Planned Business District (P -B) • Neighborhood Business District (B -N) Each of these commercial districts has purpose statement, permitted use, conditional use, acces- sory use, interim conditional use, and development standard sections. Various commercial uses are assigned to each of these five commercial districts. Some commercial uses are allowed in all the commercial districts and other uses are limited to only one or a few commercial districts. Staff is beginning to gather input on commercial uses that are not specifically identified in the cur- rent ordinance. This information will be helpful in future discussions on whether or not certain uses should be considered in the eventual zoning ordinance text amendment process. Staff will also help provide direction in developing new or modified districts and standards that will express the City's goals for commercial districts and vision for neighborhood and general commercial districts. The overall objective is to ensure there is a balance of commercial uses in the City, services are distributed throughout the City and at appropriate scale, and long -term vision for uses is consistent with the City's Comprehensive Plan. The purpose of this memorandum is merely to present to you the idea of reviewing the Zoning Ordinance regulations for all the commercial zoning districts and start a discussion on how the process in preparing an eventual zoning text amendment should best be implemented. Maybe a Memo to Planning Commission Zoning Text Amendments — Commercial Districts September 21, 2011 Page 2 of 2 sub - committee is assigned to begin this work. Representatives from other City advisory commis- sions (e.g. EDA) could be invited to participate in this process if the Planning Commission supports this effort. A copy of the 36 pages of the current commercial zoning district regulations can be distributed to you electronically once the task is implemented. Examples of zoning ordinance regulations that are found to be "user- friendly" will also be distributed to you at a later time. At next Monday evening's meeting we will discuss how to proceed with this task.