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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZoning Ord update Memo 04-06-23City of Lakeville Planning Department M e morandum To: Planning Commission From: Frank Dempsey, AICP, Associate Planner Kris Jenson, Associate Planner Date: March 29, 2023 Subject: Packet Material for the April 6, 2023 Planning Commission Work Session Agenda Item: Zoning Ordinance annual review/update BACKGROUND The Planning Department initiates an annual review of the Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Ordinance, and/or City Code to address issues identified in the course of ongoing administration of the City’s development regulations and review of development applications. At the January 19 work session, the Planning Commission reviewed potential topics and identified topics for Staff to research further. This memo includes the research of those topics. The first part of the memo is a list of uses currently allowed by conditional use permit for which Staff would like the Planning Commission to consider reclassifying the use to a permitted use, interim use, or eliminate as a conditional use. The second part of the memo are topics with additional research for discussion by the Planning Commission. U SES ALLOWED BY CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT RS-CBD: Single Family Residential – Central Business District • Bed and breakfast establishments and boarding houses as regulated by section 11-33-3 of this title. Change to an interim use permit, so that the use runs with the operator of the bed and breakfast, rather than the property. 2 RH-CBD: High Density Residential District – Central Business District • Multiple family dwellings, provided that the property shall be guided for high density residential use by the Comprehensive Plan and Downtown Development Guide. Change to a permitted use as the lot requirements and design guidelines are already a part of the RH-CBD district language. M-1: Mixed Use I-35 Corridor District • Connection of principal buildings across a property line for interior pedestrian or vehicle use. Change to an Administrative Permit due to shared responsibilities agreement that must be recorded against both parcels. • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Change to a permitted use. • Multiple principal buildings on one lot of record. Change to Administrative Permit to ensure common area maintenance is established. M-2: Mixed Use Cedar Corridor District • Connection of principal buildings across a property line for interior pedestrian or vehicle use. Change to an Administrative Permit due to shared responsibilities agreement that must be recorded against both parcels. • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Change to a permitted use. • Multiple principal buildings on one lot of record. Change to Administrative Permit to ensure common area maintenance is established. C-1: Neighborhood Commercial District • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Change to a permitted use. • Multiple principal buildings on one lot of record. Change to Administrative Permit to ensure common area maintenance is established. • Fitness centers limited to two thousand (2,000) square feet of gross floor area or less. Change to permitted use. C-2: Highway Commercial District/C-3: General Commercial District • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Change to a permitted use. • Multiple principal buildings on one lot of one lot of record. Change to Administrative Permit to ensure common area maintenance is established. O-P • Commercial kennels for dogs, cats, and other domestic animals. Eliminate 3 commercial kennels as a conditional use in the O-P District. Use remains a CUP in several other commercial and industrial districts. • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Amend to be allowed by CUP as an accessory use to one of the currently permitted uses. I-CBD: Industrial – Central Business District • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Eliminate as a use within the district. I-1: Light Industrial District • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Amend to be allowed by CUP as an accessory use to one of the currently permitted uses. • Multiple principal buildings on one lot of record. Change to Administrative Permit to ensure common area maintenance is established. I-2: General Industrial District • Airports. Eliminate use as no longer needed due to addition of I-3 District. • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Eliminate as a use within the district. • Multiple principal buildings on one lot of record. Change to Administrative Permit to ensure common area maintenance is established. I-3: Airport Industrial District • Daycare facilities as a principal use provided that the use complies with the provisions of Chapter 31 of this title. Eliminate as a use within the district. ISSUES A NALYSIS Convenience Restaurant Drive-through. The Zoning Ordinance defines convenience restaurants as those where the food and/or beverages are served in or on disposable containers for consumption on or off the premises and that the business includes a drive-through. This use is allowed by CUP and includes performance standards for the site, including a minimum number of stacking spaces, menu board placement, green space requirements, etc. The drive- through aspect of the business is what drives the requirement for the CUP and there are a number of examples of convenience restaurants in Lakeville that do not use drive-through facilities, such as Jimmy John’s, Chipotle, and two Caribou Coffee locations. Staff proposes to add convenience restaurants without a drive-through as a permitted use in all districts where 4 convenience restaurants are currently allowed by CUP. In addition, the M-2, Mixed Use Cedar Corridor District currently requires a CUP for a convenience restaurant, specifically without a drive-through. However, Drive-through service windows accessory to an allowed use are also allowed by CUP. When the M-2 District was created, the intent was to encourage a mix of uses within buildings and on sites, and originally uses that utilized drive-through facilities were not included to keep the focus on pedestrian-scale development. Staff would like the Planning Commission to consider whether to keep convenience restaurants without a drive-through as a CUP, and whether drive-throughs should continue to be permitted by CUP as an accessory to an allowed use. Residential Driveway Street Access. Planning Department staff has received requests for secondary driveway access primarily on large single family residential properties (lots that exceed the minimum lot size and lot frontage at a street). It is not uncommon for single family lots located at the corner of two streets to have two driveways, one which provides access to an attached garage and another driveway on another street providing driveway access to a detached garage. In recent years, requests have been made by property owners within the Appaloosa Farm neighborhood located between Iteri Avenue and Iteri Court on the south and 192nd Street to the north. Iteri Avenue is a 24-foot-wide rural section designed street (no curb and gutter) with drainage ditches on either side of the road. Urban section residential street are typically 32 feet per in accordance with City Code. The lots Appaloosa Farm as well as other large lots in the city’s northwest with large homes request the ability to have driveways that are circular (horseshoe) shaped that loop in front of the houses and back to a second driveway access at the street. Research of other cities in the Twin Cities area indicate that most cities do allow secondary driveway access and driveways that loop in front of the houses provided that the lots exceed the minimum lot widths and sometimes a minimum of 125 feet in width. Zoning Ordinance 11-19-7.I.11 includes specific criteria to justify a second driveway requiring a minimum of 125 feet of street frontage unless an administrative permit is approved the following criteria are met: • The additional access is necessary to provide adequate on-site circulation. • The additional access shall create a minimum of conflict with through traffic movement. Zoning Ordinance 11-19-11 states that parking shall be prohibited in any portion of the front, side, or rear yard except on designated driveways surfaced with bituminous, concrete, or paver brick or on one such surfaced space located on the side of the garage away from the house. This language should be discussed as to whether parking or recreational vehicle storage should be allowed on that part of the driveway in front of the house or on any portion of the driveway not located directly in front of or side of the garage. 5 Here is a sample of how a few other communities address single-family lot driveway access. Plymouth: One driveway street access per single family residential lot is allowed. Two driveway street accesses are allowed with city approval if the lot exceeds the minimum required lot frontage at the street. Apple Valley: One driveway street access per single family residential lot is allowed and must connect directly to a garage. More than one driveway, including loop (circular/horseshoe) driveways require demonstration of need in the case of each lot and the lot exceeds the minimum required lot frontage at the street. Eagan: No specified restriction on the number of driveways per single family home lot with access to a street but must be approved by city staff. City staff may allow a loop (circular/horseshoe) driveway under unspecified criteria. Parking is not allowed in the front yard unless designed as a loop circular (horseshoe) driveway. Eden Prairie: More than one driveway is allowed but discouraged by city staff unless a need is demonstrated, and driveway accesses are separated by more than 20 feet at the street. Front yard driveways with parking is allowed as long as the parking area is paved. Subdivision Monument Signs. DR Horton has requested consideration of changes to the number of signs for residential subdivisions for the Brookshire development. Currently, Section 11-23-15.X permits one sign… at its entrance from a collector or arterial street, regardless of the size of the subdivision. Spirit of Brandtjen Farms and Avonlea are two large residential subdivisions, each zoned PUD, which has allowed them to include additional subdivision monument signs into the development. Planning Staff and Planning Consultant Daniel Licht have reviewed the language and suggested that for larger residential subdivisions (perhaps greater than 100 net acres on the preliminary plat), allowing two signs at each neighborhood entrance from a collector or arterial street. Residential Solar Panels. Section 11-29-5 provides regulations for solar energy systems. Similar to other city’s regulations, solar panels are encouraged to be located on the roof of the house, yet ground mounted solar panels are allowed. A survey of Twin Cities area cities similar to Lakeville find that ground mounted panels are administered by rules similar or the same as accessory buildings in terms of size, setbacks, and height, and impervious surface area where that restriction applies. A ground mounted solar panel larger than 120 square feet requires approval of a variance. Ground mounted solar panels are restricted to 120 square feet consistent with that of accessory buildings that did not require building permits at the time the code was adopted. The maximum size of accessory buildings that do not require a building permit is now 200 square feet. 6 Accessory buildings on residential zoned properties are limited to a combined attached (garage) accessory building and detached accessory buildings square footage ranging from 750 square feet to 2,000 square feet depending on the minimum lot size requirement for the zoning districts as well as a maximum percent of lot area that may be covered by accessory buildings (10%). Staff recommends that ground mounted solar panels be administered similar to that of accessory buildings for total lot coverage, square footage, height, and building and property impervious surface area where that applies. Plymouth: Ground mounted solar panels are administered the same as accessory buildings including square footage, setback minimums, and impervious surface area. A variance is required for accessory buildings/solar panels larger than the maximum size allowed. Apple Valley: Ground mounted solar panels are administered the same as accessory buildings including maximum square footage, setback minimums, and impervious surface area. A variance is required for accessory buildings/solar panels larger than the maximum size allowed. Eagan: Ground mounted solar panels are subject to accessory building setback requirements. A maximum surface area coverage of 30% of any residential lot. Eden Prairie: Ground mounted solar panels are administered the same as accessory buildings in of setbacks, but no size limit is specified. Minnetonka: Ground mounted solar panels are subject to accessory building setback requirements. Impervious surface restrictions are not specified. Building Height. Feedback from developers, particularly in multi-family residential and industrial developments, has indicated changes in recent years to construction standards relating to building height. Below is a table of the maximum number of stories and heights for the multi- family residential, commercial, and industrial districts. District Stories Heights District Stories Heights RH-1 3 42' C-2 3 35' RH-2 4 45' C-3 3 35' RH-CBD 3 35' C-CBD 3 35' M-1 6 65' O-P 6 65' M-2 4 48' I-1 4 45' O-R 3 35' I-2 4 45' There are inconsistencies between the maximum height related to the number of stories in several of the districts that Staff would like to adjust for consistency. Staff reviewed building heights in a number of other metro area communities and discovered that many also use the conditional use permit process for additional height above a district maximum. 7 I-1, Light Industrial District – Retail Automobile Sales. A request has been made to city staff from a business owner to have the City consider amending the Zoning Ordinance to allow indoor automobile sales in the I-1, Light Industrial District. No outside storage or display of automobiles associated with the retail business is being requested. Currently, retail sales are allowed in the I-1 District by conditional use permit only as accessory to an allowed principal use of the building such as warehousing, manufacturing or office uses. Enclosed retail uses in the I-1 District are limited to the permitted uses allowed in the C-1, Neighborhood Commercial District. Zoning regulations in the industrial zoning districts are intended to minimize general public traffic and land uses that may be incompatible with industrial traffic and potentially hazardous nearby or adjacent industrial businesses. Retail businesses, which could include indoor automobile sales, are allowed in the C-1 District. Open and outdoor sales, rental or display as an accessory use in association with an allowed principal use is allowed by administrative permit up to a maximum of 10% of the principal building area or tenant space. Automobile sales is also allowed in the C-2 and C-3 Districts; however, the C-2 District is the only district that allows outdoor display of vehicles to exceed 30% of the floor area of the building, subject to approval of a conditional use permit. Keeping of Chickens. A resident has submitted a request for the City to consider amendments to Section 11-35-3.C regarding the keeping of chickens. The comments by the resident include the following: • Allow number of chickens based on size of property and allow roosters to be kept. • Questions the size limit of the chicken coop and enclosed run. • Allow other materials for coop exterior and remove winterization requirement. • Questions chicken waste disposal and why chickens can’t be buried on site. • Questions why chickens can’t be kept indoors. • Questions the prohibition on the sale of eggs from chickens permitted on site. • Questions the prohibition of slaughtering of chickens. • Questions the prohibition of keeping chickens for breeding purposes. The resident’s comments on the ordinance are attached to this memo for your review. Also attached are the Planning Commission’s notes from the May 3, 2018 work session where chickens were discussed. Staff does not support making changes to the ordinance based on these comments, given the impact those changes could have to residential areas. 8 CONCLUSION Planning Staff requests that the Planning Commission consider the above amendment topics and provide direction as to the ordinance language to be drafted or further studied. Planning Staff will then either prepare a draft ordinance amendment for consideration by the Planning Commission at a public hearing or provide information and research for discussion at a future work session. C. Keeping Of Chickens: 1. Administrative Permit Required: a. The keeping of chickens (defined as fowl of the genus Gallus and species Gallus domesticus) may be allowed upon a property developed with a single-family dwelling within a residential zoning district subject to approval of an administrative permit in accordance with chapter 8 of this title and the provisions of this section. b. The application for an administrative permit shall include the information required by subsection 11-8-3B of this title and the following additional information: (1) The number of chickens to be kept. (2) A detailed sketch plan of the property drawn to scale including, but not limited to, the location and dimensions of the coop and run. (3) Specifications for the coop and run including, but not limited to, dimensions, exterior finish materials and construction methods. (4) Any other information the Zoning Administrator deems necessary to evaluate the application for compliance with the requirements of this section and this Code. c. An administrative permit approved in accordance with this section shall not be transferred to another owner upon the sale or change in occupancy of the property to which it is issued and shall not be transferred to another property. 2. Performance Standards: a. Premises Occupied By Owner: The owner of the chickens must occupy the premises for which the administrative permit is issued. b. Chickens: (1) The maximum number of chickens allowed to be kept on a property shall be three six (6 3) chickens. (2) The keeping of crowing roosters is prohibited. c. Coop And Outdoor Exercise Area Specifications: A structure for housing the chickens herein defined as a coop and outdoor exercise area herein defined as a run shall be provided for the keeping of chickens in accordance with requirements for accessory buildings in section 11-18-7 of this title and fences in section 11-21-5 of this title and the following requirements: (1) Area: (A) The interior floor space of the coop shall provide a minimum of two (2) square feet for each chicken authorized by the administrative permit. (B) The coop shall not exceed thirty two (32) square feet in area. (2) Coop Exterior: The exterior finish of the coop shall be wood provided that the surfaces are painted or stained for exterior use or the wood is of proven durability for exterior use, such as cedar, redwood, or cypress. (3) Coop Winterized: The coop shall be winterized so as to provide protection for the chickens during winter. (4) Enclosed Run: A run with sides and overhead fully enclosed by fencing or wire mesh or netting with a minimum area of five (5) square feet and maximum area of twenty (20) square feet per chicken authorized by the administrative permit shall be provided and attached to the coop so as to provide controlled access between the coop and run. (5) Predators And Vermin Prevented Access: The construction of and materials used for the coop and run must be adequate to prevent access by predators and vermin. Commented [NL1]: Many other city codes have an amount based on how many acres you have. Ex: All can have 6, 0.3 acres can have 8, 0.5 acres 10, etc. Commented [NL2]: The only problem with roosters is their crowing. It can be very beneficial to have a rooster in your flock for predator protection. A crow collar will prevent loud crowing. There's about a 90-98% accuracy at sexing chicks, so there's a chance you will happen to buy a rooster when you get chicks. It's unlikely that someone would want your rooster, so your options are either to butcher the rooster or get a crow collar. Commented [NL3]: It sounds like there could be building size limits here. If not, I don't see the reason for limiting the size. Commented [NL4]: Why aren't other materials allowed? Why are coop materials needed in the city code? This could be moved into the permit application and listed as recommended. Commented [NL5]: What do you expect to be done to winterize? Getting cold-hardy breeds is a better idea than trying to winterize a coop. This can give people the wrong impression that you need to do something special to coops when it can actually be detrimental to the health of the chickens. Moisture is more dangerous than the cold. Commented [NL6]: Why is there a max size for the run? (6) Location: (A) The coop and run shall be located only within a rear yard as defined by this title. (B) The coop and run shall be set back a minimum of twenty feet (20') from any lot line. (C) The coop and run shall not be located within a drainage and utility easement. (D) The coop and run shall be located closer to the principal dwelling upon the property to which the administrative permit is issued than any other residential dwelling on an abutting property. d. Confinement: Chickens shall be confined inside of a coop from sunset to sunrise each day to prevent attracting predators and minimize nuisance noise. e. Keeping Of Feed: All feed for chickens shall be stored inside of an enclosed structure or within a watertight and vermin proof container. f. Waste: (1) The chicken coop and run shall be kept in a sanitary and odor free condition a way to minimize odors, including the regular and frequent removal, storage in a leak proof container, and proper disposal of any accumulated feces or waste that may create a hazard to public health, safety, and welfare. (2) Feces, discarded feed, and chicken carcasses shall not be composted or buried upon the property. g. Prohibited Activities: (1) No chicken shall be permitted to roam freely in any area not on the premises to which an administrative permit has been issued in accordance with this section. (2) Chickens shall not be kept or allowed at any time within a residential dwelling or accessory structure other than a coop allowed by this section. (3) Eggs from chickens kept upon the property to which the administrative permit is issued are for personal use and consumption by the occupants and shall not be offered for sale or sold. (4) The slaughtering of chickens upon a residential property in view of the public is prohibited. (5) Chickens shall not be kept for breeding purposes. 3. Administration And Enforcement: a. The administrative permit shall be administered in accordance with subsection 11-8-3D of this title. b. The premises, including the chicken coop and run, for which a permit is issued in accordance with this section shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection by community service officers, the Zoning Administrator, or other City official to determine compliance with the requirements of the administrative permit, this section, or other provisions of the zoning ordinance and this Code relating to public health, safety, and welfare. Commented [NL7]: It's not possible to keep a coop and run sanitary and completely odor free. Obviously, you shouldn't be able to smell it from neighboring properties. Commented [NL8]: This seems excessive. The ground material should be sufficient enough to create a composting effect that minimizes odors and ultimately can be used on gardens, landscaping, and lawns. You shouldn't need to pick up any poop and you shouldn't have to remove the ground material frequently. Commented [NL9]: Feces should naturally be composted with the ground material that you use. Commented [NL10]: Is there a reason why you can't bury a chicken? Commented [NL11]: Everyone who gets chicks will break this rule because they can't regulate their body temperature yet. Why can't adult chickens be inside? What happens if they need to be separated from the other chickens due to an injury? Commented [NL12]: Why not? How is this different than giving someone brownies? Neighbors are very appreciative of any eggs you give them, especially with egg prices these days. People will do this anyway. Commented [NL13]: If you have an injured or dying bird, you will need to do this. Most people will break this rule. Maybe this could be consistent with deer butchering rules? I couldn't find any rules prohibiting the processing of hunted animals. You can process a wild turkey but not your own chicken? Commented [NL14]: Many people get chickens to feel self-sufficient. This would enable people to hatch their own cute chicks once their hens get too old to lay eggs. I can tell you for a fact that the neighborhood family love seeing the chicks.