Present the current Zoning Map Amendment (rezone) process, explore separating it from site plan requirements, and gather Council feedback. 

The presentation will inform City Council on the current Zoning Map Amendment (rezone) process and how it overlaps with the needs and requirements of all Divisions that review development applications. It will present ways staff are working towards streamlining the process, as well as the challenges and necessary steps to remove the site plan requirement from the rezone process. Staff will also be seeking direction from council on these issues.  

Existing Zoning Map Amendment Application Procedures – A Two-Pronged Approach.  An applicant requesting an amendment to the Zoning Map, regardless of the scale of the project as defined, may elect to pursue either one of the two approaches described below: 

1. Direct Ordinance with a Site Plan. The Direct Ordinance with a Site Plan process, provides an applicant with a shorter approval process with fewer steps. This process enables an applicant to submit fully developed site plans with all supporting information required for site plan review and approval concurrently with the Zoning Map Amendment application. Once the Zoning Map Amendment is approved by the Council, then the applicant may proceed directly to construction plan and building permit review, and no additional site plan review is required. However, if the Council adds conditions of approval that require substantial amendments to the site plan, as determined by the Director, then a revised application shall be submitted for site plan review and approval prior to building permit review and approval. 

2. Authorization to Rezone with a Concept Zoning Plan. The Authorization to Rezone with a Concept Zoning Plan process decouples a Zoning Map Amendment application from an application for site plan review and approval. In this case, a concept zoning plan would be developed and submitted in support of the zone change request, and, assuming Council approval of the Zoning Map Amendment, then a complete site plan application would be submitted at a later time. 

State Statute for findings on a Zoning Map Amendment 

State statute is limited in defining what findings need to be made for a rezone and is specific to conformance with the Regional Plan and that the rezone must serve public health, safety, and welfare.  

Possible Opportunities for further streamlining the Rezone with a Concept Zoning Plan process include the following: 

1. Update the current application requirements to streamline or minimize the information required to process the application as well as provide better direction to applicants pursuing the Concept Zoning Map Amendment option. 

2. Prohibit blending the Concept Zoning Map and Direct to Ordinance processes together.  Applicants sometimes provide more information than is required or want to move other applications forward with while running a Concept Zoning Plan.  When additional information is provided that is not subject to the rezoning application, it can unnecessarily complicate the review provided by staff and may lead to conditions of approval that are more restrictive than the Concept Zoning Plan process is intended to provide. 

3. Revise existing Zoning Code requirements for Conditions of Approval on Concept Rezonings which are confusing and have complicated the process, especially when market conditions have changed, and an applicant needs to pursue alternative development proposals.  This portion of code could grant greater flexibility to the Concept Zoning Map Amendment process. 

4. Consider not requiring or amending the requirements and extent of impact analysis as part of a rezoning case.  A substantial amount of information about a development case is necessary to complete impact analysis for water, sewer, and transportation needs.  The more general an applicant would like their request to be (i.e. not limiting land uses permitted within the proposed zoning district), the more complicated an impact analysis becomes.  Building in flexibility with impact analysis is extremely difficult and could end with an applicant redoing their analysis based on final development pursuits.   The completion of impact analysis provides greater assurance to an applicant that the city can provide the required facilities to serve the proposed development as is required in the findings to approve a rezoning.  

5. Amend the Zoning Code to be in alignment with the Regional Plan 2045 land use classifications.  The Zoning Code is meant to implement the provisions of the Regional Plan. However, they are not in perfect alignment.  This alignment could simplify the rezoning process and reduce conditions of approval to ensure conformance with the Regional Plan as is required by the Findings for a rezoning.   

6. Establish a policy or procedure for exactions, negotiations, and Development Agreements.  The City faces challenges with achieving certain goals due to state statute preemptions which prohibit requiring certain features of developments with the code.  That leaves staff members to negotiate with applicants to ensure that community vision and goals are achieved.  The pursuit of these community goals can equally create conflict within the rezoning process. 

Staff is requesting feedback and guidance on how to make the existing rezoning process more efficient for both applicants and staff.  The opportunities provided above are not intended to be all-inclusive of every possible way to improve the rezoning process but represent the conflicts that staff and applicants have incurred in this process.