| AGENDA ITEM #:22-220-00001 DATE: June 15, 2022 CAR #: CASE #: {Case#} |
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Planning & Zoning Commission ACTION REPORT
| SUBJECT: | ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENT TO: ALLOW CERTAIN DRIVE-THROUGH RESTAURANTS AS A PERMITTED USE, ADOPT STANDARDS FOR DRIVE-THROUGH RESTAURANTS, CLARIFY AND REVISE DEFINITION OF CONVENIENCE USES, AMEND LIST OF USES THAT REQUIRE A USE PERMIT IN COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS, AND MAKE OTHER CLARIFYING NON-SUBSTANTIVE CHANGES |
| STAFF PRESENTER(S): | Steve Careccia, Planning Manager |
SUMMARY:
This is a staff-initiated request to amend Article 2-2 (Definitions), Article 3 (Zoning Districts), and Article 4 (Special Uses, Uses Requiring Additional Evaluation, Nonconforming Uses and Buildings) of the city of Goodyear Zoning Ordinance to modify definitions, use classifications and design standards applicable to drive-through restaurants within the city’s commercial zoning districts. The general intent of this text amendment is to allow drive-through restaurants meeting certain locational criteria and design requirements to forgo the requirement for a Use Permit.
RECOMMENDATION:
- Conduct a public hearing to consider a request to amend Article 2-2 (Definitions), Sections 3-3-2 (C-1 Neighborhood Commercial District), 3-3-3 (C-2 General Commercial District), and 3-3-6 (Commercial District Standards) and Article 4-2 (Uses Requiring Additional Evaluation) of the City of Goodyear Zoning Ordinance to modify definitions, use classifications and development standards applicable to drive-through restaurants within the city’s commercial zoning districts.
- Recommend approval of a request to amend Article 2-2 (Definitions), Sections 3-3-2 (C-1 Neighborhood Commercial District), 3-3-3 (C-2 General Commercial District), and 3-3-6 (Commercial District Standards) and Article 4-2 (Uses Requiring Additional Evaluation) of the City of Goodyear Zoning Ordinance as set forth in the draft of Ordinance No. 2022-1534. (Steve Careccia, Planning Manager)
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct budget impact associated with the approval of this Zoning Ordinance text amendment.
BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS ACTIONS:
The City of Goodyear Zoning Ordinance regulates the development of all land within the city. Regulations set forth in the Zoning Ordinance may be amended when deemed necessary to best serve the public interest, health, comfort, convenience, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the city. The current Zoning Ordinance was originally adopted by the City Council in May 1999 and has been the subject of a number of amendments since that time.
Upon staff review of several drive-through restaurants that had previously proceeded through the Use permit process, it was surmised that not all of these proposals needed the additional evaluation and findings inherent in the Use Permit process. Rather, for those drive-through restaurants proposed within existing commercial centers, and not within the vicinity of a residential area, the requirement for Use Permit could potentially be removed.
A City Council worksession was held on July 1, 2021, to discuss potential process changes and fee revisions, including the potential to not require a Use Permit for drive-through restaurants. During the worksession, Council discussed the Use Permit process and directed staff to be flexible. However, Council also had concerns with queuing vehicles and traffic, as these conditions should not negatively impact the surrounding area. Pursuant to City Council direction, staff solicited the services of outside Counsel to review the processes of other Valley municipalities related to drive-through restaurants and to draft provisions for the potential streamlining of the Use Permit process.
This text amendment, in its original form, was previously heard by the Planning and Zoning Commission at a public hearing held on April 6, 2022. Modifications to the text amendment, as a result of stakeholder input, required the item to be re-noticed and reheard by the Commission prior to proceeding to the City Council.
Upon staff review of several drive-through restaurants that had previously proceeded through the Use permit process, it was surmised that not all of these proposals needed the additional evaluation and findings inherent in the Use Permit process. Rather, for those drive-through restaurants proposed within existing commercial centers, and not within the vicinity of a residential area, the requirement for Use Permit could potentially be removed.
A City Council worksession was held on July 1, 2021, to discuss potential process changes and fee revisions, including the potential to not require a Use Permit for drive-through restaurants. During the worksession, Council discussed the Use Permit process and directed staff to be flexible. However, Council also had concerns with queuing vehicles and traffic, as these conditions should not negatively impact the surrounding area. Pursuant to City Council direction, staff solicited the services of outside Counsel to review the processes of other Valley municipalities related to drive-through restaurants and to draft provisions for the potential streamlining of the Use Permit process.
This text amendment, in its original form, was previously heard by the Planning and Zoning Commission at a public hearing held on April 6, 2022. Modifications to the text amendment, as a result of stakeholder input, required the item to be re-noticed and reheard by the Commission prior to proceeding to the City Council.
STAFF ANALYSIS
Current Policy:
The following policies contained within the City of Goodyear Zoning Ordinance are applicable and relevant to this requested text amendment:
Article 2-2 (Definitions) of the Zoning Ordinance defines certain words and terms used throughout the Ordinance. This text amendment proposes to revise certain definitions.
Article 3 (Zoning Districts) of the Zoning Ordinance establishes the permitted uses, accessory uses, and uses that may be approved with a Use Permit within each zoning district classification. This Article also establishes development regulations and standards pertaining to each zoning district. This text amendment proposes to revise certain use classifications with the City’s commercial zoning districts.
Article 4 (Special Uses, Uses Requiring Additional Evaluation, Nonconforming Uses and Buildings) of the Zoning Ordinance provides for land use activities that may be permitted within the City, but because of their unique nature, potential for creating impacts on other uses, or pre-existing legal status, require additional consideration as to their proper location or imposition of additional conditions to ensure their compatibility. This text amendment proposes to establish development standards that will be applicable to all drive-through restaurants.
As established in the Zoning Ordinance, a Use Permit requires review by the Planning and Zoning Commission and approval by the City Council through the public hearing process. Section 1-3-2 (Use Permits) of the Zoning Ordinance requires that the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council determine that the proposed use meets the following findings prior to granting a Use Permit:
As established in the Zoning Ordinance, a restaurant with a drive-through component is currently classified as a convenience use, and convenience uses are permitted within the City’s commercial zoning districts subject to the approval of a Use Permit. As previously noted, the review and approval of a Use Permit must proceed through the public hearing process, which can take approximately five to six months to complete.
Details of the Request:
This request for text amendment is to modify certain definitions and use classifications while also creating development standards that address the treatment of drive-through restaurants within the City’s commercial zoning districts. The overall intent of the text amendment is to allow certain drive-through restaurants, which would normally require approval of a Use Permit, to forgo this requirement if they meet certain locational requirements. To achieve this intent, the text amendment specifically proposes the following revisions:
Article 2-2: Revise the definition of “Convenience Use” by: removing references to establishments that sell food and drink for consumption on or off-premises, including restaurants, clarifying that stores regardless of size that have a drive through facilities are convenience uses, and changing the reference to “Community Development Director” to “Development Services Director”;
Article 2-2: Add definitions for Drive-In Restaurant and Drive-Through Restaurants and amend definitions of Restaurant, Drive-In and Restaurant, Drive-Thru;
Section 3-3-2-A: Revise the list of principal permitted uses within the C-1 (Neighborhood Commercial) zoning district to make restaurants with drive-through lanes located more than 500 feet from a residential zoning district a permitted use and require conformance with newly established development standards proposed in Article 4-2;
Section 3-3-2-C: Revise the list of Use Permit uses within the C-1 (Neighborhood Commercial) zoning district by adding drive-in restaurants and drive-through restaurants with drive-through lanes located within 500 feet of a residential zoning district as uses subject to approval of a Use Permit;
Section 3-3-3-A: Revise the list of principal permitted uses within the C-2 (General Commercial) zoning district to make restaurants with drive-through lanes located more than 500 feet from a residential zoning district a permitted use and require conformance with newly established development standards proposed in Article 4-2. Revise an existing principal permitted use, “Drive through windows and outdoor teller facilities”, to “Drive-through windows and outdoor teller facilities for banks and other financial institutions” to better clarify the meaning of this use. Clarify the conditions that apply for live music, entertainment activities and patron dancing are allowed as an accessory use to restaurants permitted in the C-2 zoning district;
Section 3-3-3-C: Revise the list of Use Permit uses within the C-2 (General Commercial) zoning district by adding drive-in restaurants and drive-through restaurants with drive-through lanes within 500 feet of a residential zoning district as uses subject to approval of a Use Permit;
Section 3-3-6-B: Revise the commercial development standards to clarify that the existing standard prohibiting drive-through windows from facing a street does not apply to drive-through restaurants. Rather, drive-through restaurants will be subject to newly established development standards proposed in Article 4; and,
Section 4-2: Revise uses requiring additional evaluation to include newly established development standards, Section 4-2-18, applicable to all drive-through restaurants. Such standards include minimum stacking requirements, minimum lane widths, prohibitions against blocking fire lanes, and new screening standards, among other new standards.
Evaluation Criteria:
As previously noted, Section 1-3-1 (Amendments) of the Zoning Ordinance provides evaluation criteria for text amendments. The criteria and accompanying staff analysis (italics) are provided below:
A. Documentation indicating inconsistencies in terms of the Ordinance or problems and/or conflicts in implementation of specific sections of the Ordinance that will be resolved by the amendment;
B. Whether amendment is needed to respond to changes in the law, statutory or case law;
C. Whether amendment is needed to address zoning and/or development issues or to improve processes for addressing such issues;
The proposed text amendment also creates a new section containing design standards that will be applicable to all drive-through restaurants, whether or not a Use Permit is required. Several of the standards are carryovers of currently existing standards, such as the required vehicle stacking from the first stop (i.e. menu board), while others are new, such as the requirement for a solid canopy over the drive-through window. These new provisions were identified as best practices and enhanced design concepts utilized by several of the reviewed municipalities and were thought appropriate additions to this text amendment.
D. Whether amendment will to promote implementation of goals and objections of the City’s General Plan;
E. Any other factors related to the impact of the amendment on the general health, safety or welfare of the citizens of the City and the general public.
Public Participation:
This Zoning Ordinance text amendment requires public hearings before the Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council. Notice for these public hearings included a full-size legal notice published in the Arizona Republic on March 18 and May 20, 2022. Information on this text amendment was provided to the development community through correspondence from the city’s Economic Development Department via email notification. Additionally, the notice and information related to the text amendment were posted to the current development applications section of the city’s website.
The Planning and Zoning Commission considered this item at a public hearing held on April 6, 2022. Upon conclusion of the staff presentation, the Commission inquired on the reason for the 500-foot distance from residential and how the city’s proposed stacking requirement compared to other cities. Staff responded that 500 feet was selected as that is the city’s notification distance for mailed notices to surrounding property owners. Regarding the stacking requirement, staff responded that the city’s current requirement is conservative compared to other cities, and that the new requirement carries over the same conservative approach. This approach was taken given the Council’s direction to specifically address traffic and queuing concerns. Upon close of the public hearing and Commission discussion, the Commission unanimously voted (7-0) to forward a recommendation of approval to the City Council. There was no opposition to this item voiced at the public hearing.
Shortly before the above Commission meeting was to start, an e-mail was received from an individual expressing concerns about the stacking requirements contained in the proposed text amendment. The individual who sent the e-mail advised that he would be providing information to the City Council that supported alternative stacking requirements. In response to this inquiry, the item was postponed from the April 18th to the May 2nd meeting of the City Council. At the May 2nd Council meeting, the item was tabled to allow staff and the development community additional time to discuss the proposed text amendment.
Staff did correspond with several members of the development community, including a meeting with a local drive-through franchisee and their corporate representative. They specifically had a concern with the amount of stacking required, such that the proposed amendment language would have the unintended consequence of burdening those users who provided a double drive-through lane versus single lane, by requiring each lane to provide a minimum number of spaces. To address this concern and promote equal treatment, the text amendment will require a combined total of at least six spaces from the drive-through lane entry to the menu board, which can be provided in one or more drive-through lanes and each drive-through lane will have at least four spaces from the menu board to first pick-up window. Along with the preceding change, staff is proposing a provision that would allow the submittal of a queuing analysis to potentially modify the stacking requirement, subject to approval of the Development Services Director. The text amendment will further require that waiting cars in drive-through lanes do not: block parking stalls, block fire lanes, impeded emergency access, interfere with the movement of traffic (on or off-site) or interfere with the movement of pedestrians (on or off-site). After reviewing these changes, the local franchisee and corporate representative are in support of the proposed text amendment. Staff has not received any other inquiries on the proposal.
The following policies contained within the City of Goodyear Zoning Ordinance are applicable and relevant to this requested text amendment:
Article 1, Section 1-3-1, of the Zoning Ordinance establishes the process for the review and approval of text amendments to the Zoning Ordinance. Amendments must be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission and approved by the City Council through the public hearing process.
Article 2-2 (Definitions) of the Zoning Ordinance defines certain words and terms used throughout the Ordinance. This text amendment proposes to revise certain definitions.
Article 3 (Zoning Districts) of the Zoning Ordinance establishes the permitted uses, accessory uses, and uses that may be approved with a Use Permit within each zoning district classification. This Article also establishes development regulations and standards pertaining to each zoning district. This text amendment proposes to revise certain use classifications with the City’s commercial zoning districts.
Article 4 (Special Uses, Uses Requiring Additional Evaluation, Nonconforming Uses and Buildings) of the Zoning Ordinance provides for land use activities that may be permitted within the City, but because of their unique nature, potential for creating impacts on other uses, or pre-existing legal status, require additional consideration as to their proper location or imposition of additional conditions to ensure their compatibility. This text amendment proposes to establish development standards that will be applicable to all drive-through restaurants.
As established in the Zoning Ordinance, a Use Permit requires review by the Planning and Zoning Commission and approval by the City Council through the public hearing process. Section 1-3-2 (Use Permits) of the Zoning Ordinance requires that the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council determine that the proposed use meets the following findings prior to granting a Use Permit:
1. The Use Permit will not be materially detrimental to persons residing or working in the vicinity adjacent to the property, to the neighborhood, or to the public welfare; and,
2. The proposed use is reasonably compatible with uses permitted in the surrounding area.
2. The proposed use is reasonably compatible with uses permitted in the surrounding area.
As established in the Zoning Ordinance, a restaurant with a drive-through component is currently classified as a convenience use, and convenience uses are permitted within the City’s commercial zoning districts subject to the approval of a Use Permit. As previously noted, the review and approval of a Use Permit must proceed through the public hearing process, which can take approximately five to six months to complete.
Details of the Request:
This request for text amendment is to modify certain definitions and use classifications while also creating development standards that address the treatment of drive-through restaurants within the City’s commercial zoning districts. The overall intent of the text amendment is to allow certain drive-through restaurants, which would normally require approval of a Use Permit, to forgo this requirement if they meet certain locational requirements. To achieve this intent, the text amendment specifically proposes the following revisions:
Article 2-2: Revise the definition of “Convenience Use” by: removing references to establishments that sell food and drink for consumption on or off-premises, including restaurants, clarifying that stores regardless of size that have a drive through facilities are convenience uses, and changing the reference to “Community Development Director” to “Development Services Director”;
Article 2-2: Add definitions for Drive-In Restaurant and Drive-Through Restaurants and amend definitions of Restaurant, Drive-In and Restaurant, Drive-Thru;
Section 3-3-2-A: Revise the list of principal permitted uses within the C-1 (Neighborhood Commercial) zoning district to make restaurants with drive-through lanes located more than 500 feet from a residential zoning district a permitted use and require conformance with newly established development standards proposed in Article 4-2;
Section 3-3-2-C: Revise the list of Use Permit uses within the C-1 (Neighborhood Commercial) zoning district by adding drive-in restaurants and drive-through restaurants with drive-through lanes located within 500 feet of a residential zoning district as uses subject to approval of a Use Permit;
Section 3-3-3-A: Revise the list of principal permitted uses within the C-2 (General Commercial) zoning district to make restaurants with drive-through lanes located more than 500 feet from a residential zoning district a permitted use and require conformance with newly established development standards proposed in Article 4-2. Revise an existing principal permitted use, “Drive through windows and outdoor teller facilities”, to “Drive-through windows and outdoor teller facilities for banks and other financial institutions” to better clarify the meaning of this use. Clarify the conditions that apply for live music, entertainment activities and patron dancing are allowed as an accessory use to restaurants permitted in the C-2 zoning district;
Section 3-3-3-C: Revise the list of Use Permit uses within the C-2 (General Commercial) zoning district by adding drive-in restaurants and drive-through restaurants with drive-through lanes within 500 feet of a residential zoning district as uses subject to approval of a Use Permit;
Section 3-3-6-B: Revise the commercial development standards to clarify that the existing standard prohibiting drive-through windows from facing a street does not apply to drive-through restaurants. Rather, drive-through restaurants will be subject to newly established development standards proposed in Article 4; and,
Section 4-2: Revise uses requiring additional evaluation to include newly established development standards, Section 4-2-18, applicable to all drive-through restaurants. Such standards include minimum stacking requirements, minimum lane widths, prohibitions against blocking fire lanes, and new screening standards, among other new standards.
Evaluation Criteria:
As previously noted, Section 1-3-1 (Amendments) of the Zoning Ordinance provides evaluation criteria for text amendments. The criteria and accompanying staff analysis (italics) are provided below:
A. Documentation indicating inconsistencies in terms of the Ordinance or problems and/or conflicts in implementation of specific sections of the Ordinance that will be resolved by the amendment;
Other than to acknowledge that the term Restaurant, Drive-In and Restaurant Drive-Through are used interchangeably with the terms Drive-In Restaurant and Drive-Through Restaurant respectively, there are no inconsistencies, problems or conflicts with the Ordinance intended to be solved by this text amendment. The modifications are being made to address City Council direction and resultant staff initiative to allow certain drive-through restaurants the ability to proceed without first requiring approval of a Use Permit.
B. Whether amendment is needed to respond to changes in the law, statutory or case law;
This text amendment is not in response to any changes in law, statutory or case law.
C. Whether amendment is needed to address zoning and/or development issues or to improve processes for addressing such issues;
With this text amendment, there is the opportunity to potentially improve the development review process for certain drive-through restaurants. As previously noted, current Zoning Ordinance provisions require the review and approval of a Use Permit prior to the operation of a drive-through restaurant within the City. Research done by outside Counsel, as noted in the Comparison Municipalities exhibit, attached hereto, found that eight of the 10 researched municipalities permitted drive-through restaurants without the need for a Use Permit. And of the two municipalities that required a Use Permit, the city of Peoria only required a Use Permit if the drive-through restaurant was within 200 feet of a residential district. Given these findings, Counsel moved forward with the drafting of provisions to allow certain drive-through restaurants to proceed without a Use Permit. As proposed with this text amendment, a drive-through restaurant may forgo a Use Permit if no portion of a drive-through lane is within 500 feet of a residential zoning district. This distance was selected as 500 feet is the City’s requirement when mailing written notice of a public hearing to surrounding property owners. For those proposals with drive-through lanes within 500 feet of a residential zoning district, a Use Permit will still be required.
The proposed text amendment also creates a new section containing design standards that will be applicable to all drive-through restaurants, whether or not a Use Permit is required. Several of the standards are carryovers of currently existing standards, such as the required vehicle stacking from the first stop (i.e. menu board), while others are new, such as the requirement for a solid canopy over the drive-through window. These new provisions were identified as best practices and enhanced design concepts utilized by several of the reviewed municipalities and were thought appropriate additions to this text amendment.
D. Whether amendment will to promote implementation of goals and objections of the City’s General Plan;
The amendment will allow drive-through restaurants, with drive-through lanes located at least 500 feet from a residential zoning district, to proceed without first obtaining approval of a Use Permit. Thus, for these qualifying drive-through restaurants, smaller fees, shorter development review times and a more streamlined review process should be realized. And such efficiencies should not adversely affect residential areas, as such areas will be located at least 500 feet from the drive-through lanes. Consequently, the amendment will help promote the General Plan’s goals related to fostering economic development and compatibility of uses.
E. Any other factors related to the impact of the amendment on the general health, safety or welfare of the citizens of the City and the general public.
The text amendment should not have any adverse impacts on the general health, safety or welfare of citizens or the general public. The proposal will only remove the requirement for Use Permit for those drive-through restaurants with drive-through lanes 500 feet or farther from residential zoning districts. In addition, site plan review will still be required for all new drive-through restaurants and shall include a detailed review of the site design, building architecture, preliminary civil engineering and landscaping along with the review of a formal traffic study.
Public Participation:
This Zoning Ordinance text amendment requires public hearings before the Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council. Notice for these public hearings included a full-size legal notice published in the Arizona Republic on March 18 and May 20, 2022. Information on this text amendment was provided to the development community through correspondence from the city’s Economic Development Department via email notification. Additionally, the notice and information related to the text amendment were posted to the current development applications section of the city’s website.
The Planning and Zoning Commission considered this item at a public hearing held on April 6, 2022. Upon conclusion of the staff presentation, the Commission inquired on the reason for the 500-foot distance from residential and how the city’s proposed stacking requirement compared to other cities. Staff responded that 500 feet was selected as that is the city’s notification distance for mailed notices to surrounding property owners. Regarding the stacking requirement, staff responded that the city’s current requirement is conservative compared to other cities, and that the new requirement carries over the same conservative approach. This approach was taken given the Council’s direction to specifically address traffic and queuing concerns. Upon close of the public hearing and Commission discussion, the Commission unanimously voted (7-0) to forward a recommendation of approval to the City Council. There was no opposition to this item voiced at the public hearing.
Shortly before the above Commission meeting was to start, an e-mail was received from an individual expressing concerns about the stacking requirements contained in the proposed text amendment. The individual who sent the e-mail advised that he would be providing information to the City Council that supported alternative stacking requirements. In response to this inquiry, the item was postponed from the April 18th to the May 2nd meeting of the City Council. At the May 2nd Council meeting, the item was tabled to allow staff and the development community additional time to discuss the proposed text amendment.
Staff did correspond with several members of the development community, including a meeting with a local drive-through franchisee and their corporate representative. They specifically had a concern with the amount of stacking required, such that the proposed amendment language would have the unintended consequence of burdening those users who provided a double drive-through lane versus single lane, by requiring each lane to provide a minimum number of spaces. To address this concern and promote equal treatment, the text amendment will require a combined total of at least six spaces from the drive-through lane entry to the menu board, which can be provided in one or more drive-through lanes and each drive-through lane will have at least four spaces from the menu board to first pick-up window. Along with the preceding change, staff is proposing a provision that would allow the submittal of a queuing analysis to potentially modify the stacking requirement, subject to approval of the Development Services Director. The text amendment will further require that waiting cars in drive-through lanes do not: block parking stalls, block fire lanes, impeded emergency access, interfere with the movement of traffic (on or off-site) or interfere with the movement of pedestrians (on or off-site). After reviewing these changes, the local franchisee and corporate representative are in support of the proposed text amendment. Staff has not received any other inquiries on the proposal.