Zoning Code Update Discussion

Over the past year, staff and the Planning Commission have been working on updating the zoning portion of Chapter 117.  This chapter has had several topic-based updates over the years, but nothing comprehensive.  Cities are required to review their Zoning Codes after the adoption of a Comprehensive Plan to ensure the tools are in place to implement the Comprehensive Plans.  

Ramsey's Zoning Code is cumbersome to navigate, has lots of inconsistencies, has lots of redundancies, and has several burdensome regulations.  Goals of this update are to make it easy to use and understand, to be consistent, and to make it less onerous for residents and businesses to invest in their properties.  

The City Council introduced Ordinance #23-14 on August 8.  At that meeting, it was noted that the Planning Commission requested that the City Council dive into two topics more in depth: The definition of "Family" and regulations around car dealers.  

Definition of "Family"
Currently, the Zoning Code identifies single-family dwellings in single-family zoning districts, but it does not define what a family is.  The proposed Zoning Code includes a definition that is similar or the same as many other communities in the region: "Family means an individual; two or more persons related by blood, marriage, adoption, or foster care; or not more than four persons not related by blood, marriage, adoption, or foster care occupying a dwelling unit as an individual housekeeping organization."  This definition is important to keep single-family homes from turning into rooming houses or small apartment buildings.  It also acknowledges that people can have roommates, have live-in caregivers, be unmarried cohabitators, or have other reasonable living situations.  The Commission received testimony from an investment property owner who has properties being rented to various groups of people that would not meet this definition. Staff did research on other area communities and discovered that the range of most communities is three to six with four being most typical.  Some communities do not address it (like Ramsey's current Code).

It should be noted that licensed residential facilities (i.e., group homes) and unlicensed residential facilities (i.e., sober homes) are proposed to be limited to six residents.  These dwelling types have extra Building Code regulations that could require additional SAC/WAC payments, accessibility, and fire protection and given these extra regulations from the State, typically self-limit residents to four or five to avoid the extra costs.  

Car Dealers
Cleaning up the Highway 10 corridor was something that was brought up several times in discussing business districts.  Staff has had feedback from other Ramsey businesses that the corridor looks bad due to many of the auto dealer properties.  The most problematic ones are the multi-tenant dealership properties.  They are consistently in violation of their conditional use permits and they are difficult to coordinate clean up with due to the several dealers involved.  These small dealers are generally not invested in the community, turn over frequently, and are usually not the dealer's primary business.  Regulations are proposed to make sure that a car dealer is making an investment in the property and running an accountable legitimate business.  These regulations include having a minimum of two acres of buildable land, having a building with a minimum footprint of 10 percent of the property, and limiting the number of licenses to one per property.  Should the changes in Code be adopted, many of the existing dealers would become legal non-conforming and can continue to operate under their approved conditional use permits, but are not allowed to expand.  
 

At the August 8 and 12 meetings, Council Members indicated they would like to spend some time discussing residential lot sizes and home occupation permitting.  

Residential Lot Sizes
The proposed draft Zoning Code does not substantially change the lot areas for any of the residential zoning districts, except for the proposed R-1A district.  This district will generally replace the current R-1 MUSA-80 district.  The current regulation is an 80-foot wide lot with a 10,890 square foot area (quarter-acre).  The proposed lot regulations are a 75 foot width with an area of 10,000 square feet.  This slight reduction is proposed in an attempt to meet the Low Density Residential density of between 3.0 and 4.0 units per acre.  

Home Occupation Permits
Following the Council Work Session on May 9, staff adjusted the draft regulations based on the Council's discussion.  The proposed language is an attempt to clarify what is allowed and what is not allowed in keeping with the residential characteristics of a neighborhood.  It also attempts to treat occupations with similar impacts the same.  For example, a piano teacher teaching one student currently does not need a Level-II HOP while a beautician cutting one client's hair does (proposed is that neither occupation would need a Level-II HOP).  

Residential Uses
There has been some discussion about micro hotels, rooming houses, and other similar quasi-business residential enterprises in residential neighborhoods.  Is this something that the Council would like to allow or not allow?  The City cannot regulate whether a home is rented, leased, or owned.  We can apply our rental licensing regulations to ensure a safe and well-maintained property.  The definition of "family" discussed earlier can help with regulating these uses.  


Map
Since the public hearing, staff is proposing some changes to the proposed Zoning Map:

• Lord of Life Church - 14501 Nowthen Blvd. NW - at their request to keep the R-1/R-2/R-3 zoning consistent with what it is currently and to deal with a potential development rezoning in the future.  
• Voice of Hope Church Property - 15620 Armstrong Blvd. NW - from proposed Rural Residential (RR) to Public/Institutional (PI) based on their plans to build a church in the upcoming years.  
• Non-residential properties in the vicinity of Riverdale Drive/139th Lane/Feldspar St. NW - from proposed B-2 to B-1 to be consistent with the retail and office limitations of the current MU-PUD zoning in proximity to the residential uses.  
• COR Parcel 46 - The EDA and City Council have supported portions of Parcel 46 for multi-family and detached townhome uses.  The map has been updated to show the residential portions as COR-4b instead of COR-2.  

 

60 Minutes

All costs associated with this work was done as a part of staff's duties.  No outside consultants were used on this project.  

Todd A. Larson, Planning Manager

Possible Outcomes:

1. Provide staff direction on any text and/or map changes the Council would like to see for final adoption on October 10; or
2. Provide staff direction on any future work session discussion topics.