Introduce Ordinance #23-14 - Zoning Code Update

Every ten years, every municipality and county in the Twin Cities metropolitan region is required to update its Comprehensive Plan.  After the Comprehensive Plans are reviewed by the Metropolitan Council and adopted by each city, they go into effect.  Cities are required to update their regulations (generally the Zoning Code) to be in line with the Comprehensive Plan.  Essentially, the Zoning Code is the toolbox used to implement the Comprehensive Plan. 

The current Zoning Code has been updated for various issues and topics over the years, but has not had a major overhaul in decades, if ever.  The existing Code is hard to navigate, has many inconsistent and undefined terms, has some burdensome regulations, while lacking other needed regulations.  Behind the scenes, staff has had near-weekly meetings for several hours each discussing various aspects of the existing Code and what should be kept, deleted, modified, or rearranged in the proposed Code.  These meetings centered around what has been working well, what has been problematic, and what the vision for the community is.

Over the past nine months, the Planning Commission has had several meetings discussing various topics and sections of the Zoning Code too.  Feedback has been incorporated into the draft.  Staff also met with the City Council at two work sessions--once for an overview of the process and some high-level questions and another time to gain clarity on home occupations.  Also included in the review is the Department of Natural Resources for several of the overlay districts and their comments have been added to the draft.  

The attached draft is color-coded to show where the language came from for transparency.  Much of the language is retained from the existing Code and then arranged better.  Several parts were consolidated and condensed.  There is also a lot of new language in Code.  These sections were found in other communities' Codes and some were crafted by staff.  There are several portions that are proposed for deletion.  The current draft has several parts shown in red only for transparency that staff did not propose to keep entire sections in some places.  The final ordinance that will be presented to the Council will be in black type with all of those deleted portions removed.  

Included in this work is a new Zoning Map.  With most of the zoning districts changing in name, a City-wide rezoning is necessary.  Most properties will not experience any negative impacts as dimensional standards will remain essentially the same or become slightly less restrictive.  Some properties, mostly businesses, will experience use changes that will result in the property being considered "legal nonconforming."  This designation allows a use to continue operations as-is, but it cannot expand or intensify.    

Public hearing notifications were provided in the May 26 and June 16 Anoka Union Herald Newspaper.  The City's website has had a page devoted to the Zoning Code Update since spring 2023.  Various social media blasts were posted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Three Ramsey Resident articles since Fall 2022 have discussed the Zoning Code Update project with the May/June issue noting the June public hearing date.  An email was sent to all of the business emails on the Economic Development distribution list.  

After the June 22 Planning Commission meeting was canceled due to lack of quorum, a Union Herald legal notice was placed and social media posts were created noting the July 27 public hearing.  

Direct mailing is not required nor done due to the anticipated cost.  

Alternatives to consider:
1. Introduce Ordinance #23-14 as recommended by the Planning Commission.
2. Introduce Ordinance #23-14 with any modifications that the City Council sees fit.
3. Table the introduction of the Ordinance to discuss any topics further.
4. Deny Ordinance #23-14 keeping the existing regulations in place.  

At its meeting on July 27, the Planning Commission unanimously (6-0) recommended approval of the Ordinance with some minor modifications.  The modification regarding EIFS from an accent material to a primary business building material has been incorporated into the draft.  The Commission requested the Council discuss the definition of "family" and proposed regulations for car dealers further: 

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.

It should also 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 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.  
 

Motion to introduce Ordinance #23-12.

Roll Call Vote:
Councilmember Olson
Councilmember Woestehoff
Councilmember Specht
Councilmember Musgrove
Councilmember Howell
Councilmember Riley
Mayor Kuzma