MEMORANDUM

TO: Members, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly

FROM: Bill Popp, Assembly President

Pete Sprague, Assembly Member

DATE: January 5, 2000

SUBJECT: Local Option Zoning District Ordinance No. 2000-02

The attached ordinance repeals and reenacts the borough's local option zoning district ordinance. The ordinance allows property owners within a proposed area to petition the assembly for zoning.

The concept of local option zoning has been of interest to both of us for some time now. We have discussed the current code in some detail. We have had numerous discussions with people who have been involved in the planning process. This has led us to believe that it could be a valuable tool in land use planning if we were able to develop an updated version of the current code of ordinances that relate to local option zoning. Local option zoning places greater restrictions than the borough can impose on land use, but the affected property owners themselves impose these conditions. However, it has been utilized only a few times. Chapter 21.08 of the Code is brief, but this brevity has resulted in a rather cumbersome, time consuming, and not-altogether satisfying process. The result is a long, drawn out process that can take years to complete that results in a patchwork of local option zoning areas that have different land use guidelines. This could result in a variety of inconsistent restrictions that may eventually become impossible to enforce effectively. As such only three residential Local Option Zoning Districts have been formed under KPB 21.08 which was adopted in 1966.

The proposed ordinance is more user-friendly than the current ordinance. It provides a step-by-step process for forming a district. Districts may either be formed at the time of platting a subdivision, or later by property owners within an area defined by sponsors of the district in cooperation with the planning department. The boundaries of a district are ultimately approved by the planning commission and the assembly. The ordinance includes a menu of different types of local option zones owners can select. These zones are: single-family residential, allowing as principal use single-family dwellings; rural residential, allowing as principal use single family residential use on lots at least approximately 2-1/2 acres in size; mixed residential, allowing as principal use single family and up to four-plex use; mixed use, allowing commercial, business, residential, institutional, and public uses as principal uses; industrial, allowing as principal uses light and heavy industrial uses, utility, and transportation uses; and residential conservation, allowing a mechanism for residential planned unit developments which may increase the tax base, conserve environmentally sensitive areas, and create open space.

Commercial home occupations are allowed secondary uses in the single-family residential, rural residential, residential mixed, and residential conservation districts. There is a list of home occupations not requiring a permit, and a set of standards which other businesses would have to meet in order to obtain a home occupation permit.

Commercial uses which are in operation at a time a zone is formed will be granted non-conforming use status (grandfather rights). Likewise, existing structures will be legal as preexisting the adoption of the zone. Procedures for requesting nonconforming use status are provided in the ordinance.

The proposed ordinance is the result of many months of cooperative effort between staff and assembly members. Interested and concerned citizens who have gone through the process and would like to see it streamlined for the benefit of those who wish to avail themselves of it in the future also provided valuable input. It is our intent that this proposed ordinance be given a full set of hearings at all Advisory Planning Commissions and the Planning Commission prior to the final Assembly hearing date of March 21.

This ordinance, while considerably more detailed than the one currently in place, should serve to make the process simpler to initiate and complete. Owners will no longer have to devise their own list of permitted uses, standards, and associated definitions, and less staff time will be required to create each zone. Our goal is a process that can be completed within 90 to 120 days from start to finish. It should make code enforcement much simpler for the borough as well. Local option zoning is a planning tool that is already serving the borough. We propose to make it a more effective tool for use by the citizens of the borough who voluntarily choose to use it.