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6.
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| City Council Regular Meeting |
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| BACKGROUND |
As stated in the Unified Development Code (UDC), City Council from time to time, on its own motion, or at the recommendation of City staff amend, change, or modify text in any portion of the UDC to establish and maintain stable and desirable development. It is generally considered good practice to periodically review and update the development regulations due to changing conditions, community goals, and/or State and Federal regulations.
Article 16 of the Unified Development Code (UDC) is a 25-page section that gives meanings and definitions to a long list of terms, phrases, and words that are used throughout the UDC. One section of the UDC that relies heavily on Article 16 is the Permitted Use Table, which is in Article 5, Section 21.5.8. When a possible applicant proposes a project in the city, staff uses the Permitted Use Table with Article 16 to properly define an applicant's proposed development/use. Staff then determines which zoning districts permit the use. Over time, Article 5 has undergone numerous amendments to either add, and/or remove uses from the table. This has not consistently coincided with updates to Article 16 to properly define these uses. Similarly, when a use is removed from the Permitted Use Table there has not always been a corresponding removal from Article 16.
As a result, we have undefined uses that require a definition, and we have unused definitions that are cluttering Article 16. The purpose of Ordinance 24-S-04 is to clean up these unused definitions in Article 16, and to add definitions to certain uses that are found in the Permitted Use Table. Doing this will help Article 16 and Article 5 align better, and thus making the UDC more cohesive as a whole.
Additionally, two items are coming from the Engineering Department. One is a revision to the definition of "Alley", and the other is the addition and defining of the "Public Works Specification Manual". A document that was formally called the Public Works Design Guide. This new Public Works Specification Manual is proposed to be codified with a separate UDC amendment application, and will be referenced in the UDC with supplemental requirements for the development process.
Proposed Amendments:
| Article 16 - Definitions |
| Additions |
Removals |
- Adult Media
- Bakery
- Book Store
- Department Store
- Florist
- Furniture Sales
- Gated Community
- Government Facilities
- Hazardous Material
- Hazardous Waste
- Heavy Equipment Service and Sales, or Rental
- Home Improvement Center
- Microbrewery/Brewpub
- Museum
- Pet Store - The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended that this definition be reworded.
- Pharmacy
- Portable Building Sales
- Post Office
- Public Works Specification Manual
- Railroad/Bus Station Terminal
- Recreational Vehicle Sales and Service
- Tool Rental
- Truck Terminal
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- Boarding House
- Convalescent Home
- Filling, Retail Service Station
- Industrialized Home
- Insurance Office
- Retail Food Store
- Variety Store
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| Revisions |
| Alley: A means of vehicular access to abutting property and which is used primarily for vehicular traffic to the rear or side of properties which otherwise abut on a street. |
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| GOAL |
| To amend the UDC to review and update the development regulations due to changing conditions and community goals in order to establish and maintain sound, stable and desirable development. |
| COMMUNITY BENEFIT |
| It is the City's desire to promote safe, orderly, efficient development and ensure compliance with the City's vision of future growth. |
| SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION |
When evaluating UDC amendments, staff uses the Criteria of Approval found in 21.4.7.D.
1. The proposed amendment promotes the health, safety, or general welfare of the City and the safe, orderly, efficient and healthful development of the City.
In order to promote orderly and efficient development, the UDC functions better when there is continuity throughout the code. Not properly defining uses in the Permitted Use Table (or the items from Engineering) opens the door for interpretation, and thus creates the potential for inconsistency. Moreover, having items exclusively in Article 16 and found nowhere else in the UDC creates clutter and even confusion for applicants and staff.
2. An amendment to the text is consistent with other policies of this UDC and the City.
The main purpose of these amendments is to make the UDC more consistent by making an effort to better align Article 5 and Article 16.
3. Any proposed amendment is consistent with the goals and objectives of this UDC and the City.
The City of Schertz Strategic Plan has clear stated goals for the Operational Values of the city. Among these is the goal to be proactive; "Proactive means initiating change by anticipating future situations in order to make things happen". Within this framework, it is the responsibility of staff to be "continuously improving and evolving", "forward thinking", and have "the ability to forecast and meet needs even before the customer identifies them". These amendments would achieve these goals in the Strategic Plan.
4. Other criteria which, at the discretion of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council, are deemed relevant and important in the consideration of the amendment.
The scheduled public hearing provides the opportunity for the City Council to determine this.
For these reasons, staff is recommending approval of Ordinance 24-S-04
The Planning and Zoning Commission met on February 7, 2024 and made a recommendation of approval with a condition that the "Pet Store" definition be changed with a 7-0 vote. |
| RECOMMENDATION |
| Approval of Ordinance 24-S-04 |
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