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of <br />Request for Action <br />River <br />To Item Number <br />Planning Commission 5.2a <br />Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by <br />Planning Items July 14, 2015 Chris Leeseb erg, Senior Planner <br />Item Description Reviewed by <br />Ordinance Amendment to add a new extreme Zack Carlton, Planning Manager <br />commercial recreational zoning district, Case No. Reviewed by <br />OA 15-04—Public Hearing <br />Action Requested <br />Recommend,by motion, approval of the ordinance amendment creating a new zoning district. <br />Overview <br />Elk River Extreme Motor Park (ERX) proposes to expand their current facility. ERX is a year-round <br />complex hosting snowmobile events in the winter and car, truck,ATV and go-cart racing in the summer <br />months. <br />The applicant is requesting to create a new zoning district,Extreme Commercial Recreation (XCR), to <br />accommodate their long term vision. Current zoning district standards and uses do not provide the <br />needed flexibility that a unique business like ERX requires. In working with the applicant, the city has <br />determined that establishing a new zoning district allowing the growth and expansion of their operation <br />will be a benefit to the city and the applicant. The new zoning district, like any other district,will include <br />a variety of permitted and conditional uses specific to the applicant's plans for expansion. <br />The creation of a new zoning district also provides the applicant more flexibility than a Planned Unit <br />Development (PUD) district would. When approving a PUD, the city reviews a specific site plan that <br />must be followed as growth occurs, and any deviation from that plan requires an amendment and <br />approval from both the Planning Commission and City Council. By creating a new zoning district the <br />applicant can acquire, subdivide, and develop property within the zoning district as needed.Amendments <br />to the zoning district are not required, and when developing a permitted use (as identified in the zoning <br />ordinance) only an administrative site plan review is required. <br />Any property owner within the city can apply for a zone change to their property. Creating this new <br />zoning district would allow any property owner that has at least 10 acres to request their property to be <br />zoned XCR. <br />Background/Discussion <br />ERX has historically operated under the regulations of an Interim Use Permit (IUP),which was first <br />issued on July 21, 2008 to operate at the current location. The current IUP has expired and the proposed <br />ordinance amendment will eliminate the need for an IUP in the future. <br />P O W E R E D ® Y <br />NATURE