6.0. SR 05-13-1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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To: Elk River Planning Commission From: Tom Dillon Date: April 30, 1996 Re: 1996 APA National Planning Conference, April 13 - 17, 1996 The following are a few notes on the classes that I attended: Rezoning Downtown; Denver had no zoning laws regarding height limits, floor area ratios, no minimum requirement on parking, no design review controls nor did they have any site plan review requirements until the city council adopted these new ordinances into effect in 1986, they were not implemented until 1993 and 1994. Downtown Denver now has design standards for street facades up to 80' above street elevation, they have also taken this a step further and set standards for "skyscrapers" that they shall not totally prohibit sunlight onto the downtown mall area, they have devised some ratios to set limits on the shadows that can be cast. Denver has also come up with a set of design standards that if followed to the letter, would not require staffreview and could be approved in as little as 15 days. Planning Commission and NIMB Y's fNot In Mv Back Yardi' The emphasis on this is three-fold: Community involvement Developer involvement City Council Support To Overcome NIMBY's -- Do better up-front planning. The city's comprehensive plan should be up-to- date and followed. You must have a solid foundation. Finding of Facts must be done before making decisions and city staff must be utilized to get the information that is needed for planning commission. Zoning_for Communi_tv Residences (Group Homes_)' Zoning for group homes is very much different than that of institutions. The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 states that discrimination includes a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in the rules, policies .......... when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. Zoning with a definition of family that limits unrelated persons living together (5 for instance) (enacted in the 1960's to keep out communes) can regulate the size of a disabled group home provided they have spacing requirements and licenses. These can be provided if the group home wants to be over your limit. If they still want to locate closer or be larger than allowed, they can apply for a special use permit and then the burden of proof is on them. Key factors for determining validity of zoning provision for community residences: 1: Is the proposed zoning restriction intended to achieve a legitimate government purpose? 2: Does the proposed zoning restriction actually achieve the preferred legitimate government purpose?