Title
Approval of Ordinance Revising the City of Olympia Zoning Map Amendment Criteria
Recommended Action
Planning Commission Recommendation:
Approve development code amendment as set forth in attached ordinance.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to approve the ordinance on second reading; and direct that to the extent allowed by law this ordinance is to be applicable to any pending or in-progress requests for zoning map amendments.
Report
Issue:
The Comprehensive Plan approved by the City Council in December consolidated over 30 land use categories into about 15. As a result, more requests to change the implementing land use zoning map (known as "rezones") are possible. The Plan also indicates that the City will revise the criteria used to evaluate rezone proposals. In anticipation of this change in the Plan, during 2014 the Planning Commission held a public hearing and recommended the City adopt specific revisions of the rezone criteria as set forth in the attached ordinance.
Staff Contact:
Todd Stamm, Community Planning & Development, Principal Planner, 360.753.8597
Presenter:
Consent agenda item - no presentation.
Background and Analysis:
The background and analysis have not changed from first to second reading.
Until 1994, Olympia's Comprehensive Plans included future land use maps that were general in nature. For example, the 1988 Plan's Future Land Use Map included 14 land use categories. In contrast, the City's zoning code included 19 zones plus various 'limited' and 'planned development' designations.
When Olympia updated the Comprehensive Plan and zoning in response to the Growth Management Act of the early 90s, the City decided to include a more detailed Future Land Use Map in the Plan with over thirty land use categories with specific boundaries. The subsequent new zoning map 'mirrored' this detailed Plan map. The result of this approach was a reduction in regulatory flexibility. Instead of the City or prope...
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