Chapter 19.56
USE PERMITS
Sections:
19.56.040 Action by planning commission.
19.56.045 Effect of condition requiring zoning or general plan change.
19.56.010 When issued.
Use permits, revocable, conditional, or valid for a term period may be issued for any of the uses or purposes for which such permits are required or permitted by the terms of this title. (Ord. 351 §14(part), 1962).
19.56.020 Application.
Application for use permit shall be made to the planning commission in writing on a form prescribed by the commission and shall be accompanied by plans and elevations necessary to show the detail of the proposed use or building. Such application shall be accompanied by the required fee, no part of which shall be returnable to the applicant. (Ord. 898 §5, 1982).
19.56.030 Public hearings.
The planning commission may hold a public hearing on any application for a use permit. The planning commission shall give notice thereof as required by California Government Code Section 65090 et seq., as may be amended or renumbered. (Ord. 1701 §3, 2010: Ord. 351 §14.2, 1962).
19.56.040 Action by planning commission.
In order to grant any use permit, the findings of the planning commission shall be that the establishment, maintenance or operation of the use or building applied for will not under the circumstances of the particular case be detrimental to the health, safety, peace, morals, comfort and general welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood of such proposed use or be detrimental or injurious to property and improvements in the neighborhood or to the general welfare of the county; provided, that if any proposed building or use is necessary for the public health, safety and general welfare, the finding shall be to that effect. The planning commission may designate such conditions in connection with the use permit as it deems necessary to secure the purposes of this title, and may require such guarantees and evidences that such conditions are being or will be complied with.
If the planning commission finds that the carrying out of the proposed use may cause injury or damage beyond normal wear and tear to any county road, or may impair the public’s use thereof, or may endanger persons or property on or adjacent to any county road, the planning commission shall require as a condition to the issuance of any use permit that the applicant and the board of supervisors enter into an agreement which may reasonably restrict the use of said roads by the applicant in carrying out the proposed use to the extent necessary to protect said roads, persons, and property. Said agreement may require the applicant to pay for such injury or damage proximately caused by the carrying out of the permitted use and for any special maintenance of or improvements to said roads made necessary by the carrying out of the permitted use. No use permit which requires the formation of an agreement with said board of supervisors as described in this section shall be effective until said agreement has been finalized. (Ord. 537 §1, 1975; Ord. 351 §14.3, 1962).
19.56.045 Effect of condition requiring zoning or general plan change.
Whenever a use permit is approved by the planning commission with a condition that a change in the parcel’s zoning and/or general plan designation be approved or reviewed by the board of supervisors before the use permit becomes effective, the hearing by said board on the required zoning and/or general plan change shall be deemed to be a de novo appeal from the planning commission’s granting of the use permit, so that at said hearing said board may add, delete or modify conditions of the use permit or deny said use permit in its entirety. (Ord. 1136 §1, 1987).
19.56.050 Appeal.
A. An interested person is any individual, public entity, public agency, corporation, or association who has, or any of whose constituents, shareholders or members has, a substantial interest which is or may be adversely affected by the action of the planning commission. The head of any county department whose department’s (written and filed) policy, program, goal or position is not implemented by the planning commission’s action, and any member of the board of supervisors acting in the public interest, is an interested person for the purpose set forth in this section.
B. Any interested person not satisfied with the action of the planning commission may within ten days of said action appeal in writing to the board of supervisors. Such request shall be filed with the clerk of the board. Each person so appealing shall pay the required fee to said clerk.
C. The board shall thereupon set a date for the public hearing on the appeal and shall decide the matter as provided herein within forty-five days from the date of the filing of the appeal. If the board fails to decide the matter within said time, the decision of the planning commission shall thereupon be deemed final.
D. If more than one appeal has been filed, the board shall consolidate the public hearing on such appeals. The clerk of the board shall give written notice of the public hearing to all persons appealing the same matter, to all other persons who have filed with the clerk of the board a request for special notice of any such hearing, and to all other persons entitled by law to notice, and, in addition, said clerk shall also publish and post general notice as provided in Section 19.56.030.
E. After the hearing, which shall be de novo, the board shall grant, deny, or grant with such conditions as it deems just and appropriate, the use permit as requested from the planning commission by the applicant.
F. No use permit granted by the planning commission shall be effective until the time allowed to file an appeal from the granting thereof has passed. The timely filing of an appeal shall automatically stay the effectiveness of the use permit until such time as the matter is decided by action of the board or by the expiration of the time within which the board must act. (Ord. 1189 §2, 1988).
19.56.060 Revocation.
A. In any case where the permittee has not substantially complied with the conditions of a use permit, the land use agency shall give writ ten notice by first-class mail to the permittee of the alleged noncompliance, which notice shall state with specificity the respects in which the permittee is not in compliance, and shall give the permittee thirty days from the date of mailing said notice in which to comply with use permit conditions. If the permittee is not in compliance with the use permit conditions at the end of the thirty-day period, then grounds shall exist for the land use agency to commence use permit revocation proceedings pursuant to subsection C of this section.
B. If the use permit approval contains conditions precedent to issuance of the permit, which conditions have not been satisfied within two years after the date of approval of the use permit, the permittee shall submit to the land use agency, on or before the two-year anniversary date of approval of the use permit, a written report explaining why the conditions precedent have not been satisfied, including any supporting photographs and/or documentation, which report shall show the progress made by the permittee toward satisfaction of the conditions precedent to issuance of the use permit, and an estimate of time necessary to comply with such conditions and obtain issuance of the use permit. Failure to timely submit such report to the land use agency, or failure to demonstrate satisfactory progress toward compliance with conditions precedent to issuance of a use permit, shall constitute grounds for the land use agency to commence use permit revocation proceedings pursuant to subsection C of this section.
C. The procedure for revocation of use permits shall be as follows: upon a determination by the land use agency that grounds exist for revocation of a use permit, pursuant to either subsection A or B of this section, said agency shall send written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the permittee at the last known address given by the permittee to the land use agency. Such notice shall specify the grounds upon which revocation of the use permit is sought, and shall state the date and time (not less than thirty days later than the date the notice was mailed) that the matter of the proposed revocation of the use permit shall be heard by the planning commission. At the conclusion of such hearing, the planning commission may or may not revoke the use permit. The determination of the planning commission to revoke or not revoke the use permit shall be subject to appeal by any interested party in the manner specified in Section 19.64.040 of this title. (Ord. 1384 §3, 1995).
19.56.065 Amendment.
In addition to those instances in which a use permit is required elsewhere in this code, a use permit shall be required for:
A. Any substantial amendment to a prior approved use permit, including but not limited to a requested change in conditions;
B. Any addition to or expansion of a use operating pursuant to a prior approved use permit;
C. Any addition to or expansion of a use requiring but not operating pursuant to a use permit because said use predates the zoning requiring a use permit. (Ord. 1136 §2, 1987).