Chapter 18.50
USE CLASSIFICATIONS
Sections:
18.50.020 Listing of use classifications.
18.50.030 Authorization of similar use.
18.50.010 Purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to classify uses into a limited number of use types on the basis of common functional, product or compatibility characteristics, thereby providing a basis for the regulation of uses in accordance with criteria that are directly relevant to the public interest. (Ord. 2013-04 § 2 (Exh. A (part)), 2013)
18.50.020 Listing of use classifications.
A. Residential Use Types.
1. Household Living. Living facilities for small groups (households) of people who are related or unrelated, featuring self-contained units including facilities for cooking, eating, sleeping, and hygiene. Tenancy is longer than thirty consecutive calendar days. Household structures include single-family detached and attached dwellings, duplexes, multifamily dwellings, and modular and manufactured housing units. Most types of senior housing (e.g., congregate care or assisted living) are considered to be household living if residents live in self-contained units, even if there are also shared facilities within the building.
2. Group Living. Living facilities for groups of unrelated individuals that include at least one person residing on the site who is responsible for supervising, managing, monitoring and/or providing care, training or treatment of residents. Larger group living facilities may also be characterized by shared facilities for eating, hygiene and/or recreation. Examples include nursing/convalescent homes, residential care homes or centers; sororities/fraternities and convents/monasteries. Tenancy is typically thirty consecutive calendar days or more. Excludes detention and post-detention facilities.
3. Transitional Housing. Public or nonprofit living facilities for groups of unrelated individuals that include at least one person residing on the site who is responsible for supervising, managing, monitoring and/or providing care, training or treatment of residents where tenancy is typically less than thirty consecutive calendar days. Examples include: homeless shelters and drug/alcohol treatment facilities. Can include associated soup kitchens or other on-site food preparation and service. Excludes private, for-profit short-term housing and detention and post-detention facilities.
4. Home Occupation. Commercial, office or other economic activity wholly contained within the residence or accessory building within which it is located, and is clearly subordinate to the primary residential use.
B. Commercial Use Types.
1. Commercial Lodging. Residential facilities such as hotels, motels, rooming houses and bed and breakfast establishments where tenancy is typically less than one month. May include accessory meeting, convention facilities, and restaurants/bars.
2. Eating and Drinking Establishments. Establishments that sell prepared food and beverages for consumption on site or take-away including restaurants, delicatessens, bars, taverns, brew pubs, and espresso bars.
3. General Retail.
a. Sales-Oriented. Establishments which provide consumer-oriented sales, leasing and rental of consumer, home and business goods including art, art supplies, bicycles, clothing, dry goods, electronic equipment, fabric, gifts, groceries, hardware, household products, jewelry, pets and pet products, pharmaceuticals, plants, printed materials, and stationery.
b. Personal Services. Establishments which provide consumer services such as banks and credit unions, barber and beauty shops, automated teller machines (ATMs) and related automated vending facilities, pet grooming, laundromats and dry cleaners, copy centers, photographic studios, specialized instructional schools, trade/vocational schools, massage therapy, acupuncture, and mortuaries.
c. Repair-Oriented. Establishments which engage in the repair of consumer and business goods including television and radios, bicycles, clocks, jewelry, guns, small appliances and office equipment, tailors and seamstresses, shoe repair, locksmiths, and upholsterers.
d. Bulk Sales. Establishments which engage in the sales, leasing and rental of bulky items requiring extensive interior space for display including furniture, large appliances, and home improvement sales.
e. Outdoor Sales. Establishments that engage in sales requiring outdoor display and/or storage including lumberyards and nurseries.
4. Motor-Vehicle-Related.
a. Motor Vehicle Sales/Rental. Includes car, light and heavy truck, motorcycle or scooter, ATV, mobile home, boat and recreational vehicle sales, rental and service.
b. Motor Vehicle Servicing/Repair. Vehicle service and repair establishments, including quick and general vehicle service, car washes, tire and body shops, and are not an accessory to new vehicle sales.
c. Vehicle Fuel Sales. Establishments engaging in the sale of gasoline, diesel fuel, oil products, other liquid gas, or electric charging stations, for cars, trucks, recreational vehicles, and boats.
5. Office.
a. General Office. Government, business and professional offices that operate during typical weekday hours. Examples include local, regional, state, and federal offices and agencies; medical and dental laboratories; offices for attorneys, architects, accountants, engineers, stockbrokers, real estate agents, mortgage bankers, insurance brokers, and other consultants; headquarters offices; sales offices; and radio and television studios. Also includes painting, landscaping, building and janitorial contractors where the indoor storage of materials and equipment is incidental to the office use.
b. Medical Office. Offices for physicians, dentists, chiropractors, and allied health care professionals; outpatient health care facilities; urgency clinics; naturopathic and homeopathic facilities; and home health organizations that provide on-site services to patients and that generally operate during typical peak weekday hours.
6. Non-Accessory Parking. Any private or public vehicle and bicycle parking, either paid or free, which is not accessory to a primary use. Includes public and private parking structures and lots, and fleet vehicle parking lots.
7. Self-Service Storage. Commercial operations that provide rental of storage space to the public. The storage areas are designed to allow private access by the tenant for storing or removing personal property.
8. Artisan and Specialty Goods Production. Small-scale businesses that manufacture artisan goods or specialty foods.
9. Rentals. Establishments engaging in renting equipment, tools or vehicles on short-term basis.
D. Business/Employment Use Types.
1. Industrial Services. Includes the repair and servicing of industrial and business machinery, equipment and/or products.
2. Manufacturing and Production. Includes production, processing, assembling, packaging or treatment of semi-finished or finished products from raw materials or previously prepared materials or components. Manufacturing production is intended for the wholesale market rather than for direct sales.
3. Research and Development. Facility featuring a mix of uses including office, research laboratories, and prototype manufacturing.
4. Warehouse/Freight Movement. Uses involved in the storage and movement of large quantities of materials or products indoors and/or outdoors; associated with significant truck traffic.
5. Wholesale Sales/Trade. Involves sales, leasing or rental of equipment or products primarily intended for industrial, institutional or commercial businesses. Businesses may or may not be open to the general public, and sales to the general public are limited.
E. Civic Use Types.
1. Basic Utilities. Unstaffed public and quasi-public infrastructure, including but not limited to water tanks, sewer pump stations, telephone exchanges, and electric power substations. Excludes facilities that include offices, service centers and/or material storage.
2. Colleges. Institutions of higher education. Accessory uses may include classrooms, laboratories, theaters, auditoriums, libraries, dormitories, eating facilities, bookstores, other small-scale retail, general offices, and parking.
3. Community Recreation. Public, private, and nonprofit recreational, social and multi-purpose facilities that are open to the public for free or fee (including membership fees). Examples include: community centers, senior centers, health/fitness clubs, indoor or outdoor tennis/racquetball and soccer clubs and other sports fields, indoor/outdoor swimming pools, boat launches, golf courses, and shooting ranges.
4. Cultural Institutions. Public or nonprofit cultural facilities including libraries, museums, historic sites, and galleries.
5. Emergency Services. Public safety facilities including police and fire stations, and emergency communications, but not including ambulance services.
6. Human Service Facilities. Any office, store, assembly place or facility, the general purpose of which is to provide human need services directly and at no or reduced cost to individuals who do not have the means, ability or opportunity to obtain such services themselves.
7. Parks. Lands that are designed for public use and include active and passive recreation. Examples include parks, public squares, recreational trails and nature preserves.
8. Postal Service. Refers to postal services and processing as operated by the U.S. Postal Service. Such facilities include customer sales, mail sorting, and fleet truck storage.
9. Religious Institutions. Permanent places of religious worship that may include related accessory uses that are clearly incidental and secondary to religious worship, congregation, and teaching such as administrative offices; child care centers/pre-schools; classrooms for religious instruction; auditoriums; social halls; rectories; and gymnasiums, playgrounds and other recreational facilities.
10. Schools. Public and private preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high schools. Accessory uses include administrative offices; classrooms and laboratories; kitchens/cafeterias; auditoriums; gymnasium, swimming pools; playing fields and related indoor and outdoor physical education facilities; and storage and maintenance facilities.
11. Social/Fraternal and Clubs/Lodges. Nonprofit organizations with social, philanthropic and/or recreational functions and activities.
12. Transportation Facilities. Public streets and sidewalks; bus and transit stops and stations; and accessory bicycle parking.
13. Park and Ride Facilities. “Park and ride facilities” means parking facilities that serve motorists transferring to or from urban public transportation vehicles or private carpool vehicles.
14. Utility Facilities. Corridors or easements in public or private ownership dedicated for use by above-grade or underground power or communication lines; water, sewer and storm sewer lines or similar services.
15. Road and Maintenance Shops. Public facilities where tools, equipment, vehicles, materials and supplies are stored for the repair, maintenance or upkeep of publicly owned facilities.
E. Other Use Types.
1. Cemeteries. Facilities for storing human remains. Accessory uses may include chapels, mortuaries, crematoria, mausoleums, administrative offices, maintenance facilities, and parking.
2. Temporary Uses. Uses permitted not to exceed one year, except as otherwise provided, through the issuance of a temporary use permit.
3. Communication Facilities. Includes publicly and privately owned towers and related transmitting equipment for television; FM/AM radio; cellular and two-way radio and microwave transmission; and related ancillary equipment buildings. (Ord. 2013-04 § 2 (Exh. A (part)), 2013)
18.50.030 Authorization of similar use.
A. Purpose. It is not possible to contemplate all of the various uses that will be compatible within a zoning district. Therefore, unintentional omissions occur. The purpose of these provisions is to establish a procedure for determining whether certain specific uses would have been permitted in a zoning district had they been contemplated and whether such unlisted uses are compatible with the listed uses.
B. Process. The planning director shall render an interpretation by means of a Type I permit, as governed by Title 19.
C. Approval Standards. The planning director shall use the following criteria to determine the appropriate category for an unlisted use as follows:
1. The use is consistent with the intent and purpose of the applicable zoning district;
2. The use is similar to and of the same general type as the typical uses listed in the zoning district;
3. The use has similar intensity, density, and off-site impacts as the typical uses listed in the zoning district; and
4. The use has similar impacts on the community facilities as the typical listed uses. Community facilities include streets, schools, libraries, hospitals, parks, police and fire stations, water, sanitary sewer, and storm drainage systems.
D. Maintaining List. The planning director shall maintain a list by zoning district of approved unlisted uses. (Ord. 2013-04 § 2 (Exh. A (part)), 2013)