Zoning ordinance of Dearborn city in Michigan, USA - Research Paper Example

Zoning Detective Assignment, Examine the Zoning Ordinance Established and Enforced By the Of Dearborns Municipality Is Located In the Of Michigan in the USA) Table of Contents Introduction 3 Thesis Statement 3 Part 1: Get To Know the Code 4 District Descriptions 4 Part 2: Investigate a Case 5 Part 3: Violation of District Ordinance 11 11 Conclusion 11 Works Cited 12 Introduction The city of Dearborn located in Michigan, USA passed an ordinance to standardize and restrict the location in terms of usage of buildings or structures for business, trade and residence either for public, semi-public or other specified uses. The ordinance included size of the open spaces required, density of population and required parking spaces for avoiding traffic congestion (Municode, “City Of Dearborn Zoning Ordinance”). The zoning ordinance was adopted in the year 1993. It was further amended in 2011. However, a code enforcement officer was not available with the municipality of Dearborn (Municode, “Zoning Ordinance”). The Dearborn Zoning Board of Appeals consists of: Christopher Gibbs – Chairperson Stephen Gedert - Vice Chairman Kenneth Gusfa – Secretary Gary Jefferson, and Susan Binder – Commissioners Technical Advisors: Bill DeBiasi - Assistant City Attorney; Thomas Paison - Zoning Administrator; Stephen Guile - Commercial Services are also included in the Board of Appeals. The meetings of the board are conducted on the third or fourth Thursday of every month in the City Council Chambers at City Hall (City of Dearborn, “ZBA Meeting Minutes”). Thesis Statement The discussion intends to highlight the information relating to zoning ordinance of Dearborn city in Michigan, USA and the related purposes of the various zones. The discussion will also attempt to analyze a particular case and identify the kind of violation made with regard to the specifications of the ordinance. Part 1: Get To Know the Code The code of the ordinance as listed in the Zoning Ordinance city of Dearborn, Michigan is 11-1319 which has been amended and adopted in April 4, 2011 (Municode, “City Of Dearborn Zoning Ordinance”). District Descriptions The various districts recognized in the ordinance are listed as follows: R-A and R-B – One Family Residential District; R-P – Residential Preservation District; R-C, R-D and R-E – Multiple Family Residential District; O-S – Business Office District; B-A – Local Business District; B-B – Community Business District; B-C – General Business District; B-D – Downtown Business District; I-A – Light Industrial District; I-B – Medium Industrial District; I-C – Intensive Industrial District; I-D – General Industrial District; T-R – Technology and Research District; PUD – Planned Unit Development Mixed Use District; FP – Floodplain District; VP – Vehicular Parking District; VPD – Vehicular Parking District-Class A Auto Dealer (Municode, “Dearborn, Michigan - Zoning”). The purpose of O-S – Business Office District is to ensure administrative as well as professional forms of office usage along with certain personal service businesses. These uses help to serve as intermediary form of utilizations between more rigorous land and less rigorous residential uses. The district restricts those businesses which require adequate spaces for parking, storage and create high volumes of traffic, particularly which affects the business activities of others. The district further permits special land uses based on the following conditions and provisions specified in Article 7.00 and Article 32.00: 1. Financial institutions with drive-through conveniences. 2. Dental, medical and optical laboratories, exclusive manufacturing of pharmaceutical or other products for wholesale supply. 3. Veterinary clinics or hospitals. Source: (Municode, “Article 13.00 - O-S, Business Office District”). In comparison, the purpose of B-C – General Business District is to support thorough commercial development. This district however permits businesses which offer a wide variety of goods and services along with convenience goods and services. In addition, the market for B-C District may comprise the common city population, residents of neighboring communities as well as people in transport. Moreover, the auto-oriented businesses are granted permission compared to the pedestrian-oriented ones. However, in any kind of circumstances, the enterprises that deal with large number of customers are not permitted to carry out business in this district (Municode, “Article 16.00 - B-C, General Business District”). Part 2: Investigate a Case Case Number: 23437-23455 Michigan (formerly Audette Office Supply); Date: July 25, 2012; Petitioner Name: Michael Tsakoff; Petitioner Address: 24500 Ford Rd, Dearborn Heights, MI, and Ali Hassan, 16 Pembroke Ct, Dearborn (City of Dearborn, “ZBA Meeting Minutes”). The case has been registered under the General Business zoning district which has been described under article 16.00 – B-C. The article specifies that under B-C district, businesses offering broad range of goods and services which are comparable and convenient in terms of services are granted permission. Therefore, special attention is given to space, building design, site layout, vehicular as well as pedestrian circulation and spacing of uses. The permitted uses and structures have been described in Section 16.02. (A) which states that the B-C zoned areas fall under the purview of General Business District, where buildings cannot be erected, used or structurally altered (Municode, “Sec. 16.01. - Statement of Purpose”). Furthermore, the land or premises shall not be wholly or partly used, except for one or more of the following principal permitted uses: 1. All uses allowed in a B-B District. 2. Service Establishment comprising, but not restricted to, a workshop maintained by electricians, painters, plumbers, printers, upholsterers when in conjunction with retail establishments that offer merchandise of a related nature. 3. Greenhouse or nurseries. 4. Hotels. 5. Telephone exchange buildings, public utility buildings, gas regulator stations with service yards but not comprising storage yards, electric transformer stations along with substations as well as water and sewage pumping stations. 6. Automobile dealerships selling new and used automobiles. 7. Other uses not particularly listed in this ordinance, after ascertaining by the director of building and safety that such use is similar to other permitted uses in the district. 8. Additional structures and uses usually supplementary to the above legitimate use (Municode, “Sec. 16.02. - Permitted Uses And Structures”). 16.02. (B) Special land uses. The subsequent uses may be permitted, subject to the circumstances specified for each use, reassessment and approval of the site plan, any extraordinary conditions imposed during the course of review and the provisions mentioned in Article 7.00 and article 32.00. 1. All exceptional land uses permitted in the B-B Community Business District as mentioned in Section 15.02B. 2. Multiple-family residences to comprise rental apartments and condominium units. 3. Sale of used automobiles only. 4. Car wash establishments. 5. Bus terminals, cab stands and other transport facilities. 6. Drive-in movie enterprises. 7. Internal motion picture theatres and rental halls. 8. Open air businesses. 9. Recreation provisions, internally or externally. 10. Regulated uses comprising: i. Adult books or supply store; ii. Adult entertainment establishment; iii. Adult motion picture cinema or live stage performing drama; iv. Adult model studio; v. Adult motion picture arcade vi. Massage parlor or business; vii. Adult motion picture drama; viii. Arcade; ix. Public lodging house; x. Boarding house or rooming house; xi. Second-hand resale stores. Source: (Municode, “Sec. 16.02. - Permitted Uses And Structures”) Section 16.03. – Development standards. A. Required conditions. If not otherwise eminent, buildings and uses in the B-C, General Business District shall abide by the following requirements: 1. All permitted retail or service enterprises shall transact directly with customers. Manufacturing of products for wholesale distribution outside the premises is not allowed. 2. All services, business or processing, apart from off-street parking and loading, shall be performed within an entirely covered building, if not otherwise specifically endorsed. 3. Outside storage of any goods, equipments or inventories shall not be allowed. Any storage shall be apparently accessorized to the principal allowed use. 4. Commercially licensed or used vehicles in the normal operation of a legitimate retail or service use on the site can be parked but only on the rear side. This condition shall apply to operating vehicles that are regularly moved in and out of the site. 5. Parking or storage of unused or damaged vehicles shall not be permitted. Vehicles parked on the site shall not be permitted to be used for advertising, sales or storage purposes. 6. All sites shall comply with the landscaping and open space requirements as specified in Section 5.03. 7. External security bars, gates, steel fences, hurricane curtains, and other security devices are strictly not permitted. However, if these types of devices are found inside a building, security devices must be retractable in a manner which should not be visible from the sidewalk or public right-of-way during the business hours. It must further be equipped with an emergency discharge device which must be allowed and examined by the fire marshal and the economic as well as community development department commercial services division. B. Site Plan Review – Approval and site plan review is required to be made by the city planner for all uses in the B-C, General Business District in compliance with Article 32.00. C. Area, volume, height and placements requirements – Businesses and buildings located in the B-C, General Business District are required to follow the area, volume, height and placement mentioned in Article 29.00-Schedule of Regulations (Municode, “Article 29.00 - Schedule Of Regulations”). D. Planned Unit Development Mixed Use - Planned Unit Development Mixed Use may be allowed only as a source to attain the basic objective of the District, in compliance with the procedures mentioned in Article 23.00 (Municode, “Article 23.00 - PUD, Planned Unit Development Mixed Use District”). E. General development standards – Enterprises in the B-C, General Business District shall be required to strictly adhere to all the applicable standards listed in this ordinance, including the mentioned articles. Source: (Municode, “Sec. 16.03. - Development Standards”). In this case, it was found that the petitioner, Mr. Tsakoff wanted to renovate and reoccupy the one storey commercial building at 23455 Michigan as a medical clinic which previously was Audette Office Supply. It was revealed that the two-storey property was permitted to be used and occupied by the salon on the 1st floor owned by Mr. Hasan’s wife and a general office on the 2nd floor along with the existing parking spaces. Thus, the addition of a medical clinic was believed to make the site defiance with the necessary parking space requirements as mentioned in the ordinance. However, Mr. Hassan was suggested to use the 2nd floor which was currently vacant, as a storage space as well as private office of the salon on the 1st floor in order to bring the site under compliance with the parking requirements (Dearborn County, “Article 25 General Standards”). Mr. Hassan preferred to rent the 2nd floor which was expected to yield him more revenue than using it for his office purpose. In his defense, Mr. Hassan pointed out that urgent care clinics had numerous specialized rooms, such as orthopaedic and gynaecology among others. He further explained that despite numerous rooms, it would not be possible to use more than 4 rooms at one time and thus will not require larger parking spaces as in the case of a regular medical office. Therefore, Mr. Hassan insisted to waive off the restriction and permit him to rent the space for medical clinic. The chairperson of the municipality, Mr. Gibbs recommended a probationary period which would enable Mr. Hassan to make use of the 2nd floor in compliance with the parking requirements else the recommendations could lead to enforcement which would give rise to difficulties for Mr. Hassan to force out the renters for that particular moment (Zoning Administrator, “Zoning Board of Appeals”). At that moment Mr. Guile and Mr. DeBiasi expressed their concerns regarding the probationary period. They stated that the 2nd floor did not have a Certificate of Occupancy and approval for any specific use presently. Therefore, they recommended that the proposed use required investigating and assessing all the applicable codes before granting any kind of permission (Zoning Administrator, “Zoning Board of Appeals”). The board finally decided with the support of the Commissioners, namely, Gusfa and Binder along with the facts, illustrations and conditions specified and mutually agreed during the public hearing. The board stated that the restrictions on the usage of the 2nd floor would be eliminated in accordance with the details stated below: Off-street parking 4.01; Zoning requirement: 44 spaces. Plan to grant: 33 spaces are approved with conditions (DZO 32.05, F.1. h, j). Approval of the appeal further depends upon the following conditions: 1) 2nd floor of the building shall only be used for office and storage space of the salon. 2) The owners and employees working in the building must park their vehicles in the parking lot of Kean. 3) The owner of the building must have a sign directing clients to alternate parking in case of non availability of parking spaces. Source: (City of Dearborn, “ZBA Meeting Minutes”) Part 3: Violation of District Ordinance The above photograph reveals how unused storage or disabled vehicles are parked in the neighborhood that violates the Zoning Ordinance code number 11-1319. The B-C – General Business District, Section 16.03., condition number 5 states that parking or storage of unused or disabled vehicles is strictly prohibited in this district (City of Dearborn, “Zoning”). Due to the unavailability of adequate parking spaces, the members of the Dearborn Municipality Board decided to take strict actions against violation of any rules pertaining to traffic congestion or parking shortage (City of Dearborn Heights, “Guide to Property Maintenance Ordinances”). Conclusion The above discussion lucidly highlights the information related to the zoning ordinance of the Dearborn city. A detailed explanation regarding the several districts identified in the ordinance of the stated city has been provided in the discussion. Furthermore, a particular case has also been investigated along with identifying an instance of violation of the ordinance. Works Cited City of Dearborn. ZBA Meeting Minutes, 2012. City of Dearborn Heights. Guide to Property Maintenance Ordinances, 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. City of Dearborn. Zoning, 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Dearborn County. Article 25 General Standards, n. d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012 Municode. City Of Dearborn Zoning Ordinance, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Zoning Ordinance, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Dearborn, Michigan – Zoning, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Article 13.00 - O-S, Business Office District, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Article 16.00 - B-C, General Business District, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Sec. 16.01. - Statement of Purpose. 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Sec. 16.02. - Permitted Uses and Structures, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Sec. 16.03. - Development Standards, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Article 29.00 - Schedule Of Regulations, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Municode. Article 23.00 - PUD, Planned Unit Development Mixed Use District, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Zoning Administrator. Zoning Board of Appeals, 2007. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. Read More