HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 1939 re loss of PNC and parking regulationsCity of West University Place
Harris County, Texas
Ordinance No. 1939
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE AND CODE
OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE,
TEXAS REGARDING LOSS OF PRIOR NONCONFORMING STATUS
FOR CHANGE IN USE; PARKING REGULATIONS FOR FOOD
SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS; AND CONTAINING FINDINGS AND
OTHER PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE SUBJECTS.
WHEREAS, the City Council and the Zoning and Planning Commission ("Z&PC")
of the City of West University Place, Texas ("City") have held a joint public hearing on a
proposal to amend the Zoning Ordinance of the City, as last re-formatted and re-
adopted by Ordinance No. 1672, adopted March 12, 2001, and as subsequently
amended ("Zoning Ordinance");
WHEREAS, the Z&PC has made a final report to the City Council with respect to
such proposal, which report is attached as Exhibit A and made a part of this ordinance;
and
WHEREAS, the City Council has considered the report of the Z&PC as well as
the City's Comprehensive Plan, and City Council formally approves and adopts the
report of the Z&PC; and
WHEREAS, all notices, hearings and procedures relating to amending the
Zoning Ordinance, as may be required by law, the City Charter or the Zoning
Ordinance, have been duly gi Vin, held and followed, and the City Council has
jurisdiction to amend the Zoning 9rdinance as provided herein;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE:
Section 1. The City Council officially finds, determines, declares and adopts all
of the matters set out in the preamble of this ordinance, and the Zoning Ordinance is
hereby amended as recommended by the Z&PC, according to the Z&PC's final report in
Exhibit A, which is attached and made a part of this ordinance for all purposes.
Section 2. All ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby
repealed to the extent of the conflict only.
Section 3. If any word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, section or other
part of this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, shall
ever be held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction,
neither the remainder of this ordinance, nor the application of such word, phrase,
clause, sentence, paragraph, section or other part of this ordinance to any other
persons or circumstances, shall be affected thereby.
Section 4. The City Council officially finds, determines and declares that a
sufficient written notice of the date, hour, place an subject of each meeting at which this
ordinance was discussed, considered or acted upon was given in the manner required
by the Texas Open Meetings Act, as amended, and that each such meeting has been
open to the public as required by law at all times during such discussion, consideration
and action. The City Council ratifies, approves and confirms such notices and the
contents and posting thereof. The City Council officially finds, determines and declares
that sufficient notices of the joint public hearing were given, and the City Council ratifies,
approves and confirms such notices, including the contents and the method in which
they were given.
Section 5. This ordinance shall become effective on the tenth day following its
publication, as provided in the City Charter.
CONSIDERED, PASSED, AND APPROVED on first reading on Februarv 14 , 2011.
CONSIDERED, PASSED, AND APPROVED on second reading, AND SIGNED, on
ua 28 , 20 11 .
~~54 UNIVF9~~~
t
o
Se
w ^ l1
Signed:
iLL2a'l-
City Secretary Mayor Pro m
Recom~ de
City Manage
Approved as to legal form:
City Attorney
Exhibit A
Zoning & Planning Commission
City of West University Place, Texas
3800 University Boulevard
West University Place, Texas 77005
January 13, 2011
Honorable Mayor &
Members of the City Council
City of West University Place
3808 University Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77005
Subject: Final report on a proposal to amend the Zoning
Ordinance and Code of Ordinances of the City of
West University Place, Texas ("City") relating to
LOSS OF PRIOR NONCONFORMING (PNC) STATUS FOR A
CHANGE IN USE; AND PARKING REGULATIONS FOR
CERTAIN FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS.
To the Honorable Mayor
& Members of City Council:
The Zoning & Planning Commission of the City submits this,
its final report, on the subject proposal, for the assistance of
the Council as well as other interested persons.
Scope of Proposal. The purpose of this proposal is 1)to
improve the description of commercial districts by refining how
the "uses" permitted within the zoning district are defined, 2)
take steps to "sunset" Prior Nonconforming (PNC) status when
there is a change in nonconforming commercial use, and 3) change
the number of minimum required parking spaces for certain food
service establishments.
1). This proposal amends Section 2 of the zoning Ordinance to
establish a new definition for "Commercial District" in order to
help create a distinction between the "uses" contained within a
zoning "district" and the "district" itself.
2). The main purpose of this proposal is to establish
regulations by which a loss of PNC status occurs when there is a
change in a nonconforming commercial use.
3). This proposal equalizes the existing requirement for
additional parking spaces for food service establishments
operating within a shopping center versus food service
establishments operating from a single business structure. A
second part of the proposal classifies carryout food service use
with retail use for the purpose of establishing minimum parking
space requirements.
In response to City Council's request to study these
issues, the zoning and Planning Commission developed this
proposal as a preliminary measure to enhance enforcement of the
ordinance provisions. The Zoning and Planning Commission notes
that these provisions will likely not resolve the issues facing
the owners of properties with commercial uses in non-commercial
zoning districts. The Zoning and Planning Commission urges City
Council to provide for a comprehensive review of the commercial
zoning provisions in the near future. Such a review should
address the creation of improved commercial definitions in the
zoning ordinance. The use of those new definitions should help
establish or confirm appropriate zoning districts for commercial
uses.
The public hearing held on January 10, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. in a
joint session with City Council yielded very little comment from
the public. The public hearing was recessed and continued to
the regular session of the Zoning and Planning Commission held
on January 13, 2011 at 6:15 p.m. There were no additional
comments received and no changes to the proposal requested. The
Zoning and Planning Commission closed its portion of the public
hearing.
Recommendation. Based on the review given this proposal,
the Commission: (i) finds that the proposal, if adopted, would
be in the public interest and consistent with the Comprehensive
Plan, (ii) finds that the proposal reasonably addresses
circumstances which have arisen since the last comprehensive
revision of the zoning ordinance, (iii) makes its final
recommendation favorable to the proposal, and (iv) recommends
that the City Council adopt the proposal.
The Vote. The vote on approval of this report was as
follows: Steve Brown, De De DeStefano, Bruce Frankel, Lauren
Griffith, Bob Higley and Sam Parikh voted "aye"; 0 "noes"; Dick
Yehle absent.
Exhibit A
9-9-10
Amend Section 2, Definitions, as follows:
Commercial (C) District. Includes all C and all portions of a Planned Development District
(PDD) desi¢nated primarily for commercial uses.
Commercial Uses. light. Any Commercial District use other than except an auto-intensive use or
one of the other medium commercial uses, eaffipased of e e or more of the follow g
Examples include but are not limited to: offices for ordinary business or professional
activities use, stores for the sale at retail of goods or services use, restaurant use, banks and
savings and lean establishfnent financial services use.
Commercial Uses, medium. Any Commercial District use composed of one or more of the
following uses: auto-intensive uses, night assembly uses, theaters use, bars use, clubs use,
physical fitness facilities or health care facilities use. Any use which is partially a light
commercial use and partially a medium commercial use shall be deemed to be a medium
commercial use for all purposes.
Add new subsection (j) to Section 12-103 as follows:
Section 12-103. Losing PNC Status.
(a) New principal building. If, after the 1987 effective date, a new principal building is
constructed on a building site, PNC status is lost for all PNC items relating to the building site.
Exceptions: (i) this does not apply to those principal buildings treated the same as structures
constructed prior to a given effective date (see above); (ii) PNC status with respect to a building
site dimension is not lost.
(b) Conformance is achieved; discontinuation. If a PNC item is changed to conform to this
ordinance for an indefinite period or for 180 days or more, PNC status is lost for that item. If a
use of property is discontinued for 180 days or more (exclusive of time when actual construction
work prevents the use), the use loses PNC status.
(c) Loss to casualty, etc. If 51% or more of the replacement cost of a structure is lost to
casualty, eminent domain, involuntary demolition or other similar cause, the structure loses PNC
status. Exception: This does not apply to a building used for SIR purposes, except as to non-
compliance with framed area regulations (i.e., in case of such a 51% or greater loss, PNC status
for non-compliance with framed area regulations is lost). For this purpose, "replacement cost" is
determined by standard cost levels for similar structures as most recently published by the
International Code Council or similar agency. See, e.g., the ICC internet publication of "Building
Valuation Data," which provides average construction costs per square foot, by type of
construction and occupancy group, with factors to modify those costs for the Houston area. The
ZBA may issue a special exception to allow such a structure to be rebuilt and retain PNC status,
if the ZBA finds: (i) rebuilding is necessary to avoid substantial economic waste and economic
hardship, and (ii) there will be no substantial adverse effects of the rebuilt structure.
(d) Violation of special conditions. If a PNC item was specially authorized by a zoning
ordinance of the City or by a special exception, variance, permit or other authorization, and if the
terms or conditions of the authorization are violated, the item loses PNC status.
(e) Degree of nonconformity increased. A PNC item loses PNC status to the extent that the
degree of nonconformity is increased (or to the extent that the non-conforming area is
expanded).
(i) Change in Use. A nonconforming commercial use loses PNC status if changed to any
other commercial use.
Amend Section 10-100 as follows:
Section 10-100. Off-Street Parking.
There must be off-street parking spaces for each occupied building space within the City, as set
out below, and subject to the other provisions of this ordinance:
Use of
type of
Minimum number of parking spaces
space
The number of garage parking spaces required by Article 7 plus one additional
space located between the required garage spaces(s) and the public roadway.
SFD use.
The additional space may be on the building site or in the adjacent street area
(or partly in each), but may not encroach upon any part of a public sidewalk
(existing or proposed) or the roadway.
Use of type of space
Minimum number of parking
spaces
2.5 (3.0 in PDD-TH1, PDD-TH2
Other residential space
and PDD-TH5) per DU. See Note
1.
Community center, library, school, place of worship,
museum or similar institution, which may include mixed
10.0 plus 3.33 per 1,000 square
uses and types of space served by common parking
feet of gross floor area in excess
spaces (including auditoria and any high-density
of 2,000 square feet.
occupancy spaces that are part of the institution)
Greater of 1.5 per bed or 1.5 per
Health care facility space (not including offices)
employee on the maximum work
shift.
Theater or auditorium space or space with any high-
Greater of: (i) 1.0 for each four
seats; or (ii) 1.5 per 1,000 square
density occupancy (except as included in community
feet of gross floor area, plus 1.0
center, library, school, place of worship, museum or
for each employee on the
similar institution)
maximum shift.
Office space used to provide medical services
6.0 per 1,000 square feet of gross
floor area.
Other office space
4.0 per 1,000 square feet of gross
floor area.
Physical fitness facility space
10.0 per 1,000 feet of gross floor
area.
Studio and gallery space, bank and financial services
Greater of. (i) 5.0 per 1,000
space (except space used for auto-intensive uses)
square feet of gross floor area; or
(ii) 3.0 per commercial unit.
Space with auto-intensive uses
10.0 per 1,000 square feet of
gross floor area.
Retail space used for rental of personal property (except
10.0 per 1,000 square feet of
space used for auto-intensive uses)
gross floor area.
Food Service space with indoor or outdoor seating
Greater of: (i) 1.0 for each three
such as dine-in restaurant space, club, cafe and similar
seats for the general public; or (ii)
recreation or amusement space (except space used for
10.0 per 1,000 square feet of
auto-intensive uses)
gross floor area.
Grocery store space, including neighborhood
5.0 per 1,000 square feet of gross
convenience store space
floor area.
Other retail and personal service space, including
5.0 per 1000 square feet of gross
carryout food service space with no indoor or
floor area
outdoor seating.
.
1.0 for each three employees on
Utility service space, research or testing laboratory
the maximum working shift, plus
space, laboratories, warehouses
1.0 space for each truck or
vehicle used in connection
therewith.
4.0 per 1,000 square feet of gross
floor area, plus spaces required
Shopping centers
for office, theater, auditorium and
food service space. See Note 2.
10.0 per 1,000 square feet of gross
All other types of space and uses
floor area used or occupied by
people.
Note 1. Guest spaces. There must be guest parking spaces marked and kept always available for
common use, not reserved for specific persons or classes of persons. Minimum number of guest
spaces: 0.5 per DU (1.0 per DU in PDD-THI, PDD-TH2 and PDD-TH5), rounded up. See Table
7-1, Note 7 regarding parking for "garden style use" in PDD-TH4. See Articles 7 and 10
regarding grouping and other requirements.
Note 2. Additional spaces for shopping centers: (a) If office space exceeds 10% of the gross floor
area of the center, add 3.0 spaces per 1,000 square feet of office space in excess of 10%. (b) If a
theater or auditorium occupies 10% or less of the gross floor area of the center, add 3.0 spaces
for each 100 seats in the theater or auditorium. (c) If a theater or auditorium occupies more than
10% of the center's gross floor area, the seats are apportioned on a square-foot basis, so that one
portion corresponds to 10% of the gross floor area and the other portion corresponds to space in
excess of 10%; for the 10% portion, add 3.0 spaces for each 100 seats, and for the portion in
excess of 10%, add 25.0 spaces for each 100 seats. (d) If there is any dine-in food service space
with indoor or outdoor seating, add 4" 6.0 spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area of
food service.