This Ordinance shall be known as the Chaska Zoning Ordinance, may be cited as such, and will be referred to herein as “this Ordinance”.

The basic purpose of this Ordinance is to ensure public health, safety, and general welfare in accordance with the official “Comprehensive Plan” of the City of Chaska, and with adopted development goals, policies and proposals contained therein. Toward this end, this Ordinance shall divide the geographic area within the corporate limits of Chaska, Minnesota, into districts and shall establish regulations pertaining to the location, erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, and use of structures and to the use of land within said districts. More specifically, such regulations shall be designed to achieve the following objectives:

1. To protect existing urban development from potential negative effects of conflicting uses, but also to permit broad development opportunities within the substantial undeveloped portion of the community;
2. To foster a strong and balanced tax base in response to municipal and school district financial requirements;
3. To achieve an equitable balance between the rate and intensity of land development and the financial capability of the City and School District to provide necessary and desirable public facilities and services;
4. To prevent excessive population densities and overcrowding of land;
5. To conserve the value of land and buildings;
6. To preserve the area’s substantial natural amenities such as rivers, lakes, bluffs, hills, valleys, and woodland;
7. To provide and maintain a safe and efficient traffic circulation system;
8. To promote a visually pleasing environment throughout the community within urban as well as rural areas; within commercial and industrial as well as public and residential areas;
9. To promote orderly development and to regulate the use of land for trade, industry, residence, recreation, agriculture, forestry, soil conservation, water supply conservation, and conservation of shorelands as defined herein and in Minn. Stat. § 116J.06;
10. To provide access to direct sunlight for solar energy systems as defined herein and in Minn. Stat. § 116J.06;
11. To provide for flood control measures;
12. To provide for the administration of this Ordinance;
13. To provide for amendments; and
14. To prescribe penalties for the violation of such regulations and to define the powers and duties of the Board of Appeals and the Planning Commission in relation to the Zoning Ordinance.
    

The geographic jurisdiction of this Ordinance shall be the entire area within the corporate limits of Chaska, Minnesota. Territory that may be added to the City of Chaska by annexation, merger, or other means shall be classified within the Rural Zoning District until such time that the City Council, after referral to and recommendation by the Planning Commission, may rezone all or portions of the added territory to more appropriate classifications.

This Ordinance is enacted in accordance with the authority granted by Minn. Stat. § 462.357. Shoreland management regulations are adopted pursuant to Laws of Minnesota 1973, Chapter 379, and in furthermore of the policies declared in 1976 Minn. Stat. Ch. 105, 115, 116, and 462.