This zone is intended to provide for every day convenience shopping intended to serve residential neighborhoods, consistent with the environmental requirements of such neighborhoods. Convenience shopping facilities are those which provide space for retail and service businesses serving the immediate neighborhood. This zone also provides the opportunity for multi-family housing mixed in with the neighborhood serving uses, all within convenient walking or biking distance of nearby neighborhoods. These areas provide gathering places for the residents of surrounding neighborhoods. The provisions of this zone are intended to minimize or eliminate, insofar as possible, any conflicting aspects of commercial land use within residential neighborhoods, particularly as related to traffic, type of activity, and site requirements. This zone implements the Neighborhood Center land use designation in the General Plan.

(Prior code § 040.01)

(Ord. No. 1204, § 3(Exh. A.1), 7-26-23)

The following uses are permitted in the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zone, subject to all provisions of this chapter:

A.

Primary Uses.

1.

Local retail businesses primarily intended to serve the immediate neighborhood including the following:

a.

Grocery, fruit, or vegetable store; meat market.

b.

Meat, fish, or dressed poultry (no live poultry) sales.

c.

Bakery.

d.

Drugstore.

e.

Hardware store.

f.

Restaurant, café, or soda fountain, not including entertainment, dancing, sale of liquor, beer, or other alcoholic beverages.

g.

Existing commercial agricultural activity consistent with California Civil Code "Right to Farm Act."

2.

Local service businesses primarily intended to serve the immediate neighborhood, including the following:

a.

Barber or beauty shop.

b.

Child care centers.

c.

Clothes cleaning and laundry pickup stations, laundromat, coin-operated dry-cleaning establishment.

d.

Offices of physicians, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, accountants, and realtors.

e.

Tailor, dressmaker.

3.

Multi-tenant retail.

4.

Public utility facilities (city-initiated).

5.

Existing single-family residential uses built before the date of this adoption.

B.

Accessory Uses. The following buildings, structures, and uses are permitted when clearly incidental and accessory to the primary permitted use:

1.

Signs as follows, subject to all provisions of Section 17.56.010 of this title.

a.

One unlighted sign pertaining to the rental, sale, or lease of the premises, not to exceed twenty (20) square feet in area.

b.

Advertising signs pertaining only to the goods and services sold on the premises, or to the name of the establishment. The total aggregate area of all signs pertaining to any one establishment shall be eighty (80) square feet.

2.

Canopies, arcades, carports, or similar shading devices.

3.

Other accessory buildings, structures and uses customarily appurtenant to a primary permitted use.

C.

Conditional Uses. The following uses may be permitted in the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zone, subject to obtaining a conditional use permit as specified in Section 17.74.010 of this title.

1.

Those uses allowed as conditional uses by Section 17.12.020(C) of the S-N (Suburban Neighborhood) zone.

2.

Multi-family residential (five plus units).

3.

Ambulance services.

4.

Automobile accessories and parts.

5.

Automobile service stations.

6.

Automotive repair garage as an accessory to automobile service station.

7.

Bars and cocktail lounges.

8.

Bowling, pool, or billiard centers.

9.

Bus terminals, depots, and similar transit facilities.

10.

Check cashing services.

11.

Commercial cannabis testing laboratories, pursuant to Chapter 17.85.

12.

Non-storefront cannabis retailers and non-storefront retail microbusinesses, pursuant to Chapter 17.84.

13.

Car washes.

14.

Commercial parking lots.

15.

Commercial psychic activities.

16.

Dance halls.

17.

Drive-in, walk-up, or other fast-food establishments.

18.

Engineering research and testing firms and laboratories.

19.

Hotels, motels.

20.

Laundromat/coin-operated laundry so long as a full-time attendant is provided.

21.

Liquor sales, subject to Section 17.74.015.

22.

Lodges, fraternal organizations, and clubs.

23.

Mattress manufacture.

24.

Mortuaries.

25.

Neighborhood recycling centers, pursuant to Chapter 17.90.

26.

New and used automobile sales and mobilehome sales, located on sites with frontage on Cesar Chavez Street provided that a 10-foot landscaped setback from the planned highway right-of-way line be maintained.

27.

Pawn shops.

28.

Parcel or overnight delivery services.

29.

Photocopying, photo processing and blueprinting.

30.

Plumbing shop, provided all outside storage is completely screened.

31.

Printing establishments.

32.

Private lodges, clubs, meeting halls.

33.

Special event establishments.

34.

Swap meet, indoor.

35.

Swap meet, outdoor.

36.

Taproom.

37.

Tattoo and body piercing parlors.

38.

Thrift stores.

39.

Truck, farm implement and machinery sales and rental, sale of parts.

(Prior code § 040.02)

(Ord. No. 1088, § 1, 12-14-16; Ord. No. 1204, § 3(Exh. A.1), 7-26-23; Ord. No. 1220, § 2(Exh. A), 2-26-25)

The following standards of development shall apply in the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zone:

A.

Residential Density and Non-Residential Intensity.

1.

Minimum Density. Fifteen (15) dwelling units/acre, when residential uses are provided.

2.

Maximum Density. Forty (40) dwelling units/acre.

3.

Maximum FAR. 1.5.

B.

Lot Requirements.

1.

Minimum Lot Area. Five thousand (5,000) square feet.

2.

Minimum Lot Width. Fifty (50) feet.

3.

Minimum Lot Depth. None.

4.

Maximum Lot Coverage. No limit.

C.

Yard Requirements.

1.

Front Yard. Where one or both adjoining zones are residential, a yard shall be provided which is equal in depth to the average of the required front yards of the adjoining zones.

2.

Side Yard. Where a C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zone adjoins a street or a residential zone, there shall be a side yard of not less than ten (10) feet on the side or sides adjoining such street or residential zone. In the case of a reversed corner lot, the side yard adjoining the street shall be not less than the required front yard of the adjoining key lot to the rear.

3.

Rear Yard. Where the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zone adjoins a residential zone, there shall be a rear yard of not less than ten (10) feet adjoining that residential zone. In the case of a building or structure for residential use, there shall be a rear yard of not less than twenty (20) feet.

4.

Permitted Encroachments in Required Yard. The yards required in subsections 1—3 of this section may be used as part of an automobile parking area, provided however that a minimum three-foot wide screen planting strip shall be maintained adjacent to the planned highway right-of-way line.

5.

All landscape areas shall be maintained consistent with approved landscape plans and commercial building frontage hardscape areas shall establish a weekly pressure washing schedule. Landscape modifications shall be approved by the planning director and referred to the planning commission for review at the director's discretion.

D.

Height Limit. The maximum height of any building or structure shall be three stories or fifty (50) feet, whichever is less.

E.

Distance Between Buildings. Buildings not actually adjoining shall be provided with a minimum eight-foot separation.

F.

Off-Street Parking and Loading. Off-street parking and loading facilities shall be provided in accordance with the provisions of Section 17.54.010.

G.

Screening. Where the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zone abuts upon any residential zone, there shall be provided screening not less than six feet or more than eight feet in height on the zoning boundary line. Said screening shall be reduced to forty-two (42) inches in height within a setback area adjacent to a street or highway. Rooftop mechanical equipment shall be screened by a parapet wall or other architectural features. Any rooftop screening elements shall be architecturally consistent and well-integrated with overall building architecture.

H.

Landscape Setback. The minimum perimeter landscape setback for residential or hotel projects without buildings frontages along perimeter streets shall equal at minimum ten (10) feet at any point and have an average perimeter landscape setback of twenty (20) foot for the entire frontage. Shade tree plantings shall be installed to provide shade of twenty (20) percent of landscape area within ten (10) years. Shade structures with cool roofing materials may be permitted in whole or in part in lieu of shade tree plantings.

I.

Energy Efficient Design and Heat Island Reduction Strategies. New development shall submit an energy efficient design and heat island reduction plan that incorporates heat island reduction strategies such as light-colored cool roofs, light-colored paving, permeable paving, substantial shade tree coverage, shade structures and shaded asphalt paving. Energy efficient building and site design strategies shall be incorporated such as appropriate solar orientation, thermal mass, use of natural daylight and ventilation, and shading. Shade tree plantings in surface parking areas shall be installed to provide shade over fifty (50) percent of the parking area within ten (10) years. Solar photovoltaic shade structures or shade structures with cool roofing materials shall be permitted in whole or in part in lieu of shade tree plantings.

J.

Other Property Development Standards.

1.

All residential uses shall follow the site development standards for U-N (Urban Neighborhood) zone, except as noted in this subsection.

2.

Any structure originally designed or intended for residential purposes may be used for service businesses, (except clothes cleaning, etc.) as permitted in this zone, subject to all provisions of this article, and further subject to the following conditions:

a.

The required front yard of the structure shall be permanently maintained in landscaping as defined in Section 17.60.010(D)(4).

b.

All parking shall be provided to the rear of the residential structure.

c.

All structures shall conform to all provisions of the applicable building, housing, and fire codes of the city.

d.

Signs permitted shall be limited to a total surface area twenty (20) square feet.

e.

No structure shall be used for residential and commercial uses at the same time.

3.

All uses shall be conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building, except for off-street parking and loading facilities, and automobile service stations permitted subject to Section 17.24.020(C)(3).

4.

Cesar Chavez Street Sidewalk Improvements. Sidewalks shall be constructed at a minimum nine feet for new development projects. The city engineer may permit deviations from this standard to ensure connectivity between existing public improvements and that may be necessary so as not to be detrimental to the public health, safety, or welfare.

5.

New Development on Cesar Chavez Street. New development projects on Cesar Chavez Street shall maximize building frontage along the street and demonstrate consistency with the Improving Neighborhood Connections Along Coachella's Harrison Street Corridor Report.

K.

All new multi-family residential development shall be designed pursuant to the City of Coachella Multi-Family Objective Design Standards.

L.

Architectural Review. All development in the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zone is subject to architectural review as set forth in Section 17.72.010 of this title.

(Prior code § 040.03)

(Ord. No. 1204, § 3(Exh. A.1), 7-26-23; Ord. No. 1220, § 2(Exh. A), 2-26-25)