Crescent City City Zoning Code

The purposes of a site plan and architectural review are to permit the city to evaluate site plans and designs of structures to assure compatibility, harmony in appearance in neighborhoods, reduce negative impacts on adjacent properties, reduce the unnecessary destruction of the environment and ground cover to avoid the creation of hazardous conditions and drainage problems, to avoid monotonous and otherwise nonaesthetic development injurious to the overall community; to provide a vehicle to encourage full development of streets servicing the properties, and to assure full installation of all public utilities necessary to serve such properties.

Site plan review and architectural review provisions of this title shall apply to all permitted uses in the R-3, R-P, C-1, C-2, CM, CW, M, and the HS districts and shall be required of all uses subject to use permit.

The architectural review committee shall consist of the five-member planning commission, the city planner and the city engineer. The architectural review committee may also invite individuals of known expertise to make comments and recommendations on site plans and architectural renderings submitted for architectural review.

A quorum shall consist of any four members.

The architectural review committee may convene at any meeting of the planning commission or may schedule special meetings to streamline project review.

No member shall participate in the discussions or determination on any project in which the member has a business or professional interest, or if the member resides within three hundred feet of the nearest project property line.

The architectural review committee will stand as established, and from time to time as conditions warrant, the planning commission may make such changes within such personnel as it deems fit.

The applicant shall submit an application on a form provided by the planning director, together with seven copies of such site plans or elevations of buildings on which a review committee report is required. The site plan shall be drawn to a scale which shall equally indicate the full dimensions and information necessary for the committee to make an evaluation of the request. Architectural drawings shall be of such scale and contain such information to permit the committee to make a full evaluation of the outside appearance, color, texture of materials, and appurtenances necessary for the development of the structure.

Scale drawings of all signs that will be included within the subject property shall also be submitted concurrently with the site plan and architectural plans of any proposed project. The review committee may require additional information, if necessary, to carry out the purposes of this chapter and/or may authorize the omission of any or all drawings required by this section if they are not necessary.

The architectural review committee shall review the application as to consistency with the applicable zoning, parking and landscaping, fencing, signage, street, sidewalk and public services requirements as set forth by this code.

Where the city council has adopted a development plan and/or development standards for a specifically defined neighborhood within the city, the application shall also be reviewed for consistency with the criteria of such plan or standards.

Where a structure(s) forty-five years or older is proposed for remodel or demolition, a review of the potential for impact upon a site listed on the National Historical Register or a site of local historical significance shall be made and considered in the architectural review decision. It is the goal of the city general plan to encourage property owners and other land managers to preserve or rehabilitate important historical and cultural sites rather than destroying them.

If a project requires a variance or use permit, the architectural review committee shall not issue final approval of the project until the planning commission or city council has taken final action on the variance or use permit.

Within forty-five days after the submittal of a complete packet of drawings and applications for review, the committee shall conduct a public hearing and determine whether the project shall be denied, approved, or approved with conditions. Action by the committee shall be final unless the applicant appeals the action of the committee as set forth in this chapter.

Except as time requires to meet Section 17.46.035, if no action is taken by the committee sixty days after receipt of all drawings and applications it shall be deemed accepted and building permits may then be issued, which are in compliance with the drawings submitted for review. If the committee requests modifications, the time periods established shall not be resumed until revisions to the drawings, as requested, are resubmitted for consideration.

Approved plans, together with such conditions, shall be signed by the planning director and shall be dated and mailed to the applicant. The planning commission secretary shall place one copy of the approved plans in the files of the planning commission.

Within ten days following the date of a decision of the architectural review committee on any site plan or architectural review application, the decision may be appealed to the city council by the applicant or any other interested party. An appeal shall be made on a form prescribed by the planning commission, and shall be filed with the planning commission secretary. The appeal shall state specifically where it is claimed that there was an error or abusive discretion by the committee and wherein its decision was not supported by evidence in the record.

Following the receipt of such an appeal application, the city council, at its next regular meeting, shall set a date of hearing at which time the applicant may make his presentation and shall at that time present the site drawings and structural renderings and all other data which was presented to the committee, together with his arguments on said appeal. Should the city council find favor with the appeal, the planning director shall sign the documents, and the planning commission secretary shall mail a copy to the applicant and file one copy in the planning commission records.

Should an application for a site plan and architectural review meet with the disapproval of the planning commission or upon any of the modifications as decided by the commission, he may file with the city council a request for consideration by the city council. Such a request shall be on forms prescribed by the city council and the city council shall set a date of hearing upon such receipt.

At the public hearing set for such an appeal, the city council shall be provided with all of the material, recommendations and data reviewed by the planning commission and they shall at such a hearing, either affirm, deny, or amend the recommendations of the planning commission. The city council shall, in setting their public hearing, follow the procedures prescribed as set forth in Chapter 17.56.

Before a building permit shall be issued for any building or structure proposed as part of an approved site plan or architectural design, the building official shall determine that the proposed building location facilities and improvements are in conformity with the plans and conditions approved by the review committee, the planning commission, or the city council.

Before a building may be occupied the building official shall certify that the site or structure has been developed in conformity with the plans and conditions approved in this chapter.

A site plan or architectural design approval shall lapse and shall become void one year following the date on which approval by the committee, planning commission or city council became effective unless prior to the expiration of one year a building permit is issued by the building official, and the construction is commenced and diligently pursued toward completion on the site or structures which were the subject of the site plan or architectural design approval.

Approval may be extended for an additional period for periods of one year upon written application to the planning commission before expiration of the first approval.