The purpose of an administrative use permit is to allow certain uses if they are suitable for the location and are designed in a manner which allows certain findings to be made while providing sufficient opportunities for public review.

An administrative use permit shall be required when the director department director is authorized to process administrative use permit applications in conformance with this article. The director shall determine, based on the merits of the proposal, whether an application shall be approved administratively or scheduled for a public hearing before the planning commission.

Prior to taking action on an administrative approval, the community development and sustainability department shall provide notice through a mailing to all tenants and owners of real property as shown on current property tax rolls within a minimum of five hundred feet of the subject property. At the discretion of the department, based on public interest in the project, the scope of notice, including property owner radius, may be expanded.

The department shall provide a comment period of no less than ten calendar days prior to taking action on an administrative approval, beginning on the date the public notices are mailed. The purpose of the comment period is to enable the public to bring comments or questions to the attention of the department. If the department receives substantive comments or information which establishes that the application should not be approved administratively, the department shall either deny the application or, if requested by the applicant and upon submittal of the applicable fee, schedule a public hearing before the planning commission to consider the application.

Any determination of the director with respect to an administrative approval application may be appealed to the planning commission upon submittal to the community development and sustainability department of an appeal application, accompanied by the fee established by resolution of the city council. In the absence of an appeal application being filed within ten days after the determination of the director, such determination is final.

Application for an administrative use permit shall be made by the property owner or certified agent thereof on a form prescribed by the city.

Granting of an administrative use permit does not exempt applicant from complying with the requirements of the building code or other ordinances and codes.

An administrative use permit approval shall be approved, conditionally approved, or denied by the director (or the planning commission or city council if subject to an appeal) pursuant to the requirements of Article 40.39, Administrative Approvals, of this chapter. An administrative use permit shall only be granted for uses that the Zoning Code expressly provides may be authorized upon the approval of an administrative use permit, for example non-ministerial accessory dwelling units, guest houses, and certain cannabis-related uses. Such application may be approved only if the following findings are made:

When an administrative use permit has not been used within thirty-six months after the date of granting thereof, the permit shall be null and void. Such expiration date may be extended by the director for one or more periods not exceeding a total of eighteen months upon a showing that circumstances and conditions upon which the administrative use permit was approved have not changed. Any such extension by the director shall be processed in accordance with the requirements of Article 40.39 regarding administrative approvals.

Notwithstanding such extension, the holder of an administrative use permit may request tolling of the term for which the administrative use permit is valid due to litigation challenging the issuance of the permit. The tolling request must be submitted in writing to the director prior to the expiration of the term of the permit. The request must establish to the satisfaction of the director that the subject litigation challenges the grant of the underlying permit, or the environmental determinations relating to its approval, and has been filed by a plaintiff or petitioner other than the permit holder. In response to this request, the director may grant a litigation tolling period. The tolling period shall be calculated from the date the action is filed with a court of competent jurisdiction until such time that the court of final jurisdiction enters its final disposition of the case and all appeal periods have expired or such time that the litigation has been dismissed.

Abandonment of the site on which a use subject to an administrative use permit, or the cessation of conditionally approved activity pursuant to an administrative use permit for a period of six month shall be a basis for revocation of the administrative use permit. Under these circumstances, a new application for an administrative use permit must be processed pursuant to the provisions of this article for any uses designated by the Zoning Code as subject to an administrative use permit.

In case an application for an administrative use permit is denied, the application shall not be eligible for reconsideration for one year subsequent to such denial. A new application affecting or including part or all of the same property shall be substantially different from the application denied, in the opinion of the director, to be eligible for consideration within one year of the denial of the original application. An application denied without prejudice by the director, planning commission or city council shall be eligible for reconsideration within one year of the denial.