The City Council may from time to time amend or change by ordinance the number, shape or area of districts established on the zoning map or the regulations set forth in this title; but no such amendment or change shall become effective unless the petition proposing such amendment or change shall first be submitted to the Planning Commission for recommendations or suggestions.

Amendments may be proposed by the City Council or the interested property owner.

An application for an amendment shall be filed with the Zoning Administrator. Should the application be withdrawn prior to publication of legal notice thereon, the filing fee, as required by Section 17.16.050, shall be returned upon written request of the owner.

The Planning Commission, before submitting its recommendations and report to the City Council, shall hold a public hearing on the proposed amendment, supplement or change. The Zoning Administrator shall give not less than fifteen nor more than thirty days' notice of the time and place of such hearing by publication in one or more newspapers published in the city.

A.

Within fifteen days after the close of the hearing on the proposed amendment, the Planning Commission shall make written findings of fact and shall submit the same together with its recommendations to the City Council.

B.

Where the purpose and effect of the proposed amendment is to establish or change the zoning classification of particular property, the Planning Commission shall make findings based upon the evidence presented to it in each specific case with respect to, but not limited to, the following matters:

1.

Existing uses of property within the general area of the property in question;

2.

The zoning classification of property within the general area of the property in question;

3.

The suitability of the property in question to the uses permitted under the existing zoning classification;

4.

The trend of development, if any, in the general area of the property in question, including changes, if any, which have taken place since the day the property in question was placed in its present zoning classification;

5.

The relationship of the use allowed under the proposed zoning classification to the official city plan.

A.

The Planning Commission shall not recommend the adoption of a proposed amendment unless it finds that the adoption of such amendment is in the public interest and is not solely for the interest of the applicant.

B.

The Planning Commission may recommend the adoption of an amendment changing the zoning classification of the property in question to a more restrictive classification than that requested by the applicant.

After receiving the report and recommendations of the Planning Commission, the Council shall take action upon the recommendation of the Planning Commission without hearing testimony or argument upon the matter. The Council may affirm, reject or modify the recommendation of the Planning Commission or it may continue the case to another date. If an application for a proposed amendment is not acted upon finally by the City Council within six months of the date upon which the Planning Commission's recommendation is reported to the Council, the application shall be deemed to have been denied. After any application for an amendment has been acted upon by the Council, another application requesting the same relief shall not be accepted or considered by the Council for a period of six months after such action unless the application shows that there has been a substantial change in circumstances since such action.

If a written protest against a proposed change in the boundaries of a district, signed and acknowledged by the owners of twenty percent or more of either the frontage to be altered or the frontage immediately adjoining or across an alley there from or directly opposite the frontage proposed to be altered, is filed with the City Clerk, such amendment shall not be passed, or become effective except by the favorable vote of two-thirds of all members of the Council.