Imperial Beach City Zoning Code
CHAPTER 19
25 C/R-ET COMMERCIAL/RECREATION-ECOTOURISM ZONE
§ 19.25.010 Purpose of zone.
The purpose of the C/R-ET zone is to provide land to meet the demand for goods and services required primarily by the recreation and ecotourist visitor. This zone is intended to implement the recommendations of the 2005 Urban Waterfront and Ecotourism Study. It would also implement Parks and Recreation Element Policy P-7 of the General Plan (Increase Tourist Related Commercial Land Uses) which provides that "The City and its business community should take direct action to increase the amount of tourist-oriented businesses both along the beachfront, South San Diego Bayfront and inland areas."
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The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people." It is intended that the C/R-ET zone will accommodate the land use needs of the recreation and ecotourism market niches. Among the uses envisioned for the C/R-ET zone include small-scale visitor-serving retail and services such as specialty stores, shops, eating and drinking establishments (such as restaurants and cafés), recreational uses, fitness, athletic and health club uses, and visitor accommodations (such as hostels, hotels and motels).
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(Ord. 2012-1127 § 3; Ord. 2013-1135 §§ 1, 2)
§ 19.25.020 Regulated land uses.
Process Legend: P = permitted by right; C = conditional use permit; N = not permitted | |||
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Land Use | Process | Notes/Additional Regulations | |
Commercial use types | |||
1. | Adult bookstore, adult hotel/motel, adult minimotion picture theater, adult picture arcade, adult picture theater, sexual encounter studio, rap parlor, model studio | N | |
2. | Antique stores | P | |
3. | Arcades/game centers | C | |
4. | Art studio, galleries, museums | P | |
5. | Athletic and health clubs | P | |
6. | Automotive uses: gas and auto sales | N | |
7. | Bars or cocktail lounges | C | |
With live entertainment | C | ||
8. | Beach equipment rental, bike rental, surf shop, fishing supply | P | |
9. | Body piercing establishment | N | |
10. | Bookstore | P | |
11. | Boutique | P | |
12. | Child care facility | N | |
13. | Clinic | N | |
14. | Department store | N | |
15. | Drive-in restaurant | N | |
16. | Drive-thru establishment | N | |
17. | Food and beverage sales | P | |
18. | Fortune telling establishment | N | |
19. | Kennel | N | |
20. | Kiosk | P | |
21. | Liquor store | N | |
22. | Massage therapy | P | SB 731 |
23. | Medical marijuana dispensary | N | |
24. | Mortuary | N | |
25. | Palm reading establishment | N | |
26. | Pawn shop | N | |
27. | Personal convenience services | P | |
28. | Pool/billiard hall | C | |
With live entertainment | C | ||
29. | Postal services, private | P | |
30. | Professional offices, financial institutions, and real estate | P | |
31. | Restaurants and cafés (eating and drinking establishments) | P | |
With live entertainment | C | ||
32. | Retail food stores | P | |
33. | Retail sales | P | |
34. | Secondhand or used merchandise sales | N | See definition |
35. | Tattoo establishment | N | |
Residential/transient habitation use types | |||
36. | Accessory buildings, structures, private garages | N | |
37. | Bed and breakfast (H-4) | P | |
38. | Boarding house | N | |
39. | Boutique hotel (H-6) | P | § 19.25.090.G |
40. | Emergency shelter | N | |
41. | Hostel | P | § 19.25.090.F |
42. | Hotels, motels (H-1, H-2, H-3) | P | |
43. | Inn (hotel H-5) | P | § 19.25.090.E |
44. | Live/work units | P | |
45. | Motor home/manufactured housing community | N | |
46. | Mixed-use development | N | |
47. | Multifamily residential units | N | |
48. | Second-family units | N | |
49. | Senior housing, nursing home, retirement home | N | |
50. | Short-term rentals | P | |
51. | Single-family detached | N | |
52. | Timeshares | N | |
Industrial use types | |||
53. | Automotive uses: auto repair, body repair, dismantling, wrecking yard | N | |
54. | Custom/incidental manufacturing | C | § 19.25.090.A. |
55. | Energy facility | N | |
56. | Green building utilities | P | |
57. | Equipment rental yard | N | |
58. | Light manufacturing, manufacturing, industrial | N | |
59. | Wireless communications facilities | C | Chapter 19.90 |
Civic, public, and semi-public use types | |||
60. | Campsites | N | |
61. | Religious assembly (church, mosque, temple, synagogue, etc.) | C | |
62. | Clubs, fraternal/veteran/service organizations | N | |
With live entertainment | N | ||
63. | Government or quasi-public building | C | |
64. | Library | C | |
65. | Public parking lot | C | |
66. | Schools, private | N | |
67. | Theatres/assembly | C | |
Open space and recreation use types | |||
68. | Playground and recreational facility (active) | C | |
69. | Public park (passive) | P | |
70. | Public riding and hiking trails | P | |
(Ord. 2012-1127 § 3; Ord. 2013-1135 §§ 1, 2)
§ 19.25.030 Land use and design determination.
The Community Development Director or designee shall make determinations of land use and design. The Director shall assign proposed uses to the appropriate category. The Director shall make architectural/design determinations that are within the intent of this code when not expressly prescribed by this code. For any ambiguity or question of a Director's determination, the applicant or any citizen may file an appeal of the determination to the Planning Commission for an interpretation pursuant to Section 19.02.080.
(Ord. 2012-1127 § 3; Ord. 2013-1135 §§ 1, 2)
§ 19.25.040 Minimum active commercial use.
A minimum of sixty percent of the ground floor of the parcels with street frontages shall have active commercial uses, uses that contribute to a high level of pedestrian activity such as retail shops, restaurants, hotels, museums and galleries.
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(Ord. 2012-1127 § 3; Ord. 2013-1135 §§ 1, 2)
§ 19.25.050 Development review process jurisdiction.
Site plan and design review by the City Council will be required for all proposed development involving major new construction. Site plan and design review by the Community Development Director (administrative approval) will be required for any addition, construction, remodel or alteration of existing buildings or exterior façade alterations to existing buildings.
(Ord. 2012-1127 § 3; Ord. 2013-1135 §§ 1, 2)
§ 19.25.060 Development regulations and design standards.
The development standards for the C/R-ET zone are intended to create a small-scale commercial development that preserves coastal views, promotes ecotourism and recreation activities and encourages pedestrian activity through the design and location of buildings, façade treatments, landscaping, street furniture, and travel ways.
To accommodate recreation and ecotourism uses, development may take the form of adaptive reuse of existing structures or existing structures may be demolished to create new development.
A.
Adaptive Reuse Provisions.
1.
Blank sterile walls shall be articulated with building openings (such as doors and windows), moldings, and other façade treatments to create a tourist commercial venue that is at pedestrian scale.
2.
For adaptive reuse proposals in districts characterized by historic or architecturally significant structures, façade changes shall be consistent with and preserve the design theme of such structures.
3.
Pedestrian-oriented walkway treatments and landscaping of the public realm shall be provided.
4.
The Community Development Director and the City Council may approve the design for adaptive reuse proposals that deviate from the prescribed standards in this chapter but yet are consistent with the intent of this chapter.
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B.
New Development/Redevelopment Provisions.
1.
A site and design review plan shall be submitted to function as a regulating plan (enabled by AB 1268, Government Code Section 65302.4) that will contain block, building, land use, public space, landscaping, and architectural elements.
2.
The effect of the site and design review plan shall represent a design statement that is consistent with the intent of this chapter which is to provide a small-scale commercial venue that preserves coastal views and encourages pedestrian activity through the design and location of buildings, façade treatments, landscaping, street furniture, and travel ways.
C.
Setback/Yards/Separation/Building Line, and Stepback Provisions.
1.
For properties fronting on a public street, the front building line shall be set on the front lot line if the sidewalk and parkway improvements are at least ten feet in width. If the sidewalk and parkway improvements are less than ten feet in width, the front building line shall be set back a reasonable distance from the right-of-way line as determined through a site plan review process in order to accommodate for sidewalk and parkway improvements. For buildings proposed to be set back greater than allowed, a site plan and perspective renderings that analyze and demonstrate the effect that the proposed spatial forms may have on pedestrians shall be submitted for approval. An example of increased setback that may be justified would be provisions for outdoor dining and plazas for public seating areas.
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2.
Side yard: five feet for interior lots. For corner lots, the side building line shall be set on the exterior side lot line if the sidewalk and parkway improvements are at least ten feet in width. If the sidewalk and parkway improvements on the exterior side are less than ten feet in width, the side building line shall be set back no more than five feet of the right-of-way line.
3.
Rear yard: ten feet if abutting residentially-zoned property.
4.
Stepback: five feet at second floor if abutting residentially-zoned property.
5.
Detached buildings shall be located not less than six feet from any other building on the same lot.
E.
Lot Size Provisions. The minimum area for any new lot created in the C/R-ET zone shall be five thousand square feet with a minimum width of fifty feet along the street frontage.
F.
Landscaping Provisions.
2.
Drought tolerant native or naturalizing non-invasive xeriscape elements shall be incorporated into the landscape plan.
3.
Landscaping of the parkway areas adjacent to pedestrian walkways shall be provided.
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4.
Stormwater shall drain, to the extent practicable and in concert with engineered drainage plans, toward landscaped areas in order to provide biofiltration of urban runoff.
G.
Climate Change/Sustainability Provisions.
1.
Mitigation Measures.
a.
Stormwater. Stormwater runoff shall be minimized (in addition to satisfying the stormwater requirements of IBMC Chapter 8.30) by infiltrating runoff on-site provided that geotechnical studies support infiltration/percolation capabilities.
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b.
Green Building. The 2010 California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen Code) became effective January 1, 2011. Projects shall propose additional sustainable elements that minimize the production of greenhouse gases (GHG) and exceed the requirements of the CALGreen Code to possibly include small scale wind turbines, solar panels for water heating and power generation, use of recycled water and materials, and other elements that may qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
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2.
Adaptation Measures.
a.
Sustainability. Projects shall propose additional sustainable elements that minimize the production of greenhouse gases (GHG) and exceed the requirements of the CALGreen Code to possibly include small scale wind turbines, solar panels for water heating and power generation, use of recycled water and materials, and other elements that may qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
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b.
Sea Level Rise (SLR). Buildings may have a useful life of fifty to one hundred years or more. Global warming scenarios project an increase in sea level rise due to the effects of greenhouse gases. The State of California projects a rise of ten to seventeen inches by the year 2050 and a rise of thirty-one to sixty-nine inches by the year 2100 (State of California, Sea Level Rise Task Force of the Coastal and Ocean Working Group of the California Climate Action Team (CO-CAT), Sea Level Rise Interim Guidance Document, October 2010). Project proponents shall, using best available science, assess their project for its vulnerability to impacts from sea level rise and, if vulnerable, propose a reasonable adaptation strategy that may take the form of hard structures (such as seawalls, levees, bulkheads, or rip-rap), soft structures (such as wetland restoration, low impact development (LID), detention basins, bioinfiltration, or bioswales), accommodation (such as elevated grades, elevated structures, floodable development, or floating structures), or withdrawal (such as buffers, rolling easements, disassembly design, or managed retreat). However, revetments and other shoreline protection devices that alter natural shoreline processes shall be permitted when required to serve coastal dependent uses or to protect existing principal structures, and when designed to eliminate or mitigate adverse impacts on local shoreline sand supply. New development shall be sited and designed to account for sea level rise such that the need for hard protective structures is avoided.
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H.
Parking Provisions.
1.
Parking shall be provided (on-site and/or off-site) as required pursuant to Chapter 19.48 and with the approval of a site and design review plan.
2.
Views of parking facilities shall be buffered with elements such as landscaping or street walls. Parking structures shall be designed with articulation and attractive façade treatment in order to be compatible with the character of a small town commercial tourist district.
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3.
Where appropriate, reverse angle/back-in parking is permitted in order to accommodate for bicycle safety.
4.
Bicycle parking shall be provided pursuant to Section 5.106.4 of the CALGreen Code.
I.
Building Façade Provisions.
1.
Blank/sterile unarticulated street/building walls are not allowed.
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2.
Building openings (in the form of windows, doors, etc.) shall be provided along street frontages. Openings shall not span vertically more than one story.
3.
Permitted building materials include: brick and tile masonry, stucco (cementitious finish), native stone, pre-cast masonry (for trim and cornice elements), gypsum reinforced fiber concrete (for trim elements), metal (for beams, lintel, trim and ornamental elements), split-faced block (for piers and foundation walls), wood lap and Hardie-plank siding.
4.
For new development, roof lines shall be varied to create architectural interest. Variations in pitch shall be symmetrical and eaves shall overhang twenty-four inches.
5.
For new development, flat and parapet roofs shall be articulated with cornices or coping elements that project out twenty-four inches.
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6.
Green roof, skylights, roof vents, wind turbines, roof drains, and solar panels shall be integrated into the architectural style of the building.
7.
Roof materials permitted include: clay and concrete tile, slate, standing seam metal, and dimensional asphalt shingles.
(Ord. 2012-1127 § 3; Ord. 2013-1135 §§ 1, 2; Ord. 2016-1158 § 7)
§ 19.25.070 Signage provisions.
§ 19.25.080 Public realm/street furniture provisions.
A.
Street lighting shall be mission-style or of another historical theme and located sixteen feet above grade with a maximum average spacing of sixty feet on center.
B.
Acceptable sidewalk materials include: brick, masonry, tile, permeable and landscape pavers, and stamped Portland cement concrete.
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C.
Seat walls and seating for outdoor dining may be permitted within the right-of-way with the approval of a site and design plan and an encroachment permit or license agreement.
D.
Sufficient right-of-way dedication shall be provided to accommodate at least ten feet of walkway and landscape improvements along public streets.
E.
Public trash and recycling receptacles shall be attractively designed and placed in strategic locations so that they are convenient but do not obstruct pedestrian travel.
F.
Utility meters, utility pedestals, and back-flow preventers shall be located or buffered such that they are not visible from public venues.
(Ord. 2012-1127 § 3; Ord. 2013-1135 §§ 1, 2)
§ 19.25.090 Miscellaneous provisions.
A.
Custom/incidental manufacturing refers to the small scale on-site production of goods by hand which involves only the use of hand tools or domestic mechanical equipment that do not exceed five horsepower or a single kiln not exceeding eight cubic feet and that such use is restricted as a secondary use to the primary retail or service use where such products are sold directly to consumers. Typical uses include ceramic studios, candle making shops or custom jewelry crafts stores.
B.
Conditional Use Permit. Conditions for any conditional use permit may include, but shall not be limited to, requirements for special yards, open spaces, buffers, fences, walls, and screening; requirements for installation and maintenance of landscaping and erosion control measures; requirements for street improvements and dedications, regulations of vehicular ingress and egress and traffic circulation; regulations of signs; regulations of hours of operation; establishment of development schedules or time limits for performance or completion; requirements for periodic review; and such other conditions as may be deemed necessary to ensure compatibility with existing surrounding uses, and to preserve the public health, safety and welfare.
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C.
Refuse and Recycling Containers. Private refuse and recycling containers in conformance with Section 19.74.090 shall be buffered from public venues with landscaping and/or screen walls.
D.
Coastal Development Permit. If the project site proposed for recreational and ecotourism development is located in the original coastal development permit (CDP) jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission, applicants shall proceed with other required discretionary permits through the City prior to filing for a CDP application with the Commission.
E. "Boutique hotel (hotel H-6)"
"Ecotourism" "Hostel" "Inn (hotel H-5)"
Definitions.
means a small elegant lodging facility that is unique and is characterized by personalized service.
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means responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the wellbeing of local people.
means a place where travelers may stay for a limited duration at low cost in a facility that is appropriately recognized by a state, national or international hostel organization and that may include dormitory-like sleeping accommodations.
means a commercial establishment that affords public lodging on a less than monthly basis and may include meals and other services to travelers.
(Ord. 2012-1127 § 3; Ord. 2013-1135 §§ 1, 2)