The B-2 Central Business District is intended to cater to the needs of the City's traditional downtown business district, which serves a more significant consumer population than the B-1 Neighborhood Business District and is generally characterized by an integrated or planned cluster of establishments served by a common parking area and generating more significant volumes of vehicular and pedestrian traffic, along with mixed-use residential dwelling units within this district.

(Ord. 345. Passed 6-4-91; Ord. 571. Passed 2-1-23; Ord. 588. Passed 7-2-24.)

   In the B-2 Central Business District, no building or land shall be used, and no building shall be erected, altered, or modified except for one or more of the following specified uses unless otherwise provided in this chapter:

   (a)   Any use permitted in the B-1 District as a principal use permitted, subject to the regulations applicable in the following subsections of this chapter.

   (b)   All retail businesses, service establishments, or processing uses as follows:

      (1)   Any retail business whose principal activity is the sale of merchandise stored and displayed in an enclosed building.

      (2)   Any service establishment of an office, showroom, or workshop nature such as of an electrician, decorator, dressmaker, tailor, baker, painter, upholsterer, or an establishment doing radio or home appliance repair, photographic reproduction, and similar service establishments that require a retail adjunct.

      (3)   Private clubs, fraternal organizations, and lodge halls.

      (4)   Restaurants or other places serving food or beverage, except disallowing those having the character of a drive-in or with a drive-through.

      (5)   Hotels and Motels.

      (6)   Theaters, assembly halls, concert halls, or similar places of public assembly when conducted entirely within enclosed buildings.

      (7)   Colleges or universities or private schools operated for profit.

      (8)   Other uses similar to the above as determined by the City Manager.

   (c)   Accessory buildings, structures, and uses conforming with Section 1240.11(1) customarily incidental and subordinate to the uses allowed in the B-2 Central Business District.

   (d)   Residential unit(s) on the second and third-floor levels with a minimum of 500 square feet of floor area per unit when one of the following off-street parking conditions is met:

      (1)   Off-street parking shall be provided at the ratio of one (1) per apartment unit when onsite parking is provided or when dedicated off-street parking is provided within 300 feet of the building it is intended to serve; or

      (2)   Utilization of standard remote off-street parking within the B-2 Central Business District.

(Ord. 345. Passed 6-4-91; Ord. 481. Passed 12-7-10; Ord. 528. Passed 1- 3-17; Ord. 571. Passed 2-1-23; Ord. 588. Passed 7-2-24.)

   (a)   The B-2 District shall operate as a commercial district with permitted accessory uses and mixed-use developments.

   (b)   All businesses shall be retail, office, professional, or service establishments as permitted in this chapter.

   (c)   All business servicing, processing, displays, and storage associated with the uses contained in this chapter, shall be conducted entirely within wholly enclosed buildings, unless otherwise allowed herein.

   (d)   Main entrances shall be provided along the most traveled/main street frontage and will be architecturally emphasized as such. Secondary rear and side accessory entrances are encouraged where possible but shall be identified as secondary by size and design. The Planning Commission may modify this requirement to allow alternate main entrances based on particular circumstances that make a front entrance impractical.

(1975 Code § 5.73) (Ord. 571. Passed 2-1-23; Ord. 588. Passed 7-2-24.)

   The following uses may be allowed as a special land use by the Planning Commission subject to the general and specific requirements of Chapter 1274:

   (a)   Open-air business uses when developed in a planned relationship with the B-2 Central Business District as follows:

      (1)   Retail sales of plant material not grown on the site and sales of lawn furniture, playground equipment, and garden supplies, provided such uses shall be located at the rear of the building in the B-2 Central Business District.

      (2)   Recreational space providing children's amusement park and other similar recreation when part of a planned development, provided that such use is located at the rear of the building in the B-2 Central Business District but not at the intersection of two major thoroughfares. Such recreation space shall be fenced on all sides with a four-foot decorative fence of permissible materials.

   (b)   Bowling alley, billiard hall, indoor archery range, indoor tennis courts, indoor skating rink, or similar forms of indoor commercial recreation, when located at least 100 feet from any front, rear, or side yard of any residential lot in an adjacent residential district.

   (c)   Automobile service centers, when developed as part of a more significant planned shopping center designed to integrate the automobile service center within the site plan and architecture of the total shopping center, provided that a building permit or zoning permit shall not be issued separately for the construction of any automobile service center within the B-2 District.

   (d)   Nursing Homes, Homes for the Aged, and Assisted Care Facilities (defined by the State of Michigan and this code).

   (e)   Childcare Center, also known as a day care center.

   (f)   Residential dwelling units may be permitted on the ground floor when the following conditions are met:

      (1)   Residential units on the first floor must not take up more than forty (40%) percent of the gross ground floor square footage at street level facing the front lot line. Corner parcels contain two front lot lines and, therefore. contain two such frontages at street level, which only permits a maximum of twenty (20%) percent of the gross ground floor square footage as usable residential space.

      (2)   Access to the residential unit is located in the rear of the building opposite the front facade, meeting all Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines, as amended.

      (3)   Each residential unit must have a minimum floor area of 500 square feet.

      (4)   Each residential unit must be part of a more significant residential development with dwelling units located on upper floors that must be developed concurrently or within 36 months of the ground floor dwelling unit. The upper floor residential unit(s) must be of a fifty-one percent (51%) or greater structural renovation of that floor or be a newly-created use for the building.

      (5)   Off-street parking requirements outlined for second and third-floor residential units(s) in Section 1258.02(d) shall apply to the ground-floor residential unit as authorized herein.

      (6)   The commercial front of the principal or ground floor shall also maintain a rear entrance to enable delivery and customer access.

      (7)   The Planning Commission, in its best judgment and reasonable discretion, has the authority to alter or waive any of Section 1258.04(f) provision requirements during the special land use review.

      (1975 Code § 5.74) (Ord. 08-2002-08. Passed 9-3-02; Ord. 571. Passed 2-1-23; Ord. 588. Passed 7-2-24.)

   (a)   Build-To-Line Requirement:

      (1)   The B-2 Central Business District shall have a zero (0) linear foot front yard build-to-line, meaning that all new construction must be built up to the public sidewalk (right-of-way).

      (2)   All development within this B-2 Central Business District shall be built along the entire width of the lot unless otherwise permitted by the Planning Commission, which, in its best judgment and reasonable discretion, may address unique design considerations and permit an alteration or waiver of Section 1258.05(a).

      (3)   This standard will apply to redeveloping an existing principal building within the district if the building is being expanded or rebuilt.

   (b)   See Appendix I, Schedule of Regulations, limiting the height and bulk of buildings, the minimum size of lots by permitted land use, providing minimum yard setback, and other requirements.

(1975 Code § 5.75) (Ord. 588. Passed 7-2-24.)