Lakewood City Zoning Code

When practical difficulties, unnecessary hardships, or results inconsistent with the general purpose of this Chapter, result, through the strict and literal interpretation and enforcement of the provisions hereof, the Planning Commission shall have the authority, as an administrative or judicial act, subject to the provisions of this Article, to grant, upon such conditions as it may determine, such variance from the provisions of this Chapter as may be in harmony with its general purpose and intent, so that the spirit of this Ordinance shall be observed, public safety and welfare secured, and substantial justice done.

The sole purpose of any variance shall be to prevent discrimination, and no variance shall be granted which would have the effect of granting a special privilege not shared by other property in the same vicinity and zone.

Before any variance may be granted, it shall be shown:

A conditional use permit shall be granted only in those cases where authorized by this Chapter, and then only upon a finding that the proposed use, subject to conditions imposed, will not be detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare or to surrounding property and residents. A conditional use permit shall not be issued to grant a special privilege and may be only issued on a finding as aforementioned and as follows:

The purpose of a conditional use permit shall be to assure that the degree of compatibility made the purpose of this Chapter shall be maintained with respect to the particular use on the particular site and in consideration of other existing and potential uses within the general area in which such use is proposed to be located.

Approval shall be given to any application for a conditional use permit if it can be shown that the granting of such permit would be consistent with the purposes and objectives of this Chapter and the comprehensive Master Plan, and would be desirable to the public convenience and welfare. When an application for a conditional use permit is sought merely to effect minor changes upon an existing use, and such changes do not involve an expansion of the overall area occupied by said use, such application may be granted ex parte by the Planning Commission.

When the City Planning Commission, pursuant to Section 9401.2, has approved a conditional use permit ex parte, and written protests to the City Planning Commission by three (3) residents or property owners residing or owning property within three hundred (300) feet of the boundaries of the property covered in the conditional use permit, against said approval have been received by the Planning Commission within twenty (20) days from the time the permit has been granted, the decision of the Planning Commission shall be rescinded and thereafter the application shall be processed as required in Section 9402, et seq.

The planning Commission shall, in each case of an ex parte approval of a conditional use, direct the secretary to, and the secretary shall, cause to have posted on the property for which the use is granted, and in three public places within the City as established by ordinance, and also have published in a newspaper of general circulation as set forth in the motion of the Planning Commission granting the permit, a notice setting forth the name of the permittee, the address of the property affected and its legal description, the nature of the conditional use granted, and a general statement that this permit shall be automatically rescinded pursuant to Section 9401.3 of the Lakewood Municipal Code if three or more property owners representing three or more parcels of land with 300 feet of the aforementioned property protest in writing to the City Planning Commission within twenty days from the date of the granting of the permit. Said notice shall be so posted within ten days following the granting of said permit and shall remain continuously posted for twenty days following the granting of the permit. Said notice shall be published at least once within ten days of the granting of the permit.

Upon the filing of an application for a variance or conditional use permit by a property owner, or by a lessee with the consent of the owners, which application sets forth fully the grounds for, and the facts deemed to justify the granting of the variance or conditional use permit, the Planning Commission shall hold at least one public hearing and shall give public notice as provided in Part 12, of the intention to consider at a public hearing the granting of a variance or conditional use permit.

The Planning and Environment Commission ("PEC") shall make its decision to approve or not approve each project, based on the findings specified in Section 9401 or elsewhere in the Code and if approved shall impose any necessary conditions of approval on the project construction and/or limitations regarding the ongoing operation of the approved land use to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. The formal notice of action shall be in the form of an adopted resolution and shall be delivered as specified in Sections 9403.2.

The formal hearing on an application for a variance or conditional use permit, shall be numbered consecutively in the order of its filing and shall become a permanent record in the files of the Commission.

No later than ten (10) city business days, (days that City Hall is open for business) city staff shall deliver the formal PEC action decision on any matter to the respective property owner, the applicant, if other than the property owner, the City Clerk, City Manager, each member of the City Council, and any other interested party that has requested such notification in writing either at the hearing or otherwise and that has provided their name, address and/or electronic mail (email) address for such notification.

The notice of the PEC decision shall be delivered by at least one of the following options: in person, by depositing the notice of the PEC decision into the U.S. Postal Service mail system, and/ or by transmitting the notice by e-mail from the city staff to those required to have or requesting such notice. The date such a notice is deposited into the mail or is transmitted electronically shall constitute the date of delivery.

Any variance or conditional use permit granted by Commission becomes null and void if not exercised within the specified in such variance or permit, or if no date is specified, within one (1) year from the date of approval of said variance or permit; or, if the use for which approval was granted had ceased to exist or has been suspended for a continuous period of one (1) year or more.

The Planning Commission may, after a public hearing, held in the manner prescribed in Part 12 governing variances and conditional use permits, revoke or modify any variance or permit issued on any one or more of the following grounds:

The City Planning Commission may, on its own motion, at any meeting thereof, without formal application being made as required by this Part, consider the granting of a conditional use permit for those uses specified in Section 9320, subsection C, in respect to:

Actions by the Planning and Environment Commission ("PEC") shall be by majority vote and shall be final, conclusive, and effective ten (10) calendar days after delivery of the notice of the PEC action to the property owner, applicant and others as required.,. Delivery shall be as provided in Section 9403.2. The PEC action shall be final, unless prior to the effective date of the PEC decision a properly prepared appeal in writing is filed, including required filing fees with the City Clerk by the applicant or by any other person.

The appeal statement shall detail the requested remedy and why in the opinion of the appellant the PEC decision failed to act appropriately or condition properly the project being appealed in order to protect the overall public health, safety, or welfare of the City of Lakewood. The appeal shall be limited to the matters discussed orally or considered by the PEC in written or displayed materials presented for consideration as part of the PEC hearing. In addition, any member of the City Council may, prior to the effective date of the PEC decision and by direction to the City Clerk, bring before the Council for the purpose of reviewing any decision made by the Planning and Environment Commission. The filing of such an appeal or the request for City Council review of such a decision prior to the effective date of the PEC action shall stay the effective date of the PEC action until the City Council has acted on the appeal or review.

An appeal or request for review from any order, requirement, decision, or determination under this Part must set forth specifically wherein it is claimed there was an error or abuse of discretion by the Planning Commission or wherein the decision of the Planning Commission is not supported by the evidence in the matter. In addition, any person appealing the decision of the Planning Commission must pay to the City Clerk at the time of filing the written notice of appeal the required fee specified by resolution as hereafter adopted and from time to time changed by the City Council.

Upon receipt of a written appeal and the payment of the fee required, or upon receipt of a request to review the decision of the Planning Commission, in accordance with Section 9407, the City Clerk shall advise the Secretary of the Planning Commission to transmit to her forthwith the complete record of the entire proceeding before the Planning Commission. The Secretary of the Planning Commission shall be and is hereby charged with the duty and responsibility of maintaining a complete file and record on each application processed pursuant to this Part, which shall contain the original application, all correspondence and reports pertaining thereto, all affidavits of publication, posting, and mailing, as required by law, minutes of all meetings of the Planning Commission pertaining to this matter, advisory reports of technical agents, the report, findings, and decision of the Planning Commission, the notice of the decision of the Planning Commission, and an affidavit of the mailing and the giving of said notice, as required by this Part.

For the purpose of this Part and in conformity with Article 2 of Chapter 4, Title 7, of the Government Code of the State of California, the City Council of the City of Lakewood does hereby appoint and create each and every member of the City Council, sitting as a whole, as the Board of Zoning Adjustment and Zoning Appeal for the City of Lakewood. The City Council shall meet as a Board of Zoning Adjustment and Zoning Appeal in connection with other City business and in so meeting shall be governed by all the rules and regulations now adopted or hereafter adopted governing the procedure of the City Council.

The City Clerk shall set a hearing before the City Council as the Board of Zoning Adjustment and Zoning Appeal not less than twenty (20) days after the receipt of said appeal or request for review. The hearing shall be on at least ten (10) days prior written notice to the applicant, the appellant, and to any other persons who received or should have received, under Section 9422, notice of the hearing before the Planning Commission. At such a hearing no new matter nor new evidence shall be received or considered by the City Council, and the City Council shall make its determination on the basis of the record brought before it on appeal or review.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 9407.4, the City Council may, by majority action at any time during the course of the review of a decision of the Planning Commission under this Part brought before it by either appeal or review, determine that a new hearing should be heard for the purpose of taking new or additional evidence in respect to this matter. In such an event, a new hearing shall be set by the City Council, at which time the public will be entitled to appear to present new or additional evidence for or against said application.

The action of the City Council as a Board of Zoning Adjustment and Zoning Appeal shall be by majority vote and shall be final and conclusive. The decision of the City Council under this Part shall be set forth in full in the minutes of any meeting of the City Council, or shall be adopted by resolution of the City Council at any meeting of the Council pertaining to this matter. A certified copy of the excerpts of said minutes or said resolution shall be delivered by the City Clerk to the Secretary of the Planning Commission and the Planning Commission for their use and records, as well as to the applicant or the appellant, if they be different parties.