The city and its jurisdictional area is divided into the following districts:

   (A)   Agriculture Districts, designated A, are established to include substantial areas where little or no urbanization has occurred or is likely to occur in the near future and where the predominant use of land involves crop production, raising livestock or similar farming.

   (B)   Conservancy Districts, designated CD, are established to protect environmentally sensitive areas, as well as include areas for public parks and recreation areas. No principal structures should be permitted for any use in a conservancy district. These areas may be used for agriculture, conservation or may be included in computation of residential lots, yards or other open spaces.

   (C)   Residence Districts 1, designated R1, are established to include areas for low density single-family residences with a density of one dwelling unit or less per gross acre if connected to public sewer, otherwise one dwelling unit or less per two acres.

   (D)   Residence Districts 2, designated R2, are established to include areas for low density single-family residences with a density of four dwelling units or less per gross acre, if connected to public sewer.

   (E)   Residence Districts 3, designated R3, are established to include areas for medium density single-family, and two-family residential development with a density of ten dwelling units or less per gross acre, if connected to public sewer.

   (F)   Multi-family Districts, designated R4, are established to include areas for relatively high density, multi-family residential development. All R4 development must be connected to public sewer.

   (G)   Manufactured Home Parks and Subdivisions, designated R5, are for manufactured home park subdivisions, for the placement of Type II and Type III manufactured homes, as herein defined with exclusive occupancy as residences. Residential units that are classified as either a manufactured home Type II or Type III, are restricted to an R5 subdivision.

   (H)   General Business Districts, designated GB, are established to include areas that are appropriate for a variety or combination of businesses, services and light industrial uses.

   (I)   Central Business District, designated CB, is established to include the city's core business area.

   (J)   Light Industrial Districts, designated as I1, are established to include areas in which goods are produced for direct consumption by consumers. Light industrial uses typically involve final assembly of goods produced from prepared materials, finished products or parts, or wholesale and/or storage activities.

      (1)   These districts are intended for those industries which do not create adverse impacts on surrounding land uses. The I1 district may serve as a buffer between heavier industrial districts and business or residential districts.

      (2)   Uses must conform with all federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, including but not limited to air emissions, water discharge and solid and hazardous waste generation and disposal. New residential uses are not permitted in I1 zoning districts.

      (3)   The following uses are permitted in an I1 district:

         (a)   All uses permitted in a GB district; excluding adult businesses;

         (b)   Accessory building and use;

         (c)   Boat dry dock facilities;

         (d)   Carpentry, wood working or cabinet shop;

         (e)   Central dry cleaning plants or laundries;

         (f)   Ceramic pottery, figurines or other similar ceramic product fabrication;

         (g)   Creamery and/or dairy;

         (h)   Electrical receiving and transforming station;

         (i)   Feed or grain storage;

         (j)   Machine shops: metal anodizing, buffing, galvanizing, plating and/or polishing shops;

         (k)   Metal molding and plastic molding and extrusion shops;

         (l)   Warehouse/distribution facilities for storage, wholesale and distribution of manufactured products, supplies and equipment, provided that storage is within an enclosed building (excluding auto wrecking, junk and salvage, automobile tires, scrap materials or storage of materials that are flammable or explosive or that create hazardous or commonly recognized offensive conditions);

         (m)   Tool and/or die shop;

         (n)   Utility service yard; and

         (o)   Welding shop.

   (K)   General Industrial Districts, designated I2, are established to include areas for fabricating, manufacturing and processing industries where the operation is enclosed within a building and conducted in such a manner that no adverse impacts are created or emitted outside of the building(s).

      (1)   Uses must conform with all federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations including but not limited to air emissions, water discharge and solid and hazardous waste generation and disposal.

      (2)   The following uses are permitted in an I2 district:

         (a)   All uses permitted in an I1 district;

         (b)   Accessory building and use;

         (c)   Brewing and distilling;

         (d)   Freight yard, truck yard or terminal;

         (e)   Fuel yard, including bulk storage of petroleum products for local distribution, as distinguished from a petroleum products terminal for an extensive storage and regional distributing process;

         (f)   Manufacture, compounding, assembling or treatment of articles or merchandise from previously prepared materials, excluding agricultural implements and machinery, aircraft, automobiles, boats, motorcycles and recreational vehicles;

         (g)   Manufacture, compounding, packaging and processing of pharmaceutical products, household chemicals, cleaning products, ink, glue and sizing, paint, lacquers, shellac, varnish and reducers and removers, tanning materials, tar products and other similar products;

         (h)   Manufacture of products, art goods, cosmetics and toiletries, baked goods, confections, ice cream, non-alcoholic beverages, jewelry, clothing and garments, electrical appliances and fixtures, draperies, novelty articles, advertising displays, notions, tobacco products, gauges, jigs, optical goods, luggage and leather products, toys and household supplies, personal accessories, paper, wood, plastic or rubber molded products;

         (i)   Manufacture of metal products not otherwise listed which do not involve drop hammer or foundry work;

         (j)   Manufacture and processing of food products such as slaughtering, sugar refining, meat or fish processing, custom meat packing or butchering, poultry dressing and similar processes including smoking, curing or canning;

         (k)   Motor vehicle towing service, excluding motor vehicle storage yard;

         (l)   Recycling facility (excluding outdoor storage); however, any use which meets the definition of a junk and salvage yard shall not be permitted;

         (m)   Painting of finished products; and

         (n)   Sheet metal production fabrication, treatment or assembly of products, which does not involve forging, hammer or foundry work.

   (L)   Heavy Industrial Districts, designated I3, are established to include areas for intense industrial uses such as fabricating, manufacturing, processing, extraction, heavy repair and dismantling industries where outside operations and storage areas may be required.

      (1)   Due to the nature of these industries, districts are typically located away from residential areas and districts. I3 districts should be buffered by less intensive industrial or commercial districts to minimize adverse impacts on surrounding land uses.

      (2)   Uses must conform with all federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations including but not limited to air emissions, water discharge and solid and hazardous waste generation and disposal.

      (3)   The following uses are permitted in an I3 district:

         (a)   All uses permitted in an I2 district;

         (b)   Accessory building and use;

         (c)   Chemical or gas manufacturing not otherwise listed;

         (d)   Fabricating, manufacturing and processing industries, not otherwise listed;

         (e)   Forging, drop hammer and foundry uses;

         (f)   Fuel refinery or refining of petroleum products,

         (g)   Fuel yard for the bulk storage of petroleum products for region-wide distribution;

         (h)   Leather processing facility/tannery;

         (i)   Manufacture and/or assembly of agricultural implements and machinery, aircraft, automobiles, boats, motorcycles, recreational vehicles and any associated parts;

         (j)   Manufacture of brick, refractories and clay products not otherwise listed;

         (k)   Manufacture of chemicals not otherwise listed such as ammonia, acetylene, carbide, carbon black, caustic soda, cellulose, fertilizer, hydrogen, nitrates, oxygen, plastics, proxylene, potash, synthetic resins and turpentine;

         (l)   Manufacture of ready-mix concrete, plaster or asphalt;

         (m)   Manufactured home construction facility;

         (n)   Metal casing and fabrication, including ferrous metals;

         (o)   Recycling processing facility (including outdoor storage), however any use which meets the definition of a junk and salvage yard shall not be permitted;

         (p)   Sawmill or planing mill for the processing of timber or lumber;

         (q)   Tire or rubber manufacturing; and

         (r)   Warehouse/distribution facilities for storage, wholesale and distribution of manufactured products, supplies and equipment.

   (M)   Planned Development Districts, designated PD-R (residential), PD-B (business) and PD-I (industrial), are established for the purposes and conditions set forth in §§ 156.085 through 156.097 below.

   (N)   Note: All structures that are not connected to public sewer may not exceed a density of one unit per two acres, and must have a minimum lot size of two acres (87,120 square feet).

(Ord. 614, passed 2-22-1999; Ord. 924-2018, passed 9-24-2018)

   (A)   The boundaries of the districts established by § 156.020 above are as shown on the zone map which is a part of this chapter, and hereafter known as the official zoning map for the city.

      (1)   The official zoning map shall hereafter be kept in the custody of the Administrator. Except as provided by § 156.022 below, the boundaries and the official zoning map shall be changed only by amendment to the official zoning map.

      (2)   Upon the amendment, the city shall within five days of passage of the amendment, certify a copy of the amendment to the Administrator, who shall immediately change the official zoning map in accordance with the amendment. The Administrator shall cause the official zoning map to show the ordinance number and date of adoption of all the amending ordinances.

   (B)   When the exact boundaries of a district are uncertain, they shall be determined by use of the scale of the zoning map.

   (C)   When the maps are caused to be changed by amendment the change shall be to the center of any and all abutting rights-of-way.

   (D)   If the boundary line of a district divides a lot having frontage on a street so that the front part of the lot lies in one district and the rest of the lot lies in another, use requirements and restrictions that apply to the front part of the lot apply to the entire lot.

(Ord. 614, passed 2-22-1999)

   (A)   Development in areas that lie within the regulatory flood plain boundary must acquire prior approval from the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Regulatory flood boundaries have been determined by the State Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and are illustrated by the flood boundary and floodway map, Noble County, Panel numbers 180186 0001-0001,180186 0001-0004 and 180186 0001-0005.

   (B)   Flood plains may be changed if the State Natural Resources Commission, after investigating the land involved, determines: that the requested change would not endanger the public welfare; and that the elevation of the land is at or above the elevation of the regulatory flood. The determination shall be made in writing upon the request of the applicant who shall provide the State Natural Resources Commission with a scale drawing identifying the location, dimensions and elevations related to the U.S.G.S. datum of the land.

   (C)   All buildings or structures permitted on lands within 100 feet of the flood plain shall be required to comply with the flood protection grade as established by the State Natural Resources Commission.

(Ord. 614, passed 2-22-1999)

   (A)   The subdivision of land shall be pursuant to the requirements of the Subdivision Ordinance and shall be permitted in the following districts: A, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, CB, GB, I1, I2 and I3. The intended principal use of each of the proposed lots within a proposed subdivision shall govern the specific district or districts appropriate to the land to be subdivided, as per §§ 156.035 through 156.041 below.

   (B)   However, the following classifications of subdivisions shall only be permitted in R1, R2, R3, R4 or R5 districts: major subdivisions intended entirely for residential use, and any portions of major subdivisions intended for residential use.

   (C)   Planned developments shall be permitted as per § 156.086 below, in order to provide greater design flexibility, and to encourage innovative land development techniques and a more efficient use of land, the design and development of uses within these districts may be permitted to deviate from the standards prescribed by §§ 156.055 through 156.068 below, when a comprehensive development plan has been formally approved by City Plan Commission and all checkpoint offices, boards and commissions for the affected area.

   (D)   Subdivision regulations are governed by the city. Deviation from these standards must be formally approved by both the City Advisory Plan Commission and the City Council.

   (E)   Condominiums, as defined and regulated in I.C. 32-1-6 (the Horizontal Property Law), cluster developments, zero lot line developments and all developments of the minimum sizes specified in § 156.086, and larger shall be considered for zoning purposes to be planned developments, and consequently shall be permitted only as approved by the City Planning Commission as per § 156.086 of this chapter.

(Ord. 614, passed 2-22-1999)