1.   The Council may, from time to time, on its own action or on petition after report by the Commission, amend, supplement, or change the boundaries or regulations herein or subsequently established. However, no such amendment, supplement, restriction, change of boundaries, or regulations shall become effective until after a public hearing in relation thereto, at which parties in interest and citizens shall have an opportunity to be heard. The notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be published as provided in Section 362.3 of the Code of Iowa, except that at least seven-days’ notice must be given and in no case shall the public hearing be held earlier than the next regularly scheduled Council meeting following the published notice. The notice shall be published in a paper of general circulation in the City. Such amendment, supplement, or change shall not become effective except by a favorable vote of a majority of all of the members of the Council.

   2.   Whenever any person desires that any amendment or change be made in this Zoning Code, including the text and/or map, as to any property in the City, and there shall be presented to the Council a petition requesting such change or amendment and clearly describing the property and its boundaries as to which the change or amendment is desired, duly signed by the owners of 50 percent of the area of all real estate included within the boundaries of said tract as described in said petition, and in addition, duly signed by the owners of 50 percent of the area of all real estate lying outside of said tract but within 250 feet of the boundaries thereof, it shall be the duty of the Council to vote upon such petition within a reasonable time after the filing of such petition with the Clerk.

   3.   Where the person desires map to be amended to include the rezoning of property to the Planned Unit Development (PUD) District only, the petition must be duly signed by 100 percent of the area of all real estate included within the boundaries of said tract as described in said petition. Where a person desires to rezone a tract of land to PUD only, the requirement for said petition to be duly signed by any owner of real estate lying outside of said tract may be waived by City Council if Council, upon recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Commission, determines the required Master Plan does not show more intense development of the tract than would be permitted by the existing zoning of said tract.

   4.   In case the proposed amendment, supplement or change is disapproved by the Zoning Commission, including the text and/or map, or a protest is presented duly signed by the owners of 20 percent or more either of the area of the lots included in such proposed change or of those immediately adjacent to the rear thereof, extending the depth of one lot or not to exceed 200 feet from the street frontage of such opposite lots, such amendments shall not become effective except by the favorable vote of at least four-fifths of all members of the Council.

   5.   Whenever any petition for an amendment, supplement or change of the zoning regulations herein contained or subsequently established shall have been denied by the Council, then no new petition, including the text and/or map, covering the same property and additional property shall be filed with or considered by the Council until one year shall have elapsed from the date of the filing of the first petition. Provided, however, the Council may, in its discretion, by resolution, authorize the filing of a new petition within one year, upon its showing that an enforcement of this provision would impose an undue hardship upon the owner of such real estate.

   6.   Filing Fees. Before any action shall be taken as provided in this section, the owner or owners of the property proposed or recommended to be changed in the district regulations or district boundaries shall pay to the Clerk a filing fee in an amount established from time to time by resolution of the City Council. In addition to the fee, applicant shall pay to the Clerk, prior to the Council’s final consideration of the proposed ordinance, a sum representing the actual cost of mailing notice to surrounding property owners and/or the cost of the publication of notice, as required by this chapter and the actual cost of engineering services incurred by the City in the examination and review of the proposed zoning amendment. Under no conditions shall said sum or any part thereof be refunded for failure of said amendment to be enacted into law.