A city planning commission is hereby created. It shall consist of five appointive members, all of whom shall be citizens of the city. The mayor shall serve as ex-officio member of the commission. The five appointive members shall be nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the council. Each appointed member shall serve for a term of three years, or until his successor takes office. of the original appointive members, however, one shall serve a term of one year; two shall serve a term of two years and two shall serve a term of three years. Thereafter, the terms of members shall be three years. Vacancies occurring other than by expiration of the term shall be filled only for the unexpired terms by the mayor with confirmation of the council. The members shall serve without compensation. The council may remove a member of the planning commission only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. Members shall be appointed solely with reference to their fitness and not party affiliation. Whenever a member of the planning commission is absent from more than one-half of all meetings of the planning commission, regular and special, held within any period of four consecutive months, the member shall thereupon cease to hold office.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.1; Code 1983, § 12-101; Ord. No. 214-A, 8-9-1984; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

Three members of the commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; provided, however, that no action shall be taken which is binding upon the commission, unless concurred in by not less than a majority of all members comprising the commission.

(Code 1983, § 12-102; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The commission shall elect a chairman and a secretary and may create and fill such other offices as it may deem necessary. The terms of the chairman and secretary shall be one year with eligibility for re-election. The planning commission shall hold at least one regular meeting each month. The planning commission shall adopt rules for the transactions of business and keep a record of its regulations, transactions, findings and determinations, which record shall be a public record.

(Prior Code, §§ 30-1.2—30-1.4; Code 1983, § 12-103; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The planning commission may recommend such employees as it deems necessary for its work, whose appointment, promotion, demotion and removal shall be at the pleasure of the city manager. The commission may also recommend to the city council the employment of city planners, engineers, architects and consultants for such other services as it may require. The city council may provide funds for the salaries of employees and the expenses of the commission as for other functions of the city government.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.7; Code 1983, § 12-104; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The commission shall, from time to time, recommend to the appropriate public officials programs for public structures and improvements and for the financing thereof. It shall be part of its duties to consult and advise with public officials and agencies, public utility companies, civic, educational, professional, and other organizations, and citizens with relation to the protecting or carrying out of the plan. All public officials shall, upon request, furnish the commission within a reasonable time such available information as it may require for its work.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.8; Code 1983, § 12-105; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The commission, its members, officers and employees, in the performance of their functions, may enter upon any land and make examinations and surveys and place and maintain necessary monuments and marks thereon.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.9; Code 1983, § 12-106; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

In general, the commission shall have such powers as may be necessary to enable it to fulfill its functions, promote municipal planning and carry out the purposes of this chapter.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.10; Code 1983, § 12-107; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The commission may prepare and recommend to the council for adoption rules and regulations governing subdivision of land within the city limits. All plans, plats and replats of land laid out in two or more lots, plats or parcels, or streets or alleys, or other ways intended to be dedicated for public use shall be first submitted to the commission for its recommendations. The commission shall check the proposed dedication or subdivision to insure compliance with the comprehensive plan. The disapproval of any plan, plat or replat by the city shall be deemed the refusal of the dedication thereon. No plat or replat of subdivision of land, or dedication of street or alley, or other easement shall be entitled to record unless it bears the signature of the mayor, attested by the city clerk, certifying the approval and acceptance by the city council.

(Prior Code, § 30-120; Code 1983, § 12-116; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

(a)

The planning commission shall also act as the zoning commission, which shall have the power to prepare and recommend to the council, for adoption a zoning plan to regulate and restrict the height, number of stories, the size of buildings and other structures, the percentage of lots that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts and other open spaces, the density of population, the location and use of building structures and land for trade, industry, residences or other purposes.

(b)

The commission may recommend the division of the city into districts of such number, size and area that may be deemed best suited to carry out the zoning plan. All such regulations shall be uniform for each class or kind of building throughout the district, but the regulations from one district may differ from those of other districts. Nothing in this subsection (b) shall be construed to apply to telephone exchange buildings.

(Prior Code, §§ 30-1.21, 30-1.22; Code 1983, § 12-117; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

Zoning regulations shall be made in accordance with the comprehensive plan and designed to lessen congestion in the streets, to secure safety from fire, panic and other dangers, to promote health and the general welfare, to promote adequate light and air, to prevent the overcrowding of land, to avoid undue concentration of population, to facilitate the adequate provisions of transportation, water, sewage, schools, parks and the public requirements, such regulations to be made with a reasonable consideration among other things as to the character of the district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses and with a view to conserving the value of buildings, and encourage the most appropriate use of land throughout the city.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.23; Code 1983, § 12-118; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The commission shall have the power and duty to prepare and recommend to the council for adoption a comprehensive plan for the physical development and betterment of the city, including any areas outside its boundaries which, in the commission's judgment, bear relation to the planning of the city.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.11; Code 1983, § 12-108; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the city and its environs which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote the health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development, including, among other things, adequate provisions for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire and other dangers, adequate provisions for light and air, the promotion of healthful and convenient distribution of population, the promotion of good civic design and arrangement, and wise and efficient expenditure of public funds.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.12; Code 1983, § 12-109; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The comprehensive plan, with the accompanying maps, plats, charts and descriptive matter, shall show the commission's recommendations for the development of the territory, including, among other things, the general location, character and extent of streets, viaducts, subways, bridges, waterways, waterfronts, boulevards, parkways, playgrounds, squares, parks, aviation fields and other public ways, grounds and open spaces, and the general location of public buildings and other public property; also the removal, relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment, change of property, as well as a zoning plan for the control of the height, area, bulk, location and use of buildings and premises.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.13; Code 1983, § 12-110; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

As the work of making the whole comprehensive plan progresses, the planning commission may recommend to the city council from time to time adopting and publishing parts thereof, any such part to cover one or more major sections or divisions of the city or one or more of the aforesaid or other functional matters to be included in the plan.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.14; Code 1983, § 12-111; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The planning commission may, from time to time, recommend to the city council amendments, extensions or additions to the plan.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.15; Code 1983, § 12-112; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The city planning commission may cooperate with the county planning commission in connection with planning for areas beyond the corporate limits of the city.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.17; Code 1983, § 12-113; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

The city council may adopt the plan as a whole by a single ordinance, or may, by successive ordinances, adopt successive parts of the plan, such parts corresponding with major geographic sections or divisions of the city, or with functional subdivisions of the subject matter of the plan, and may adopt any amendment or extension thereof or addition thereto. Before the city planning commission recommends to the city council the adoption of the plan or any such part, amendment, extension or addition, the planning commission shall hold at least one public hearing thereon, notice of the time and place of which shall be given by one publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. The adoption of the plan or of any part or amendment or extension or addition shall be by ordinance of the city council carried by the affirmative votes of a majority of the city council. The ordinance shall refer expressly to the maps and descriptive and other matter intended by the commission to form the whole or part of the plan, and the action taken shall be recorded on the map and plan and descriptive matter by the identifying signature of the chairman of the commission. An attested copy of the plan or part thereof shall be certified to the city council for the approval of the city council.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.18; Code 1983, § 12-114; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)

Whenever the city council shall have adopted the comprehensive plan of the city or of one or more major sections or districts thereof, no street, square, park or other public way, ground or open space, or public building or structure, or other governmental enterprise shall be constructed or authorized in the city, or in such planned section and district until the location, character or extent thereof shall have been submitted to and approved by the commission; provided, that in case of disapproval, the commission shall communicate its reason to the city council, which shall have the power to overrule such disapproval by a recorded vote of a majority of its membership.

(Prior Code, § 30-1.19; Code 1983, § 12-115; Ord. No. 301-A, 11-8-1990)