Purpose.

1. This UDO is intended to protect the interests of both present and future neighborhoods and the general public from adverse impacts of incompatible land uses.
2. Each standard is developed as a regulatory response to an identifiable negative impact or potential nuisance.

1. It is the intent of the City Common Council that this UDO respect landowners' rights to the beneficial use of their property. As such, the UDO is designed to allow greater flexibility and more development options, while providing standards for development that tend to minimize impacts on property owners to the greatest extent that is practicable and consistent with good and fair planning principles. The standards and supporting definitions are intended to balance the rights of individual property owners with those of the general public in a way that advantages both by creating value and minimizing adverse impacts that might otherwise result from a proposed land use.
2. A sound interpretation of any standard cannot be assured without a careful analysis of the end to which the regulation is directed. As such, it is the further intent of the City Common Council that administrators and other persons shall interpret this UDO based on an understanding of the purposes intended, as specified in this Division and in any specific section of this Code that is entitled "Purpose" or "Purpose and Applicability."

1. Establishing rational land use and growth patterns and encouraging the most appropriate use of individual pieces of land;
2. Dividing the City into districts of distinct community character according to the use of land and buildings, the intensity of such uses (including bulk and height), and the surrounding open space to promote health, safety, and welfare;
3. Regulating and restricting the location and use of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residences, and other uses;
4. Providing protection from noise, glare, odor, or vibration through buffers and other regulations;
5. Securing adequate natural light, clean air, privacy, convenient and safe access to property, and a safe environment;
6. Limiting the bulk, scale, and density of new structures to preserve the desired character of Valparaiso;
7. Promoting and encouraging the City's growth and economic health; and
8. Encouraging high-quality, attractive, and marketable development for the present and future population and businesses.

1. Controlling the density, open space, land use, and vegetative cover to prevent surface water contamination;
2. Protecting life and property by avoiding or lessening the hazards of flooding, stormwater accumulation, runoff, or destabilization of soils by district or performance standards;
3. Avoiding or lessening soil erosion hazards;
4. Preserving and protecting areas with limited development potential due to hydrology, soils, or other natural conditions as habitats for wildlife;
5. Respecting the area's history by preserving archaeological, historical, and/or architectural resources;
6. Minimizing expenditure of public money for costly flood control projects;
7. Minimizing the need for relief efforts associated with flooding and generally undertaken at the expense of the general public;
8. Minimizing prolonged business interruptions;
9. Minimizing damage to public facilities and utilities such as water and gas mains, electric, telephone and sewer lines, streets, and bridges located in special flood hazard areas;
10. Ensuring that potential buyers are notified that property is in an area of special flood hazard; and
11. Ensuring that those who occupy the areas of special flood hazard assume responsibility for their actions.

1. Creating an environment safe from fire, flood, and other dangers;
2. Ensuring adequate and safe roads and facilities by limiting land use intensity to the capacity of the roads or facilities and controlling access;
3. Protecting and enhancing a pattern of local, collector, and arterial streets and highways that produces a unified, safe, and efficient system for movement;
4. Reducing the danger and congestion of traffic on roads and highways by both limiting the number of friction points, such as intersections and driveways, and minimizing other hazards;
5. Protecting residential streets from degradation by non-residential traffic;
6. Establishing and regulating setback lines along streets and highways, property lines, and drainage facilities to ensure adequate and safe facilities;
7. Promoting economy in governmental expenditures; and
8. Promoting and encouraging basic public services that meet the needs of citizens and providing for public safety and services that ensure the health of residents and businesses.

1. Providing for the zoning of the long-term, 20-year growth and economic prospects;
2. Encouraging cost effective provision of utilities by regulating or phasing growth to prevent premature development that creates land use, health, or economic problems; and
3. Encouraging development patterns that permit interim land uses that do not preclude the desirable ultimate development in the period when utilities are not available.

1. Protecting and enhancing the value of land and buildings;
2. Seeking to balance the regulation's impact by permitting clustering and a greater variety of uses to offset restrictions and costs associated with compliance;
3. Protecting landowners from adverse impacts of adjoining developments;
4. Protecting and respecting the justifiable reliance of existing residents and businesses on the continuation of existing, established, and planned land use patterns; and
5. Abating nuisances by regulating proximate uses' compatibility using quantifiable performance standards.