Willcox City Zoning Code

CHAPTER 17

68 GC-1 GENERAL COMMERCIAL ZONE

17.68.010 Objectives and characteristics of zone.

A. The GC-1 general commercial zone covers the portion of the city which is primarily suited for heavy commercial establishments and for nonnuisance industries. The objectives in establishing this zone are:

1. To designate the most appropriate land within the city for light industrial and wholesale establishments and to prevent the scattering of such uses into surrounding zones;

2. To encourage the construction of and continued use of the land for commercial and industrial buildings; and

3. To discourage the use of the land for both dwellings and for nuisance industries or any other use which would thwart or substantially interfere with the use of the land for its primary purpose.

B. This zone is characterized by a mixture of businesses, warehouses, craft shops, and manufacturing and industrial enterprises which are incidental to retail and wholesale establishments.

C. In order to accomplish the objectives and purposes of this title and to stabilize and protect the essential characteristics of this zone, the following regulations in this chapter shall apply in the GC-1 general commercial zone.

(Prior code § 17.64.010)

17.68.020 Use requirements.

The buildings, structures, and uses of land established in Table 17-68.A (Permitted Uses) shall be permitted in the GC-1 general commercial zone upon compliance with requirements as set forth in this title:

Table 17-68.A: Permitted Uses
Use	Director	Board of Adjustment	Standard or Specific Use Regulation
Assembly and the sale of farm equipment, mining machinery, vehicles and similar articles	P		Excluding junk yards and auto wrecking yards
Amusement enterprises	P
Billboards	P
Bowling alleys	P
Building materials storage yards	P
Bus stations	P
Cafes	P
Carting, express hauling and storage	P
Churches	P
Clinics	P
Clubs	P
Copying and blueprinting	P
Day care nurseries	P		Must comply with State Board of Health requirements
Dwellings, bona fide caretakers’	P
Dwellings, when located above the ground floor, provided the ground floor is designed and used exclusively for a commercial purpose permitted in the zone	P
Establishments, alcoholic and beer dispensing	P
Establishments, financial	P		No storage of merchandise, materials, equipment, or junk outside of enclosing buildings, or enclosing fences, except automobiles, trucks, and other vehicles in running order
Establishments, hay, grain, and feed	P
Establishments, personal service	P		No storage of merchandise, materials, equipment, or junk outside of enclosing buildings, or enclosing fences, except automobiles, trucks, and other vehicles in running order
Establishments, retail	P		No storage of merchandise, materials, equipment, or junk outside of enclosing buildings, or enclosing fences, except automobiles, trucks, and other vehicles in running order
Establishments, service (dyeing, cleaning, or laundry plants, printing plants, machine shops, blacksmith shops)	P
Establishments, tailor, millinery, and dressmaking	P
Fabrication or processing of goods done in connection with, and incidental to, the sale of goods on the premises	P		Provided such activities do not give rise to dust, odor, noise, smoke, vibration, or intermittent light or glare discernible beyond the zone boundary lines and do not involve the storage of merchandise, materials, products, equipment, or junk outside of enclosed buildings except automobiles, trucks, and other vehicles in running order
Fine art studios	P
Food preparation plants	P		The operation of which is not obnoxious by reason of emission of odors, smoke, or noise
Garages, public	P
Hotels and motels	P
Interior decorating	P
Launderette (self-service)	P
Locksmith	P
Metal sharpening	P
Milk distribution stations, creameries, bottling works and similar businesses	P
Museums	P
Newsstands	P
Night clubs	P
Office buildings, private and public	P
Oil and L.P. gas storage and sales	P
Other uses ruled to be similar to uses specifically permitted in the zone (CC-1 zone)		P
Parking lots, private and public	P
Pool halls	P
Plant nurseries	P
Printing and publishing	P
Public dance halls	P
Radio and television stations	P
Restaurants	P
Retail, drive-in	P
Schools, parochial	P
Schools, public	P
Shops, cleaning and pressing	P		Using nonflammable cleaning agents only
Shops, optical	P
Shops, radio, television, and electrical appliance repair	P
Shops, shoe repair	P
Signs, accessory	P
Signs, non-accessory	P
Stone cutting and monument works	P
Stores, poultry and meat	P		Not including slaughtering, eviscerating, plucking, or dressing
Telephone exchange	P
Theaters	P
Veterinary hospitals	P
Warehouses	P
Wholesale distributing houses	P
Wholesale and bulk gasoline	P
Legend: “P” = Permitted use “CUP” = Conditional use permit

(Prior code § 17.64.020; Ord. No. NS379, Exh. A, 2026)

17.68.030 Other requirements.

Requirements and restrictions pertaining to area and width of lots, the location of buildings and structures, the size of yards and open space, the height and size of buildings, and the percentage of the lot that may be occupied shall be as hereinafter set forth in section 17.84.010 of this title pertaining to the GC-1 zone.

See also supplementary requirements and procedures applicable within zones.

(Prior code § 17.64.030)