(a)

Purpose and intent. This district is established to provide suitable areas for public, public service, and quasi-public uses or buildings. This district is generally intended to accommodate the activities of public agencies, governments, social service agencies, schools, community centers, utilities, museums, nursing homes/assisted living facilities and hospitals. This district is intended to provide the combination of public and quasi-public uses along with any customary residential accommodations that are generally a part of the primary function of the entity. New community facilities or expansions of facilities shall be permitted only when those facilities or the particular uses of the facilities are compatible with the character of the surrounding area, and when there is minimal additional impact over that generated by the existing land use, taking into account such factors as traffic, parking, noise, height and size of facilities.

(b)

Permitted uses. The following buildings or uses and additions thereto are permitted uses:

(1)

Schools and educational uses, including:

a.

Elementary, junior high and high school, both public and private, including general education as well as vocational-technical schools;

b.

Higher education institutions, including community and junior colleges, colleges and universities, and also incidental to the primary permitted use and as a convenience to the occupants of such properties, the following uses shall be considered permitted uses, to wit: dining halls, cafeterias, student centers, bookstores, copy stores, health centers, museums, theaters, and recreational facilities, pursuant to their approved master plans required by law.

(2)

Health service uses including:

a.

Hospitals and their affiliated health care, treatment, diagnostic and preventative medical care facilities; pursuant to their approved master plans required by law.

b.

Nursing homes, convalescent homes, homes for the elderly including retirement homes and assisted living complexes.

(3)

Public utility and service uses including:

a.

Potable water, waste water, sanitary sewer, drainage and stormwater collection, treatment and disposal facilities;

b.

Solid waste collection and transfer facilities but excluding disposal facilities;

c.

Public safety facilities including residential components;

d.

Public utility facilities including electric, natural gas, telephone, cable television;

e.

Public administration offices germane to the above uses.

(4)

Governmental uses in performance of governmental functions.

(5)

Institutional office and public service uses for community service organizations.

(6)

Museums.

(7)

Churches and other places of religious functions.

(8)

Performance art venues together with ancillary gallery, educational, rehearsal, recording studios and offices to support these functions, within a city-owned building.

(c)

Accessory uses permitted. The city commission, following a public hearing, may approve the location of the following accessory and ancillary uses within structures permitted in this district. These uses must be located within the primary structure (not within a separate structure) and must be primarily for the use and convenience of occupants of the building. These uses shall not have separate public entrances to the outdoors nor separate outdoor advertising signs or any other advertising signs which encourage use by the general public. The city commission may recommend other restrictions or requirements including a maximum floor area, which would allow these accessory commercial uses to be in harmony with the otherwise office environment and which would prevent these accessory uses from having an adverse effect on the surrounding area.

(1)

Restaurant or cafeteria;

(2)

Newspaper, card and gift shop, florist, fitness center or health club.

(3)

Pharmacy store within a medical office building which sells prescription and nonprescription drugs, medicines and medically-related equipment only.

(d)

Conditional uses. The following uses may be permitted as conditional uses following review by the planning and zoning board and approval by the city commission in accordance with the provisions of this C-2 district section only. See section 58-90, conditional uses.

(1)

Drive-in components of any business;

(2)

Buildings over 10,000 square feet or any addition over 500 square feet to an existing building over 10,000 square feet or additions over 500 square feet to existing buildings that result in a building over 10,000 square feet in size.

(3)

Any conditional use provided in the R-3 or R-4 districts utilizing and limited to the site and improvement regulations of this district for those conditional uses, but excluding those with residential uses or units, unless expressly permitted in this district;

(4)

Fitness facility, exercise or health club;

(5)

Any permitted building with residential accommodations as a component of the building, as set forth in subsection (f). However, time shares are not permitted.

(6)

Buildings with a third floor and up to 40) feet in height provided that such conditional use approvals require two public hearing approvals by the city commission;

(e)

Minimum building site. There shall be no minimum building site size except that each site shall have a minimum frontage of 50 feet on a publicly dedicated right-of-way.

(f)

Development standards.

(1)

Any building constructed within this district shall adhere to the following minimum or required setbacks for front, rear and side yards. The front setback shall be a minimum of ten feet from the property line. Side yard setbacks shall be a minimum of five feet from each property line unless the parcel shares a common line with a residentially-zoned parcel, then a 15-foot setback shall be observed. The rear setback shall be a minimum of 30 feet from the property line. However, within the Hannibal Square Neighborhood Commercial District, as set forth in this section, new buildings shall have a required ten-foot front setback and may be permitted zero-foot side setbacks unless the parcel shares a common line with a residentially-zoned parcel, then a 15-foot setback shall be observed. For any required front setback, the distance may be increased upon the determination by the public works director and police chief that a traffic sight distance safety problem may exist to the extent required to remedy the problem.

(2)

If a person constructing a building within this district desires to combine the minimum side yard setbacks and provide them on only one side of the lot, a site plan showing the locations of the proposed building as well as the location of existing adjacent building must be submitted to the planning and zoning commission for approval prior to the issuance of a building permit to ensure sufficient compatibility with adjacent properties. This reduction to the required side setback, however, shall not be permitted if adjacent to a residentially-zoned parcel.

(3)

The maximum floor area ratio and building lot coverage outside of the central business district shall be 45 percent. The floor area ratio shall include the floor area of any attached or detached above-grade private parking garage. The 45 percent floor area ratio and building lot coverage may be increased by an additional five percent if the parking for the increased five percent floor area ratio is located entirely underground beneath the building's footprint or if the building's upper floor(s) are cantilevered over such parking. Within the central business district, the maximum floor area ratio shall be 200 percent and the maximum building lot coverage shall be 85 percent.

(4)

This district does not allow residential buildings except as accommodations for the uses permitted in this district, such as dormitories for colleges, hospital beds, nursing home beds, and assisted living accommodations.

(5)

The maximum floor area ratios outlined above are not an entitlement and are not achievable in all situations. Many factors may limit the achievable floor area ratio including limitations imposed by the maximum height map, concurrency management/level of service standards, physical limitations imposed by property dimensions and natural features as well as compliance with applicable Code requirements such as, but not limited to, parking and internal circulation, setbacks, landscaping requirements, impervious lot coverage, design standards and on-site and off-site improvements and design amenities required to achieve land use compatibility. Land located across a street and/or separated from the building site shall not be included in the floor area ratio calculations.

(6)

Building heights shall not exceed the height limits imposed by the maximum height map. For those properties within the geographic areas shown with a two-story maximum, the maximum building height shall be 30 feet; for those properties shown with a three-story maximum height, the maximum building height shall be 42.5 feet, unless the property is located within the central business district, where the maximum height for three stories shall be 40 feet, when approved as a conditional use. Variances for more than three stories in the central business district are prohibited. For those properties shown with a four-story maximum height, the maximum building height shall be 55 feet; for those properties shown with a five-story maximum height, the maximum building height shall be 65 feet, and for the properties shown permitting up to eight stories, the maximum height shall be 95 feet. Unless approved as conditional uses by the city commission, properties with buildings developed with less than the maximum building stories shall nonetheless conform to the maximum height map for the applicable stories. For example, if a two-story building is developed within an area permitting a four-story building, the two-story building shall conform to the 30-foot height limit. Parking garage levels shall be counted as stories for each level except for any basement level or the open roof level.

(7)

Parapet walls, or mansard roofs functioning as parapet walls, may be added to the permitted building height but in no case shall extend more than five feet above the height limits in this subsection. Mechanical penthouses, mechanical and air-conditioning equipment, elevator/stair towers and related nonoccupied structures may be permitted to extend up to ten feet above the height limits in this subsection. Architectural appendages, embellishments and other architectural features may be permitted to exceed the roof heights specified in this section, on a limited basis, encompassing no more than 30 percent of the building roof length and area, up to eight feet of additional height, upon approval of the city commission, based on a finding that said features are compatible with adjacent projects.

(8)

For properties not designated on the maximum height map, the maximum height shall not exceed 55 feet, for properties located adjacent to four-lane roadways, and no greater than 42.5 feet for properties located adjacent to two-lane roadways. For corner properties adjacent to both four-lane and two-lane roadways, the greater height may be used.

(9)

Terracing and articulation requiring additional setbacks are required to create relief to the overall massing of the building facades as are appropriate for the building's architectural style. Such design features of building facade articulation are required at least every 60 feet along the primary building facades facing streets, or along the building frontage where it fronts the primary parking lot area. For any building over two stories in height and over 200 feet in length, there shall be a 35-foot break on at least the first floor, the design of which shall be a component of the architectural review process required for conditional use. For any building over two stories in height, a significant portion of the top floor shall be terraced and stepped back from the exterior face of the next lower floor by at least an average of five feet. Parking structures are exempt from this terracing requirement.

(10)

Development shall not exceed 85 percent impervious coverage in this district.

(11)

Whenever the rear or side property lines within this district share a common property line with parcels zoned residential, either a solid wall or fence (other than wood) shall be provided along the entire common line. The wall or fence shall be six feet in height; except that such wall or fence shall be only three feet in height from the front setback line of the adjoining parcel to the front property line of the adjoining parcel.

(12)

Any above-grade parking garages or decks constructed within this district must be at least 100 feet away from any property used for single-family or low-density residential.

(13)

Other Code sections related to development that should be referenced include, but are not limited to, off-street parking regulations, maximum height map, general provisions, definitions, sign regulations (article IV), environmental protection (article V) (this section includes division 1, stormwater; division 6, tree preservation; division 8, landscape regulations; division 9, irrigation regulations; and division 10, exterior lighting), subdivision regulations (article VI), historic preservation (article VIII) and concurrency management regulations (article II).

(g)

Hannibal Square Neighborhood Commercial District.

(1)

The Hannibal Square Neighborhood Commercial District (HSNCD) area in this context shall be restricted to the following areas:

a.

Properties abutting Morse Boulevard between Capen Avenue and Virginia Avenue;

b.

Properties abutting New England Avenue between Pennsylvania and New York Avenues;

c.

Properties abutting Pennsylvania Avenue between Lyman and Garfield Avenues, including those existing commercial properties just north of Garfield Avenue; and

d.

Properties abutting Hannibal Square East.

(2)

In order to implement the comprehensive plan and the community redevelopment area (CRA) plan, there are established special provisions for the development of buildings and other improvements in this area which shall take precedence over other provisions of this article as henceforth specified.

(3)

In this HSNCD area, third floors shall be restricted and limited to residential use only, and a deed restriction, to that effect, enforceable by the city, shall be required as a condition of a building permit for the construction of a third floor.

(4)

Building heights on the north end of Pennsylvania Avenue shall be two stories maximum when transitioning to residential.

(5)

Development approvals must ensure that compatible land use relationships occur, particularly between land uses within perimeter areas of the HSNCD and areas 500 feet outside this area, so as to protect the surrounding residential areas and institutional uses.

(6)

In this HSNCD area, all new buildings and building additions over 500 square feet shall require site and building plan approval by the city commission at a public hearing. Prior to that hearing, the planning and zoning board shall also review such site and building plans at a public hearing and shall provide their recommendation.

(7)

Notwithstanding the limitations otherwise imposed by this PQP district, for any lots fronting on New England Avenue from Virginia to New York Avenues, development may be permitted with enhanced density and intensity up to a maximum 100 percent floor area ratio (FAR), provided the following development standards are complied with:

a.

No parking garages would be permitted.

b.

The street front building setback shall be ten feet.

c.

The redevelopment plans would require rear alley access out to Virginia Drive or provisions shall be made for that rear alley access to be phased in over time as the properties individually redevelop.

d.

The maximum building width along New England Avenue shall be 125 feet before a 15-foot separation is required to break up the mass and create a separate building.

e.

The redevelopment plans on the north and south side of New England Avenue require a 50-foot rear setback from the center lot line of the block as a buffer protection to adjacent residential properties. The 50 feet also provides room for parking along the alley as outlined above.

f.

There shall be a one-foot setback for each one foot of floor height for any third floor and building corner visibility setbacks as deemed necessary.

(Ord. No. 2395, § 1, 11-28-00; Ord. No. 2599-04, § 1, 8-9-04; Ord. No. 2646-05, § 8, 9-12-05; Ord. No. 2796-10, § 1(Exh. A), 2-22-10; Ord. No. 2849-11, § 10, 9-12-11; Ord. No. 2986-14, § 6, 12-8-14; Ord. No. 3311-24, § 1, 8-28-24; Ord. No. 3349-25, § 8, 7-9-25)