This title may be amended by changing the boundaries of districts or by changing any other provisions thereof, whenever the public health, safety and general welfare requires such an amendment. Such a change may be proposed by the town council on its own motion or by petition as hereinafter set forth. Any such proposed amendment or change shall be submitted to the town council.

An application for amendment by a property owner or his authorized agent shall be filed with the mayor. The application shall be made on forms provided by the town, accompanied by a site plan drawn to scale showing the property involved and adjacent land. A fee shall be paid to the town at the time of filing the application in accordance with the provisions of the town's fee schedule.

The town council shall hold a public hearing on a proposed change to a district or amendment to this title before taking final action on a proposed amendment.

The signed copy of each amendment to the text and map of this title shall be maintained on file in the office of the town clerk.

In a case where a petition for an amendment is denied by the town council, said petition shall not be eligible for resubmittal for one year from the date of said denial, unless such denial was specifically stated to be without prejudice. A new petition affecting the same property must be, in the opinion of the town council, substantially different from the petition denied to be eligible for consideration within one year from the date of said denial, unless the first denial was denied without prejudice, or the town council finds that conditions have changed to an extent that further consideration is warranted.

The purpose of this section is to allow for the implementation of the comprehensive plan policies relating to future commercial centers and industrial developments, as appropriate. If, from the facts presented, and the findings, report and recommendations of the planning commission as required by. If the town council finds that the public health, safety and general welfare will be best served by a proposed change of zone, the town council may indicate its general approval, in principle, of the proposed rezoning by the adoption of a "resolution of intent to rezone" the area involved. This resolution shall include any conditions, stipulations or limitations which the town council may feel necessary to require in the public interest as a prerequisite to final action. The fulfillment of all conditions, stipulations and limitations contained in said resolution, on the part of the applicant, shall make such a resolution a binding commitment on the town council. Such a resolution shall not be used to justify spot zoning, to create unauthorized zoning categories by excluding uses otherwise permitted in the proposed zoning, or by imposing setback, area or coverage restrictions not specified in the code for the zoning classification, or as a substitute for a variance. Upon completion of compliance action by the applicant, the town council shall, by amending this title, effect such rezoning. The failure of the applicant to meet any or all conditions, stipulations or limitations contained in the resolution, including the time limit placed in the resolution, shall render the resolution of intent to rezone null and void, unless an extension is granted by the town council. Generally, the time limitation shall be one year. The town council may grant up to five one-year extensions, after which the resolution shall be null and void if all conditions, stipulations and limitations have not been met by the applicant.

The purpose of this section is to explicitly provide for the use of agreements concomitant to rezone approvals. The agreement may call for performance by the applicant which is directly related to public needs which may be expected to result from the proposed usage of the property. The performance called for will mitigate the public burden in meeting those resulting needs by placing it more directly on the party whose property use will give rise to such needs. The agreement shall generally be in the form of a covenant running with the land. The provisions of the agreement shall be in addition to all other pertinent requirements of the town.

This agreement process will not generally be used for rezones pertaining to single-family residential use zones. It may, however, be used for any situation where extraordinary potential adverse impacts from a proposed rezone may be neutralized by the agreement. The agreement process may be employed for rezones in sensitive geographic areas such as critical transportation corridors. The agreement process will generally be used for rezones to commercial, industrial, multifamily residential uses not specifically identified by the comprehensive plan map. The intent of this section is that concomitant rezone agreements shall only be used when normal review and approval procedures are not adequate to resolve the specific issues involved in the rezone proposal.

Upon petition by the property owner, a concomitant rezone covenant may be fully or partially released, or modified, by the town council following public notice of the action and a hearing. In considering requests for release or modification of concomitant rezone covenants, the town council shall consider the following: