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CITY OF MUSKEGON
PLANNING COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
DATE OF MEETING: Thursday, January 12, 2006
TIME OF MEETING: 4:00 p.m.
PLACE OF MEETING: Commission Chambers, First Floor, Muskegon City Hall
AGENDA
I. Roll Call
II. Approval of minutes of the meeting of December 15, 2005.
III. PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. Hearing; Case 2005-41: Staff initiated request to amend Sections 2200, 2201, 2202,
2203, and 2204 (Nonconforming Uses) of Article XXII of the Zoning Ordinance.
IV. OLD BUSINESS
A. Hearing; Case 2005-39: Request for a special land use permit, per Section 701 (2.)
of Article VII, of the zoning ordinance, to allow administrative offices in an RM-1
Low Density Multiple-Family Residential zoning district at 1705 Peck Street, by the
Muskegon Rescue Mission – Remains tabled from the October meeting.
V. OTHER BUSINESS
A. Discussion of sign ordinance – Banners
B. Reminder of training session – February 1, 5:30 p.m., Commission Chambers
VI. Adjourn
AMERICAN DISABILITY ACT POLICY FOR ACCESS TO OPEN MEETING OF THE
CITY COMMISSION AND ANY OF ITS COMMITTEES OR SUBCOMMITTEES
The City of Muskegon will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services, such as
signers for the hearing impaired and audio tapes of printed materials being considered at the
meeting, to individuals with disabilities who want to attend the meeting, upon twenty-four hour
notice to the City of Muskegon. Individuals with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services
should contact the City of Muskegon by writing or calling the following:
Gail A. Kundinger, City Clerk
933 Terrace Street
Muskegon, MI 49440
(231) 724-6705
O:\Planning\COMMON\Zoning\Planning_Commission\PC2006\2006 Agendas\pc1-06.doc
Staff Report
CITY OF MUSKEGON
PLANNING COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
January 12, 2006
Hearing; Case 2005-41: Staff initiated request to amend Sections 2200, 2201, 2202, 2203,
and 2204 (Nonconforming Uses) of Article XXII of the Zoning Ordinance.
BACKGROUND
This section of the ordinance has been a bone of contention in the past regarding some of its
restrictions. The Nonconforming Uses language as it presently exists in the Zoning Ordinance is
somewhat confusing and hard to interpret. Staff has spent several months reviewing other
ordinances and consulting with the City Attorney and other planners regarding a makeover of the
section. It has been “a work in progress”, since I have had input from so many sources,
including Commissioners Davis and Gawron, who at the Mayor’s request met with staff on
several occasions to discuss concerns with the present ordinance language. Much of the original
language from our ordinance has been incorporated into the new language. I have attempted to
put the proposed section in the usual format with strike-throughs for deleted language and bold
for new language. I have also included a copy of the current ordinance language.
I first looked at Section 2200: Intent. Staff felt that it needed rewording and clarification. I
believe the new language better describes the intention and “spirit” of the Master Plan to have
conformity in our City. While allowing the present nonconforming uses and structures to exist
while practical, it would also gradually eliminate them. The very existence of a Master Plan by
the citizens of the City of Muskegon says loud and clear that they would like their community
developed with a plan in mind and not continue the nonconforming uses and structures forever.
One of the first changes you may notice is nonconforming lots, uses of land, and structures are
now separated into their own sections. I believe this will make reading and interpreting of the
section much easier. Nonconforming lots were not previously addressed. In the past, zoning
staff was applying these conditions when determining if a lot was conforming or “buildable”, but
there was no written language that supported this in the ordinance. So I completely
reconstructed Section 2201 to address Nonconforming Lots only, with all new language. Some
portions of Section 2201 have been incorporated into Section 2202.
One area of the ordinance that has raised many questions was regarding Section 2202:
Elimination of Nonconforming Uses. There seems to be many opinions on what length of time a
nonconforming use should be allowed to continue once the use has ceased. Our present
ordinance allowed up to two years. Some other municipal ordinances only allowed six months,
but the most common was a one-year time frame. Our ordinance is the most liberal with its time
of two years (current language Section 2202, #1). After discussion with other staff members, I
left the two-year time period in the revised language (Section 2202, #5, new language), but it
may be worth considering shortening the time period. Number 3 (a-d) in this section gives
Planning Commission some guidelines on which to base their decision regarding expansion of
nonconforming uses of land. Number 5 would give guidelines to determine if a nonconforming
use had been abandoned.
Another problem section of the ordinance that has raised many concerns has been Section 2203,
#2 (current ordinance). It referred to a structure that was “damaged by fire, wind, civil
disobedience, or an Act of God or the public enemy”. The language refers to the fact that those
buildings may be repaired or rebuilt so long as “such structural alteration or structural repairs
shall not exceed fifty (50) percent of the replacement cost of such building”. Upon researching
other ordinances in the West Michigan areas, as well as other parts of the state, staff found that
some other ordinances allowed structures to be rebuilt that were 60% destroyed. This has been
incorporated for your review into the revised section (Section 2203, #6, new language). Much of
this section is ordinance language that was contained in our current ordinance, but pertains to
structures, and so put into the Nonconforming Structures section.
Hopefully, after discussion, debate and probably some revisions on staff’s part, we will come out
of the process with a newly revised section that is much more understandable by the public,
Planning Commissioner, ZBA members, and staff, but retain the “spirit” of the Master Plan.
NEW LANGUAGE
See separate documents included with this packet.
DELIBERATION
I move that the amendments to Sections 2200, 2201, 2202, 2203, and 2204, Article XXII
(Nonconforming Uses), of the Zoning Ordinance, be recommended to the City Commission for
(approval/denial).
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