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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Tracey M. Vacek, Senior Planner
DATE: June 9, 2021
SUBJECT:
Further revisions to Chapter 34 pertaining to planning and zoning procedures.
PURPOSE:
To refine language originally adopted in late 2020 to Chapter 34 and to standardize its provisions governing the approval of conditional uses and conditional use planned developments.
BACKGROUND:
In the fall of 2020, the Zoning and Planning Division and the Law Department began a comprehensive revision of the procedures contained in Ordinance 3100, which was commonly known as the Aurora Zoning Ordinance and which constituted an uncodified Chapter 49 of the Code. Originally enacted in the late 1950s, the organization of Ordinance 3100 substantially differed from the remainder of the Code of Ordinances. Six decades of amendments, including those that introduced new zoning concepts and procedures, made Ordinance 3100 in its 2020 form very unwieldy.
As part of the revisions, the procedural components of Ordinance 3100 - that is those that governed the process by which amendments to zoning districts and regulations, special uses, and variances were proposed, considered, and approved - were removed, reorganized and restated as part of an entirely new Chapter 34. These revisions became effective on January 1, 2021 pursuant to O20-087.
Over the course of the past several months, staff have continued their review of the procedures set forth in the new Chapter 34 and have proposed a series of revisions that bring further consistency to similar processes and correct minor drafting error that retained duplicative language.
DISCUSSION:
Prior to the adoption of O20-087, Ordinance 3100 contained similar, but not identical processes for the consideration and approval of special uses and special use planned developments. Staff intended for these processes (now referred to as "conditional uses") to mirror themselves as much as possible in the new Chapter 34, but subtle difference...
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