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CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PLANNING REPORT
CASE NUMBER: 2008-0606
DATE: June 3, 2008
TO: Columbia Heights Planning Commission
APPLICANT: City of Columbia Heights
LOCATION: City Wide
REQUEST: Zoning Amendment for Establishment of Shoreland Overlay District
PREPARED BY: Jeff Sargent, City Planner
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of creating a Shoreland Overlay District is to promote the health, safety and
general welfare of the citizens of Columbia Heights. The unregulated use of shorelands in
the city affects the public health, safety and general welfare not only by contributing to
pollution of public waters, but also by impairing the local tax base. Therefore, it is in the
best interests of the City to provide an ordinance geared towards the wise use and
development of shorelands of public waters.
One of the main goals of the City’s Storm Water Pollution Prevention Program is to
prevent, reduce and limit site erosion with different controlling methods. The
establishment of a Shoreland Overlay District would greatly effect the control that the City
would have over development in close proximity to Columbia Heights’ impaired waterways,
to ensure that safe construction methods are utilized in order to protect these water
bodies.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
One of the overarching goals of the Comprehensive Plan is to promote the health, safety
and general welfare of the citizens of Columbia Heights. Establishing the Shoreland
Overlay District helps accomplish this by protecting the City’s waterways.
ZONING ORDINANCE
The Shoreland District boundaries shall include all properties located within 1,000 feet of a
designated waterway. The Shoreland Overlay District will regulate such properties if
City of Columbia Heights Planning Commission June 3, 2008
City of Columbia Heights, Shoreland District Case # 2008-0606
rainwater from those properties drains directly to the waterway in question. The following
is a list of the designated waterways in the City of Columbia Heights:
Silver Lake Sullivan Lake
Highland Lake Hart Lake
Clover Pond LaBelle Pond
FINDINGS OF FACT
Section 9.104 (F) of the Columbia Heights zoning code requires that the City Council make
each of the following four findings before approving a zoning amendment:
1. The amendment is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
One of the overarching goals of the Comprehensive Plan is to promote the health,
safety and general welfare of the citizens of Columbia Heights. Establishing the
Shoreland Overlay District helps accomplish this by protecting the City’s waterways.
2. The amendment is in the public interest and is not solely for the benefit of a
single property owner.
The creation of the Shoreland Overlay District is not only an NPDES - Phase II
requirement, it will ensure the health, safety and general welfare of the public by
promoting positive construction practices in close proximity to the impaired
waterways of Columbia Heights.
3. Where the amendment is to change the zoning classification of a particular
property, the existing use of the property and the zoning classification of
property within the general area of the property in question are compatible with
the proposed zoning classification.
The zoning classification of a particular property is not changed with the proposed
establishment of the Shoreland Overlay District. The underlying zoning will still be
intact once the Shoreland District is established.
4. Where the amendment is to change the zoning classification of a particular
property, there has been a change in the character or trend of development in
the general area of the property in question, which has taken place since such
property was placed in the current zoning classification.
The zoning classification of a particular property is not changed with the proposed
establishment of the Shoreland Overlay District. The underlying zoning will still be
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City of Columbia Heights Planning Commission June 3, 2008
City of Columbia Heights, Shoreland District Case # 2008-0606
intact once the Shoreland District is established.
RECOMMENDATION
Motion: That the Planning Commission recommends that the City Council approve the
creation of the Shoreland Overlay District, which create a 1,000 – foot buffer around the
impaired waterways in the City of Columbia Heights in order to impose construction
standards suitable for protecting these lakes and ponds.
Attachments
Draft Rezoning Ordinance
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