Article I - General Classification Rules


17.10.010 - Title, purpose, and applicability.

The provisions of this chapter shall be known as the use classifications. The purpose of these provisions is to classify uses into a number of specially defined types on the basis of common functional characteristics and similar compatibility with other uses, thereby providing a basis for regulation of uses in accordance with criteria which are directly relevant to the public interest. These provisions shall apply throughout the zoning regulations.

(Prior planning code § 2200)

17.10.020 - Definitions.

"Activity" means the performance of a function or operation.

"Facility" means a structure, open area, or other physical contrivance or object.

(Prior planning code § 2201)

17.10.030 - Listing of activity classifications.

All activities are classified into the following activity types, which are described in Article II of this chapter. (See Section 17.10.050 for classification of combinations of activities resembling different types.) The names of these activity types start with capital letters throughout the zoning regulations.

A.

Residential Activities:

Permanent

Residential Care

Service-Enriched Permanent Housing

Transitional Housing

Emergency Shelter

Semi-Transient

Bed and Breakfast

B.

Civic Activities:

Essential Service

Limited Child-Care

Community Assembly

Recreational Assembly

Community Education

Nonassembly Cultural

Administrative

Health Care

Special Health Care

Utility and Vehicular

Extensive Impact

C.

Commercial Activities:

General Food Sales

Full Service Restaurant

Limited Service Restaurant and Cafe

Fast-Food Restaurant

Convenience Market

Alcoholic Beverage Sales

Mechanical or Electronic Games

Medical Service

General Retail Sales

Large-Scale Combined Retail and Grocery Sales

Consumer Service

Consultative and Financial Service

Check Cashier and Check Cashing

Consumer Cleaning and Repair Service

Consumer Dry Cleaning Plant

Group Assembly

Personal Instruction and Improvement and Small Scale Entertainment

Administrative

Business, Communication, and Media Service

Broadcasting and Recording Service

Research Service

General Wholesale Sales

Transient Habitation

Building Material Sales

Automobile and Other Light Vehicle Sales and Rental

Automobile and Other Light Vehicle Gas Station and Servicing

Automotive and Other Light Vehicle Repair and Cleaning

Taxi and Light Fleet-Based Service

Automotive Fee Parking

Transport and Warehousing

Animal Boarding

Animal Care

Undertaking Service

D.

Industrial Activities:

Custom Manufacturing

Light Manufacturing

General Manufacturing

Heavy/High Impact Manufacturing

Research and Development

Construction Operations

Warehousing, Storage and Distribution

Regional Freight Transportation

Trucking and Truck-Related

Recycling and Waste-Related

Hazardous Materials Production, Storage and Waste Management

E.

Agricultural and Extractive Activities:

Plant Nursery

Crop and Animal Raising

Mining and Quarrying

(Ord. No. 13064, § 2(Exh. A), 3-15-2011; Ord. No. 12999, § 4(Exh. A), 3-16-2010; Ord. No. 12939, § 4(Exh. A), 6-16-2009; Ord. 12899 § 4, Exh. A (part), 2008; Ord. 12138 § 4 (part), 1999; Ord. 12072 § 4, 1998; Ord. 11904 § 5.02, 1996; prior planning code § 2210)

17.10.040 - Accessory activities.

In addition to the principal activities expressly included therein, each activity type shall be deemed to include such activities as are customarily associated with, and are appropriate, incidental, and subordinate to, such a principal activity; are located on the same lot as such principal activity except as otherwise provided in subsections A, J, and K of this section; and meet the further conditions set forth hereinafter. Such accessory activities shall be controlled in the same manner as the principal activities within such type except as otherwise expressly provided in the zoning regulations. Such accessory activities include, but are not limited to, the activities indicated below, but exclude the sale of alcoholic beverages to the general public except at a full-service restaurant. (See also Section 17.10.050 for additional activities included within activity types in the case of combinations of different principal activities.)

A.

Off-street parking and loading serving a principal activity, whether located on the same lot thereas or on a different lot, but only if the facilities involved are reserved for the residents, employees, patrons, or other persons participating in the principal activity;

B.

Home occupations, subject to the applicable provisions of the home occupation regulations in Chapter 17.112

C.

Residential occupancy in connection with a principal nonresidential activity on the same lot, but only:

1.

If the residents are required to remain on the premises for protective, conference, or comparable technical purposes, or

2.

As joint living and work quarters subject to the applicable provisions of Section 17.102.190

D.

Operation of an employee cafeteria by a firm engaging in a principal nonresidential activity on the same lot;

E.

Sale of goods on the same lot as a principal Civic Activity, but only if such goods are available only to persons participating in the principal activity;

F.

Production of goods for sale by a firm engaged in a principal Commercial Activity on the same lot, but only if:

1.

All goods so produced are sold at retail by the same firm either on the same or other lots, and

2.

Such production does not occupy more than seventy-five (75) percent of the total floor area and open sales, display, storage, and service area occupied by such firm on the lot, and

3.

Such production does not in any case occupy more than three thousand (3,000) square feet of such floor area and open area;

G.

Storage of goods sold by a principal Commercial Activity, or used in or produced by a principal Industrial Activity, engaged in by the same firm on the same lot;

H.

Operation of an administrative office of a firm engaged in a principal Manufacturing or Industrial Activity on the same lot, but only if such office does not occupy more than fifty (50) percent of the total floor area and open sales, display, storage, and service area occupied by such firm on the lot;

I.

Wholesale sale, or retail sale to the buyer's custom order, of goods produced by a principal Manufacturing or Industrial Activity engaged in by the same firm on the same lot;

J.

Temporary construction, grading, and demolition activities which are necessary and incidental to the development of facilities on the same lot, or on another of several lots being developed at the same time;

K.

Temporary conduct of a real estate sales office which is necessary and incidental to, and located on the site of, a subdivision being developed into five or more lots;

L.

Benches, street furniture, lighting, public art, sheds, and similar infrastructure associated with city and regional parks;

M.

Public restrooms serving park and recreational facilities.

N.

Car-sharing services and parking spaces are considered accessory to all activities, as long as required parking space for that activity is not taken by car-sharing trucks and automobiles. Car-sharing services are considered accessory to all facility types, excepting: one-family dwellings, one-family dwellings with secondary units, two-unit dwellings, and rooming houses.

(Ord. 12899 § 4, Exh. A (part), 2008; Ord. 12078 § 5 (part), 1998; prior planning code § 2211)

17.10.050 - Classification of combinations of principal activities.

The following rules shall apply where a single lot contains activities which resemble two or more different activity types and which are not classified by Section 17.10.040 as accessory activities:

A.

Separate Classification of Each Establishment. The principal activities conducted on a single lot by each individual establishment, management, or institution shall be classified separately.

B.

Separate Classification of Different Major Classes of Activities Conducted by Single Establishment. If the principal activities conducted on a single lot by a single establishment, management, or institution resemble two or more different major classes of activities—Residential, Civic, Commercial, Industrial, or Agricultural and Extractive Activities—the principal activities resembling each major class shall be classified separately.

C.

Classification of Different Activities Within Same Major Class, Conducted by Single Establishment. If principal activities conducted on a single lot by a single establishment, management, or institution resemble two or more different activity types within the same major class of activities, all such principal activities shall be classified in the activity type within said class the description of which type most closely portrays the overall nature of such activities. However, when they have any of the characteristics of Utility and Vehicular, Health Care, or Extensive Impact Civic Activities; Alcoholic Beverage Sales, or General Wholesale Sales; Commercial Activities; General Manufacturing or Heavy/High Impact Manufacturing, or Warehousing, Storage, and Distribution-Automotive Salvage/Junk Yards Industrial Activities; or Crop and Animal Raising or Mining and Quarrying Agricultural or Extractive Activities, all such principal activities within the same major class of activities as any of such types shall be classified within that one of such types the description of which most closely portrays said principal activities; except that all such Industrial Activities shall be classified within the Warehousing, Storage, and Distribution-Automotive Salvage/Junk Yards Industrial Activities type if they have any of its characteristics, and all such Industrial Activities shall be classified within the Heavy/High Impact Industrial Activities type if they have any of its characteristics.

D.

Classification of Different Activities Within the Same Major Class Conducted on the Site of an Automobile and Other Light Vehicle Gas Station and Servicing Commercial Activity. All principal activities conducted on the site of an Automobile and Other Light Vehicle Gas Station and Servicing Commercial Activity shall be classified as Automobile and Other Light Vehicle Gas Station and Servicing Commercial Activities regardless of separate ownership or management, unless said principal activity is listed as a Conditionally Permitted Activity pursuant to the individual zone regulations and such principal activity requires a Major Conditional Use Permit pursuant to Section 17.134.020

(Ord. No. 12939, § 4(Exh. A), 6-16-2009; Ord. 12899 § 4, Exh. A (part), 2008; prior planning code § 2213)

17.10.060 - Listing of facility classifications.

All facilities are classified into the following facility types, which are described in Section Article III of this chapter. (See Section 17.10.080 for classification of combinations of facilities resembling different types.) The names of these facility types start with capital letters throughout the zoning regulations.

A.

Residential Facilities:

One-Family Dwelling

One-Family Dwelling with Secondary Unit

Two-Family Dwelling

Multifamily Dwelling

Rooming House

Mobile Home

B.

Nonresidential Facilities:

Enclosed

Open

Drive-in

C.

Signs:

Residential

Special

Development

Realty

Civic

Business

Advertising

D.

Telecommunications Facilities:

Micro

Mini

Macro

Monopole

Tower

(Ord. 11904 § 5.03, 1996; prior planning code § 2220)

17.10.070 - Accessory facilities.

In addition to the principal facilities expressly included therein, each Residential and Nonresidential Facility type shall be deemed to include such facilities as are customarily associated with, and are appropriate, incidental, and subordinate to, such a principal facility; are located on the same lot as such principal facility except as otherwise provided in subsections A, F, and G of this section; and meet the further conditions set forth hereinafter· Such accessory facilities shall be controlled in the same manner as the principal facilities within such type except as otherwise expressly provided in the zoning regulations. They include but are not limited to the following facilities, but shall not be deemed to include Signs, which are classified and controlled separately:

A.

Off-street parking and loading facilities serving a principal Residential or Nonresidential Facility, whether located on the same lot thereas or on another lot, but only if they are reserved for the residents, employees, patrons, or other persons utilizing the principal facility;

B.

Open areas devoted to decorative paving or to swimming pools, located on the same lot as a principal facility;

C.

Storage and service areas and accessory buildings, other than those listed elsewhere in this section, if serving a principal facility on the same lot; provided, however, that no such facilities which are unenclosed shall qualify as accessory to any principal Enclosed Nonresidential Facility except for open areas, not exceeding two hundred (200) square feet each, for the temporary storage of trash;

D.

A single trailer incidental to and on the same lot as principal Residential Facilities, but only if said trailer is not intended for habitation while it is on the lot;

E.

Living quarters in connection with a principal Nonresidential Facility on the same lot, but only:

1.

If the residents are required to remain on the premises for protective, conference, or comparable technical purposes, or

2.

As joint living and work quarters subject to the applicable provisions of Section 17.102.190

F.

Temporary construction yards and similar facilities which are necessary and incidental to development of facilities on the same lot, or on another of several lots being developed at the same time;

G.

A temporary real estate sales office which is necessary and incidental to, and located on the site of, a subdivision being developed into five or more lots.

(Prior planning code § 2221)

17.10.080 - Classification of combinations of principal facilities.

If the facilities on a single lot resemble two or more different facility types, each facility which is not classified by Section 17.10.070 as an accessory facility shall be classified separately.

(Prior planning code § 2223)

17.10.090 - Classification of unlisted uses.

Any activity or facility which is not expressly classified within an activity type or facility type shall be included in that type the description of which most closely portrays it, subject to the applicable provisions of Sections 17.10.050 and 17.10.080 with respect to combinations of uses. In case of uncertainty as to the classification of any use, the Director of City Planning shall classify said use, subject to the right of appeal from such determination pursuant to the administrative appeal procedure in Chapter 17.132.

(Prior planning code § 2230)