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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd1954-242 ORDINANCE NO. 242 An Ordinance of the City of Seward, Alaska, creating a Planning Commission, II Zoning Commission, II Board of Adjustment, and Defining the Duti.s and Powers of Said Commissions and Board. Section 1. Adoption of Territorial Law. The laws of the Territory of Alaska dealing with City Planning Commission, Zoning Com- missions and Boards of Adjustment, present and future, particularly Title 16, Chapter 1, Article 3, Section 38, sub-paragraphs TWenty-third and TWenty-fourth, ACLA 1949, are hereby incorporated into the ordinance as if expressly included herein. Section II. City Planning Commission. A. Organization of Planning Commission. There is hereby created a City Planning Commission consisting of nine citizens all of whom shall reside in the City of Seward, Alaska, and who sha'll be nominated by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council. __~o city officer or employee shall be an appointive member.- B. Terms. Members of the Commission shall be appointed for three years provided, however, that in the first instance one third thereof shall be appointed for three years, one third for two years and one third for one year. C. Method of filling vacancies. Appointment to fill vacancies shall be for t~!_~nexpired term. D. Ex-officio members. The Mayor, City Manager, City Engineer, and City Building Inspector shall be ex-officio members of the commission and shall have the privilege of the floor but no right to vote. E. Selection of Chairman. A ChaiIllllm of the commission shall be selected annually and shall be appointed from and by the appointive members. F. Meetings. The commission shall meet at 8:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers on the 2nd Monday of each month. Special meetings shall be held at the call of the chairman and at such other times as the commission may determine. All meetings of the commission shall be open to the public and the commission shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be immediately filed in the office of the City Clerk liiiQ snalI be l!!. public record. --- -- - - .. u - -- G. Powers and Duties. 1. It shall be the duty of the commission to develop, adopt, alter, or revise, subject to approval by the City Council, a Master Plan for the physical development and betterment of the Ci ty of Seward. When a Master Plan for the Ci ty of Seward has been approved by the Council, amendments, re- visions and extensions thereof may be adopted by the Council only upon approval by and the recommendation of the Planning Commission. All amendments, revisions or extensions shall Eorrespond to major geographical divisions of the City or to functional divisions of the subject matter of the plan. When such Master Plan has been approved by the City Council, no -amendiiient;-re:VIlI!ons ~r extension thereto shall he approved except upon the affirmative vote of four Councilmen. ~ r -2- Such Master Plan with accompanying maps, plats, charts, descriptive and explanatory matter, shall show the Commissions recommendations for the development of City Territory, and may include among other things: A. Development of the type, location and sequence of all public improvements. B. The relocation, removal, extension or change of use of existing or future public ways, grounds, spaces, buildings, properties and utilities. C. The general extent and location of rehabilitation areas. 2. To exercise control over platting and subdividing of lots, blocks, or lands within the City Limits. All proposed plans, plats or replats of lots, blocks or lands within the City Limits, and all streets, alleys and other portions of the same intended to be dedicated to public or private use within the said corporate limits, shall first be submitted to the Commission for its approval or rejection, and before such plans, plats, or replats shall be entitled to record in the office of the United Stat.. Commissioner, ex-officio recorder, the same shall first have been approved by the council, and such approval endorsed by the Mayor and City Manager upon the plan, plat or replat offered for recording. Subdividing for the purpose of the section, shall be deemed to include the division of any lot, tract, or parcel of land into two or more lots, sites, or other divisions of land for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale or building development. 3. To draft an official plat or map of the City and recommend or disapprove proposed changes in such plat. 4. To make and adopt plans for the clearance and rebuilding of slum districts and blighted areas within the City. 5._Submdtannually ~o~he City Manager, not less than ninety days prior to the beginning of the budget year. a list of recommended capital_improvements which in the opinion of the _~~mmission are nece-nary or desireable tOn be construc:ted. during the forthcoming three year period. Such list shall bit"-arranged in order of preference, with recommendations as to which projects shall be constructed in which year. 6. To promote public interest in and understanding of the Master Plan and of Planning, Zoning and Slum clearance. H. Further Pow'ra. The Commission shall have the power and authority: 1. To make and develop plans for the replanning, improving and redevelopment of any area or district within the City of Seward. 2. To make and develop plans for the replanning, reconstruction or redevelopment of any area or district within the City of Seward which may be destroyed in whole or in part or damaged by fire, earthquake or other .isaster. 3. TO.~!!IPloy engineers, attorneys, clerks, or any other professional employees deemed necessary to the promotion and development of any proqram, provided, however, that no persQn shall be employed out of public funds of the City appropriated for such e~~loyment, except when the same hll8 been approved by the City Council. -3- 4. To make investigations reqardinq any matter related to city planning. 5. To make or cause to be made wrveys, maps ud plans relatinq to the location and desiqn of any public building, dock. beach, ski-ground, statue, memorial. park, parkway, boulevard, etreet or alley or playground. 6. To make and prepare reports, prints, plats and plans for approval by the City Council. 7. To require other City departments to make aVllilable to the commission all information pertinent to city planning. I. Official Plat. 1. The Council, with approval of the Commission, may by ordinance establish an official plat of the City on which ehall be shown and indicated: a. All public streets and alleys existing and established by law at the time of adoption of such plat. b. All property lines, as located on final or recorded plats, of subdivisions approved by the Planning Commission at the time of approval of wch plat. 2. Subsequent to the adoption of the official plat of the City. no revision or modification of any lot, block or parcel of land shown thereon shall be made without the approval of the Planning Com- mission, or on appeal, as hereinafter provided, unl.ss approved by the City Council. Revisions or modifications approved by the Collllllission or by the Council, as the case may be. shall be made by ordinance, regularly adopted by the Council. No revision or modification shall be approved by the Council without affordinq persons owning property in the area affected an opportunity to be heard prior to final approval of such revision or modification. When revision or modification is proposed. a notice by mail shall be sent to all owners residing in the area. whereby wch owners are requested on a definite date to appear before the City Council in regular session and present their Objections, if any, to such revision or modification. 3.When an official plat of the City of Seward has been adopted and approved, the City Council may provide by resolution that no public utilities or improvements shall be constructed in any area unl.ss and until wbdivisions shall conform to such official plat. The City Building Inspector may deny building permits, unless a street gives access to any proposed structure, as shown on the official plat, provided however that, if an applicant for wch a permit be denied a permit, he may appeal to the City Council. Section III. A. City Zoning Commission. Planning Commission to be Zoning COIlII1ission. The Planning Commission is hereby desiqnated as the Zoning Commission and the terms, method of filling vacancies, ex-officio members, selection of chairman, and meeting applicable to the Planning Commission, shall also apply to the Zoning Commission and they shall be considered as one and the same Commission for the pur- pose of this ordinance. r .4.. B. Powers and Duties. 1. It shall be the duty of the oOllDllission to drielop, adopt, alter, revise, subjeot to appronl by the City Counoil, a Building Code, Plumbing Code, Eleotrioal Code, or other oodes that may be required from time to time to regulate Building Construction. 2. To develop, adopt, alter or revise, subjeot to approval by the City Counoil, a plan establishing fire zones within the City. 3. To develop, adopt, alter or revise, subjeot to approval by the City eounoil, a oomprehensive plan designed to lessen oongestion in streets; to secure safety from fire, panio, end other dangers; to promote health and the general welfare; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the overorowding of land; to avoid undue oonoentration of population; to faoilitate adequate pro- vision for transportation, water, seweraqe, sohools, parks and other publio requirements. To aooomplish the above objeotives the Commission is hereby empowered to: a. Regulate and restrict the heights, number of stories and size of buildings and other struotures, the peroentage of lot that may be oocupied, the size of yards, oourts and other open spaoe., the density of population, and the looation and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, resi- ,/'l danae or other purposes. . / b./Condemn wildings whioh have beoome a fire or health hazard or L. , public nuisanoe, and, after hearing on t.~irty days notioe to the owner or his agent, order or c:ause their re1llOval or de- molition, provided the owner shall be given at least thirty days time after hearing within whioh to remove the objeotionable building or wildings before the oi ty may prooeed to do so. The cost incurred by the City shall be chargeable to the property, first against the salvaged material, which may be sold at publio auotion, and the balance of oost, if any, ~gainst the land, the same as taxes. o. To divide the municipality into districts of suoh number, shape and area as may be deemed best suited to carry out the purposes hereof; and within suoh distriots to regulate and restrict the ereotion, oonstruction, reconstruction, alteration, repair or use of buildings, structures or land. d. To provide for the manner in whioh regulations and restrictions and the boundaries of districts shall be determined, established, and enforoed, and from time to time amended, supplemented, or changed; however, no such regulation, restriction or boundary shall beoome effeotive until after a public hearing in relation thereto at whioh parties in interest and oitizens shall have an opportunity to be heard, as hereinafter provided. At least fifteen days notice of the time and place of suoh hearing shall be published in an official paper or a paper of general circu- lation in such munioipalitV. Such regulations, restrictions and boundaries may from time to time be amended, supplemented, ohanged, modified or repealed, In Case, however, of a protest against such change, signed by the owners of twenty peroent or more eigher of the area of the lots included in suoh proposed change, or by the owners of twenty percent or more of the area of the lots immediately abutting either side of the territory included in suoh proposed change, or separated therefrom only by an alley or street, such amendment shall not beoome effedtive exoept by the favorable vcte of three~fourth. of all the members of the council. The provisions relative to public hearings and official notice shall apply equally to all changes or amendments. r ..5- Section IV. Board of Adjustment. A. City Council to be Board of Adjustment. The Council shall constitute a Board of Adjustment hereunder, with the Mayor as ex-officio chair- man, and may, in appropriate cases and subject to appropriate conditions and safeguards made special exieptions to the terms of this ordinance and regulations adopted hereunder in harmony with their general purpose and intent and in accordance with general rules or specific rJles herein contained. The Board shall adopt rules in accordance with the provisions of any ordinance adopted pursuant hereto. B. Meetings. Meetings of the Board shall be held at the call of the chairman and at such other times as the board may determine. C. Powers and BuUe.. 1. To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative official in the enforcement of this ordinance or of any ordinance adopted pursuant thereto. 2. To hear and decide requests for exceptions to the terms of the ordinance or regulation upon which such board is required to pass. 3. To authorize upon appeal in specific cases such variance from the terms of this ordinance or of any ordinance adopted pursuant thereto as will not be contrary to the public interest, where, owing to special conditions, a literal enforeement of the pro- visions of the ordinance would result in unnecessary hardship, and so that the spirit of the ordinance shall be observed and substantial justice done. i I' D. General Provisions. 1. The Council hereby provides for appeals from any administrative officer to the Board of Adjustments and from the Board of Adjustments to the District Court of the judicial division in which such municipal! ty is located, in the manner prescribed by the laws of the Territory of Alaska, present and future. Such appeal shall be made by the applicant within 15 days of the date of any order, requirement, decision, or determination has been made by an administrative official, by filing with the office from whom the appeal is taken and with the Board of Adjustment, a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof. 2. The concurring vote of four members of the board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision, or determination of any administrative official, or to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter upon which it is required to pass under any such ordinance or regulation, or to effect any variation or exception in the application of such ordinance or regulation. Section V. Partial Invalidity. A. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Ord- inance is held to be invalid, the decision shall not affect the validity or meaning of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Counoil declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that anyone or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases be declared invalid. , /' B. All Ordinances or parts of Ordinances in conflict wi th this Ordinance are hereby repealed. C. This Ordinance shall take effect and be in full force from and after the date of its passage and approval. Dated at Seward, Alaska this 19th day of April, 1954. /----~ . j,/ ~ ~ ~ Approved(~~.I~.t6~ ~/_ _. , Mayor Attes 4J!!~~"'~ ty Clerk