The Council finds that the city is faced with mounting problems in providing means of guiding future development of land so as to ensure a safer, pleasant and more economical environment for residential, commercial, industrial and public activities, and to promote the public health, safety and general welfare. Through the enactment of this chapter, the Council intends to prepare for anticipated changes and by those preparations, to bring about a significant savings in both private and public expenditures. This chapter is intended to be one means of effectuating the Comprehensive Guide Plan undertaken by the city. Through this chapter, the city intends to encourage the wise development of lands within the city and to serve its citizens more effectively and to make the provision of public services less costly and to achieve a more secure tax base. Specifically, these provisions are designed to achieve the foregoing objectives through the regulation of the location, height, bulk, number of stories, size of buildings and other structures, the percentage of lot area which may be occupied, the size of yards and other open spaces, the density and distribution of population, the uses of buildings and structures for trade, industry, residence, recreation, public activities or other purposes, and the uses of land for trade, industry, residence, recreation, public activities or other purposes, through the establishment of standards and procedures regulating uses within the city.
(1989 Code, § 11.01)