(A) Objectives. Certain uses are necessary to the life and economic health of the community, but have characteristics of operation that do not readily permit classification in the usual residential, commercial or industrial districts. Because of the various types of consideration, the specific conditions under which each use may be permitted must be considered. These uses are specifically listed in this section. Conditions for the approval of a special use are enumerated in this section. The BZA shall approve or deny all special uses.
(B) Special uses as secondary classifications. Special uses are secondary classifications. If land is approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals for a special use, the special use designation shall be placed on the zoning map in addition to its primary zoning classification.
(C) Procedure.
(1) A person desiring a special use classification must submit an application to the Board of Zoning Appeals at the Plan Commission Office. The application must contain a site plan showing the following:
(a) The proposed use of the land;
(b) The location and size of all buildings and structures, including signs;
(c) The locations of streets, access drives and off-street parking and loading facilities;
(d) Buffer landscaping and required green area; and
(e) Any other plans or specification which the staff of the Plan Commission deems necessary.
(2) After receipt of the application, the Board of Zoning Appeals shall conduct a public hearing pursuant to I.C. 36-7-4-900 et seq. for which ten days prior notice shall be given by the applicant, by certified mail, return receipt requested, to all abutting property owners and to the public by legal advertisement. Should the petitioner fail to comply with the notice requirements, as provided by this section, before the second regular meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals following the date said petition is filed, the petition shall be withdrawn by the Board of Zoning Appeals and the time limits imposed by this section shall apply.
(a) After public hearing, the Board of Zoning Appeals shall make its determination for approval, denial or modification of the special use classification based on the following criteria:
1. Whether the specific site is an appropriate location for the use;
2. Whether the use as developed will adversely affect the surrounding area;
3. Whether there will be nuisance or serious hazard to vehicle, pedestrians or residents;
4. Whether adequate and appropriate facilities will be provided for proper operation of the use;
5. Whether the use is in harmony with the County Plan; and
6. Whether the use is essential or desirable to the public convenience and welfare.
(b) In addition to all other notices as required by this chapter or state law, notice of all hearings before the County Board of Zoning Appeals shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the subject property at least every 500 feet at least ten days prior to the date of the hearing. Such signs shall be no smaller than 22 inches in height and 28 inches in width and shall bear lettering large and bold enough to be read from the road frontage. Each such notice shall state as a minimum: “The owner of this property has made a request before the Clark County Board of Zoning Appeals on a proposed (variance, special use and the like). A public hearing will be held on the request at Room 308, County Building, Jeffersonville, Indiana, on the _______ day of __________, 20___, at ____ o’clock __.m.”
(c) Signs may be purchased in the Plan Commission Office.
(d) All signs shall be removed within ten days following final action.
(3) The Board of Zoning Appeals approval or modification of a special use classification may include whatever reasonable conditions, limitations or temporary uses necessary for the protection of the public interest including the following:
(a) Greater front, side and rear yards than the minimum for the area;
(b) More off-street parking and screening;
(c) Modification of exterior design or materials;
(d) Limitations on the lot coverage and occupancy of building or structure;
(e) Limitations on signs and sign coverage; and
(f) Time limitations.
(4) To protect the public interest and to ensure compliance with requirements to be included in the site plan, the Board of Zoning Appeals may require whatever evidence and guarantees are necessary to assure compliance with conditions, limitations and temporary uses.
(5) In addition to all the other limitations and provisions contained in this chapter, “S.U. 31” shall be limited as follows:
(a) Except for the shipment and receipt of goods, products or items necessary for the “S.U. 31”, the use shall not be visible from the exterior of the premises;
(b) No person or persons may be employed in the “S.U. 31” home occupation at the site other than the resident (or residents) of the site for which the “S.U. 31” has been granted; and
(c) The use may not be varied from the specified home occupation identified by the applicant for whom it is granted.
(D) Discontinuance of special use.
(1) If a special use is abandoned for one year or has not been established within one year after the date granted, the special use classification shall be null and void.
(2) A special use may not be altered to become any use other than that approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
(E) Time limits. The Board of Zoning Appeals may impose reasonable time limits on any special use granted, as circumstances warrant.
(F) Limitations on special uses. Only those special uses that are indicated on Table S.U., following this section, shall be permitted in the zoning districts indicated by the table. The placement of an abandoned vehicle and/or abandoned mobile home on any parcel of land which has not been appropriately zoned or granted a special use for salvage purposes and which remains on said parcel for more than 24 hours shall be considered a violation of this chapter.
(G) Mobile home parks. The following minimum requirements shall apply.
(1) Conditions of soil, groundwater level, drainage, geologic structures and topography shall not create hazard to the park site or to the health and safety of occupants, nor shall the site be subject to the hazards of objectionable smoke, odor or noise, or the possibility of subsidence, sudden flooding or severe erosion.
(2) The minimum area of a mobile home park shall be five acres.
(3) The density of a park shall not exceed eight mobile homes per acre of gross site area. No more than one mobile home shall be placed on a lot.
(4) No mobile home and enclosed accessory structures designed for living space shall be located closer than 20 feet from any other mobile home, permanent building or structure within the mobile home park.
(5) Mobile home parks shall have direct access to an adequate public thoroughfare with sufficient frontage thereon for the proper construction of entrances and exits. Such entrances and exits shall be designed for the safe movement of mobile homes into and out of the park. The entrance shall be landscaped and walled with an appropriate method of signing, to provide adequate identification from the serving highway or street.
(6) All mobile homes and structures shall meet all setback and yard requirements of this chapter.
(7) Internal mobile home park streets, if dedicated to public use, shall meet minimum standards for design and construction as required in the subdivision control ordinance (Chapter 155). Whether public or not, no street name shall duplicate any other street name in the county.
(8) Each park shall provide a recreational area or areas equal in size to at least eight percent of the area of the park, generally in a central location. Streets, parking areas and park service facility areas shall not be included in the required recreational area.
(9) In other than business districts, coin-operated laundries, laundry and dry-cleaning pickup stations and other commercial convenience establishments may be permitted in mobile home parks provided:
(a) They are subordinate to the residential character of the park;
(b) They are located, designed and intended to serve only the needs or persons living in the park;
(c) The establishments and parking areas related to their use shall not occupy more than 10% of the total park area; and
(d) The establishments shall present no visible evidence of their commercial nature to areas outside the park.
(10) Each park shall provide either one or more central waterproof structures available to all mobile home sites or a single waterproof structure for each mobile home site suitable for storage of goods and the usual effects of persons occupying the park.
(11) Each mobile home site shall be provided with a stand consisting of a solid concrete slab, two concrete ribbons or concrete pillars of a thickness and size adequate to support the maximum anticipated loads during all seasons. When concrete ribbons are used, the area between the ribbons and pillars shall be filled with a layer of crushed rock or stone. All mobile homes shall be properly underpinned and anchored with anchors or straps according to manufacturers specifications.
(12) All exterior park lights shall be so located and shielded as to prevent direct illumination of any areas outside the park. Each mobile home park shall provide sunset to sunrise illumination at the entrance, sufficient to allow prompt recognition of the entrance, and sufficient artificial lighting at the walkways to resident facilities such as community building and laundry room facilities.
(13) Each mobile home site or lot shall be provided with adequate utility connections required to service the mobile home, and said utility connections shall be located in the rear quarter of the mobile home site or lot in an area not to exceed two feet by three feet, with a concrete base of not less than 18 inches by 30 inches by four inches thickness poured at grade level, sloped to drain. All services stubbed through this slab shall be sleeved or wrapped to allow for settlement or movement.
(14) Sidewalks shall be installed on one side of the street and shall be a minimum of three feet in width and three and one-half inches in thickness, properly marked and joined for expansion.
(15) A minimum of two paved parking spaces per mobile home site or lot shall be placed on each mobile home site or lot, keeping the required set back from front property line. Park roadways shall be designed to insure good circulation within the mobile home park for emergency requirements.
(16) All trash and refuse storage must be in closed containers or within an enclosure, fence or wall, containing closed containers.
(17) All utility lines within a mobile home park boundary shall be installed underground, and may be in a common trench as state safety requirements permit.
(18) The perimeter of each mobile home park shall be fenced on sides not abutting onto street or highway with an approved woven wire fence, and on the street or highway by a block fence or combination of wood and masonry or metal and masonry, as the area dictates. Such fence shall be a minimum of four feet in height.
(19) All landscaped areas of a mobile home park shall be maintained in a neat, clean and healthy condition. This shall include proper pruning, mowing, weeding and removal of litter plus the regular watering of all plantings.
(20) General provisions.
(a) No mobile home park shall be maintained without proper supervision or a resident manager, who at all times shall see that ordinances and laws regulating said park are observed.
(b) Every person who owns or operates a mobile home park shall maintain a current register of all occupants, which shall include the names of all persons residing in the mobile home park, the make, type and serial or license number of each mobile home, and a designation of the space occupied.
(c) No site or lot in a mobile home park may be occupied unless a mobile home is located upon the site or lot.
(d) No transient or nonpermanent mobile home or travel trailers shall be located in a licensed mobile home park.
(e) All construction or alterations within the mobile home park shall meet the local health and safety standards prevalent within the county.
(H) Adult entertainment.
(1) Adult bookstores, adult theaters, massage parlors and all other forms of adult entertainment as defined in § 156.05 and listed as special use #26 are permitted only in the M1 - Light Industrial, M2 - Heavy Industrial and M3 - Hazardous Waste Disposal Districts.
(2) All adult entertainment businesses shall be sited a minimum of 500 feet from residences, churches, parks, schools, libraries and municipal buildings.
Table S.U.(click for link to table in pdf format)
List of Special Use Designations | |
Use | SU |
List of Special Use Designations | |
Use | SU |
Schools | 1 |
Hospitals, nursing homes or convalescent care centers | 2 |
Private clubs (excluding gun clubs) | 3 |
Airports, private landing strips, heliports or marinas | 4 |
Penal and correctional facilities, or public buildings and public uses other than permitted uses | 5 |
Animal hospitals and kennels | 6 |
Radio, television and/or cellular or other similar type of transmission tower facility | 7 |
Golf courses, golf driving ranges (excluding miniature golf), charitable and philanthropic institutions | 8 |
Cemeteries, mausoleums, columbaria or crematoria | 9 |
Public parks, public recreational facilities and campgrounds | 10 |
Mobile home parks | 11 |
Land or structure(s) used for the storage of junk or salvage, business selling principally junk or salvage | 12 |
Parking lots and parking garages open to the public | 13 |
Bus or railroad passenger stations, garages or lots | 14 |
Electronic message boards and/or signs with flashing, moving, rotating or intermittent lights, or animated messages | 15 |
Utility installations, including, but not limited to, electric power or steam generating plants | 16 |
Stadiums, auditoriums, arenas or racetracks | 17 |
One-operator barber or beauty shops in a residence, resident-occupied and resident-operated | 18 |
Sanitary landfills and/or other similar refuse or garbage processing facility | 20 |
Livestock sale or auction stockpens | 21 |
Confined animal feeding and/or breeding operations | 22 |
Gun clubs, skeet shoots or target ranges | 23 |
Private recreational use | 24 |
Mobile offices, not for living or sleeping quarters | 25 |
Adult bookstores, adult theaters, massage parlors | 26 |
Accessory living quarters clearly complementary to main use and not for rental purposes | 28 |
Owner-occupied/owner-operated bed and breakfast facility or boarding house limited to five rental rooms | 29 |
Owner-occupied/owner-operated bed and breakfast facility or boarding house limited to ten rental rooms | 30 |
Home occupation | 31 |
Firehouses and substations | 32 |
Library | 33 |
Catering | 34 |
Group homes | 35 |
Child care center | 37 |
Child care home | 38 |
Adult day care | 39 |
(Ord. 17-2007, passed 12-18-2007; Ord. passed 4-29-2010; Ord. passed 7-22-2010)