(A) Approval of development plan and soil erosion control before disturbance of natural ground cover.
(1) (a) For any case where the subject property is one acre or more in area, no grading, stripping, excavation, filling or other disturbance of the natural ground cover shall take place before the Joint City-County Planning Commission has approved a development plan (preliminary or final as appropriate).
(b) In any case where a single-family dwelling unit is proposed on one or more acres of disturbed ground, grading and erosion control plans are required to be housed in the office of the Joint City-County Planning Commission. However, formal approval of the Joint City-County Planning Commission is not required.
(2) In any case where the subject property is less than one acre, but more than 10,000 square feet in area or increase the impervious area by more than 3,400 square feet and located in either a B-2 (General Business), B-3 (Highway Service Business), I-1 (Light Industrial), I-2 (Heavy Industrial) or OP (Office and Professional), no disturbance of the natural ground cover shall take place before a grading plan, showing all proposed grading, stripping, excavation, filling or water detention is presented to the Joint City-County Planning Commission staff for approval. Grading plans shall show all proposed erosion control measures in order to ensure that no sediment is being disbursed to adjacent properties and/or public rights-of-way.
(3) The contents of soil erosion control procedures and plans shall be determined by the Joint City-County Planning Commission staff or the Superintendent of the Street Department unless this subchapter contains stricter specifications.
(B) Changes to site topography before approval of final development plan. The developer is advised to proceed with caution when making changes to site topography after the required approval of a preliminary development plan and soil erosion control procedures (where no soil erosion control plan is required), but before the Joint City-County Planning Commission has approved a final development plan and, if applicable, a preliminary subdivision plat. Detailed engineering requirements for streets and other public facilities may necessitate additional changes to site topography beyond those already made by the developer.
(C) Approval of development plan before building permit. For any case where a development plan is required by this subchapter, no building permits shall be issued until a final development plan is approved by the Joint City-County Planning Commission and a copy of that plan is certified to the Building Inspector by the Joint City-County Planning Commission. The approval of a development plan shall limit and control the issuance of all building and occupancy permits and restrict the construction, location and use of all land and structures to the conditions as set forth in the plan.
(D) Payment of cost of special meeting of Planning and Zoning Commission. If approval of a development plan requires a special meeting of the Joint City-County Planning Commission, held at the request of the applicant, the cost of the meeting shall be paid by the applicant.
(E) Temporary, limited purpose building permit. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, the Building Inspector is authorized to issue a temporary, limited purpose building permit, valid for a period of 30 days, which may not be renewed or extended, under the following conditions:
(1) The area to which the temporary, limited permit applies must be zoned for industrial purposes at the time, and the purpose of issuance must be to facilitate the current construction of an industrial facility;
(2) A meeting be held with the city’s planning staff, Building Inspector and the Superintendent of Public Works and all parties must have reviewed the preliminary plans (including grading, drainage, site layout, parking configuration and erosion control measures to be implemented) for site improvement, and have determined that no significant flood, drainage, topographic or other similar problems will be occasioned by permitting site improvement work to proceed prior to the submission and approval of preliminary and final development plans;
(3) The grant of a temporary, limited purpose permit shall not in any way exempt the developer from the requirements of submitting preliminary and final development plans, as required by ordinance, and modifying any work done under the temporary permit to conform to the final requirements of the approved development plan;
(4) The temporary, limited purpose permit limits the developer to site work only, which does not entail building construction, finalized entrances or street networks, finalized grading or landscaping; and
(5) The strict conformance to the temporary, limited purpose building permit guidelines does not relinquish the developer from adhering to any and all regulations in the Development Ordinance, zoning ordinance, subdivision regulations, BMP Manual or any findings of the Joint City-County Planning Commission when preliminary and final plans are presented to them.
(1989 Code, § 152.16) (Ord. 1975, passed 9-28-1992; Am. Res. 851, passed 3-22-1993; Am. Ord. 2026, passed 8-23-1993; Am. Ord. 2667, passed 7-13-2009; Am. Ord. 2801, passed 10-22-2012)