(A) Creation. Pursuant to KRS Chapter 100 and in order to establish zoning districts in the city and fix the boundaries of these districts, and establish regulations respecting buildings in the use thereof in the zoning districts; in order to exercise all powers granted to local planning units or local governments respecting planning and zoning matters by KRS Chapter 100 or other applicable laws; and in order to provide for coordinated, adjusted, and harmonious development of the city and its environs which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity, and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development, there is hereby created a Planning Commission, with those powers and duties as set forth herein. (Ord. 150.4, passed 2-16-81)
(B) Members.
(1) The Planning Commission shall consist of ten members. Because extraterritorial jurisdiction is exercised for the city subdivision regulations as set forth in § 155.04, the County Judge/Executive may appoint a member to the Planning Commission. At least two-thirds of the members of the Planning Commission shall be citizen members. (KRS 100.133)
(2) Members of the Planning Commission shall hold no other municipal office, except that two of the appointed members may be members of the Board of Zoning Adjustment.
(C) Appointing authority. Except in counties containing a consolidated local government, the Mayor and the County Judge/ Executive shall appoint the members of the Planning Commission with the approval of their respective legislative bodies. (KRS 100.141)
(D) Term of office. The term of office of all members of the Planning Commission shall be four years, but the term of office of members first appointed shall be staggered so that a proportionate number serve one, two, three, and four years respectively, and later appointments or reappointments shall continue the staggered pattern. (KRS 100.143)
(E) Vacancies. Vacancies on the Planning Commission shall be filled within 60 days by the appropriate appointing authority. If the authority fails to act within that time, the Planning Commission shall fill the vacancy. When a vacancy occurs other than through expiration of the term of office, it shall be filled for the remainder of that term. (KRS 100.147)
(F) Oath of office. All members of the Planning Commission shall, before entering upon their duties, qualify by taking the oath of office prescribed by section 228 of the State Constitution. (KRS 100.151)
(G) Removal. Any member of the Planning Commission may be removed by the appropriate appointing authority for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance, or conflict of interest as set forth in KRS 100.157.
(H) Officers. The Planning Commission shall annually elect a Chairperson and any other officers which it deems necessary. All officers shall be citizen members, and shall be eligible for re- election at the expiration of their terms. (KRS 100.161)
(I) Meetings. The Planning Commission shall conduct regular meetings as it deems necessary for the transaction of its business; but there shall be at least six regular meetings annually. The schedule for regular meetings shall be expressed in the rules and regulations of the Commission. Special meetings shall be held at the call of the Chairperson who shall give written or oral notice to all members at least seven days prior to the meeting, which notice shall contain the date, time, place, and subject or subjects which shall be discussed. (KRS 100.163)
(J) Minutes and bylaws. The Planning Commission shall adopt bylaws for the transaction of business, and shall keep minutes and records of all proceedings, as required by KRS 100.167.
(K) Quorum; member may conduct hearings or preside.
(1) A simple majority of the total membership of the Planning Commission shall constitute a quorum. Any member of the Planning Commission who has any direct or indirect financial interest in the outcome of any question before the Planning Commission shall disclose the nature of the interest and shall disqualify himself from voting on the question, and he shall not be counted for the purpose of a quorum. A simple majority vote of all members present where there is a properly constituted quorum shall be necessary to transact any business of the Planning Commission, except that a vote of a simple majority of the total membership shall be necessary for the adoption or amendment of the comprehensive plan.
(2) The Planning Commission may appoint one or more of its members to act as a hearing examiner or examiners to preside over a public hearing and make recommendations to the Planning Commission based upon a transcript of record of the hearing.
(KRS 100.171)
(L) Compensation or reimbursement. All members of the Planning Commission shall serve without compensation. Reimbursement for expenses may be authorized for citizen members of the Planning Commission.
(M) Employing planners or other persons. The Planning Commission may employ a staff or contract with planners or other persons as it deems necessary to accomplish its assigned duties under this chapter. (KRS 100.173)
(N) Finances. The Board of Commissioners may appropriate out of the general revenues for the expenses and accommodations necessary for the work of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission shall have the right to receive, hold, and spend funds which it may legally receive from any and every source both in and out of the state, including the United States government, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter. All bylaws shall describe the method for administration of funds, and an annual audit shall be performed of all receipts, expenditures, and funds on hand by an official of the city, or by an accountant. The report of every audit, including financial statements, shall be kept in the same manner prescribed in division (J) above. Every independently budgeted planning commission shall annually publish a financial statement, pursuant to the requirements set forth in KRS Chapter 424. (KRS 100.177)
(O) Powers and duties.
(1) It shall be the function and duty of the Planning Commission to recommend to the Board of Commissioners the division of the city into districts of such number, shape, and area as it deems suited to carry out the purposes of KRS Chapter 100. Within each district it may recommend the regulation and restriction of the construction, alteration, repair, or use of buildings, structures, or land. Regulations shall be uniform for each class or kind of building in each district, but the regulations in one district may differ from those in other districts. The regulations recommended shall be in accordance with a comprehensive plan and shall be designated to lessen congestion in the streets; to secure safety from fire, panic, and other general welfare; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the overcrowding of land; to avoid undue concentration of population; and to facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewage, schools, parks, and other public requirements. Recommended regulations shall be made with reasonable consideration of the character of the district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses and with a view of conserving the value of buildings and encouraging the most appropriate use of land. To this end, regulations shall relate to the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures; the percentage of the lot that may be occupied; the size of yards, courts, or other open spaces; the density of population; and the location and use of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residence, or other purposes. The Board of Commissioners shall provide by ordinance the manner in which regulations and restrictions and the boundaries of districts recommended by the Planning Commission shall be established, enforced, and amended. No regulation, restriction, or boundary recommended by the Planning Commission and adopted by the Board of Commissioners shall become effective until after at least one public hearing is held as required in KRS Chapter 424. All regulations, restrictions, and boundaries recommended by the Planning Commission and adopted by the Board of Commissioners may from time to time be amended or repealed in accordance with the procedure established in KRS Chapter 100.
(2) It shall be the duty and function of the Planning Commission to make, adopt, and recommend for adoption by the Board of Commissioners a master plan for the physical development of the city, including areas outside of its boundaries and as described in KRS 100.131, which, in the Commission's judgment, bear relation to the planning of the municipality. The master plan, with accompanying maps, plats, charts, and descriptive matter, shall show the Planning Commission's recommendations for the development of the territory, including among other things, the general location, character, and extent of streets, viaducts, subways, bridges, waterways, waterfronts, boulevards, parkways, playgrounds, squares, parks, aviation fields, and other public ways, grounds, and open spaces; the general location and extent of public utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, for water, lights, sanitation, transportation, communication, power, and other purposes; also for the removal, relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment, change of use, or extension of any of the foregoing ways, open spaces, buildings, property, utilities, or terminals; as well as a zoning plan for the control of the height, area, building location, and use of buildings and premises. As the work of making the whole master plan progresses, the Planning Commission may from time to time adopt and publish a part or parts thereof, any such part to one or more major sections or divisions of the municipality, or one or more of the aforesaid or other functional matters to be included in the plan. The Planning Commission may from time to time amend, extend, or add to the plan.
(a) In the preparation of the master plan the Planning Commission shall make careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of present conditions and future growth of the municipality, with due regard to its relation to neighboring territory. The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted, and harmonious development of the municipality and its environs which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity, and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of government including, among other things, adequate provisions for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire and other dangers, adequate provision for light and air, the promotion of the healthful and convenient distribution of population, the promotion of good civic design and arrangement, wise and efficient expenditures of public funds, and the adequate provision of public utilities and other public requirements.
(b) The Planning Commission may adopt the master plan as a whole by a single resolution or may by successive resolutions adopt successive parts of the plan, these parts corresponding with major geographical sections or divisions of the city or with functional subdivisions of the subject matter of the plan, and may adopt any amendment or extension thereof or addition thereto. Before the adoption of the plan or of any part, amendment, extension, or addition thereto, the Planning Commission shall hold at least one public hearing thereon. Notice of the hearing shall be published in accordance with KRS Chapter 424. The adoption of the plan or of any part or amendment, extension, or addition shall be by resolution of the Planning Commission carried by the affirmative vote of not less than a simple majority of the total membership of the Planning Commission. The resolution shall refer expressly to the maps and descriptive and other matter intended by the Planning Commission to form the whole or part of the plan, and the action taken shall be recorded on the map and plan and descriptive matter by the identifying signature of the Chairperson or Secretary of the Planning Commission. An attested copy of the plan or part thereof shall be certified to the Board of Commissioners and lodged for record as provided by law.
(3) The Planning Commission may from time to time amend, extend, or add to the plan; publish and distribute copies of the plan or any report and employ other means of publicity and education as it may determine; authorize its members to attend city planning conferences or meetings of city planning institutes or hearings upon pending city planning legislation, and by resolution spread upon its minutes, pay the reasonable traveling expenses incident to such attendance. The Planning Commission shall from time to time recommend to the appropriate public officials programs for public structures and improvements, and for the financing thereof. It shall consult and advise with public officials and agencies, public utility companies, civic, educational, and other organizations, and citizens with relation to protecting or carrying out the plan. The Planning Commission shall have the right to accept and use gifts for the exercise of its functions. It may require from all public officials, within a reasonable time, such available information as is necessary for its work. The Planning Commission, its members, officers, and employees, in the performance of their functions, may enter upon land and make examinations and surveys and place and maintain necessary monuments and markers thereon. The Planning Commission shall have general powers to enable it to fulfill its functions.
(4) The Planning Commission is authorized and directed to exercise subdivision control within the jurisdiction and of the character provided by law. The Planning Commission shall make subdivision regulations to provide for the proper arrangement of streets, in relation to other existing or planned streets, and to the master plan, for adequate and convenient open spaces for traffic, utilities, access of fire-fighting apparatus, recreation, light, and air, and for the avoidance of congestion of population, including minimum width and area of lots. These regulations may also include provisions as to the extent to which streets and other ways shall be graded and improved, and to which water, sewer, and other utility mains, piping, or other facilities shall be installed as a condition precedent to the tentative approval of the plat prior to installation; but any such tentative approval shall be revocable and shall not be entered on the plat. In lieu of the completion of these improvements and utilities prior to the final approval of the plat, the Planning Commission may accept a bond with surety to secure to the city the actual construction and installation of these improvements or utilities at a time and according to specifications fixed by or in accordance with the regulations of the Planning Commission. All subdivision regulations shall be published as provided by law for the publication of ordinances and, before adoption, a public hearing shall be held thereon. A copy thereof shall be certified by the Planning Commission to the County Court Clerk.
(Ord. 150.4, passed 2-16-81; Am. Ord. 2013-05, passed 6-20-13)
Statutory reference:
Comprehensive plan, see KRS 100.183 et seq.
Land subdivision regulations, see KRS 100.273 et seq.
Zoning regulations, see KRS 100.201 et seq.