An overlay district is a district superimposed over one or more zoning districts or part of a district(s) that imposes additional requirements that apply to the underlying zone(s).
(a) Purpose. The purpose of this Section is to
(1) Designate and define one or more Architectural Design Overlay Districts within the City of Kent; and
(2) To define the process for amending existing overlay districts; and
(3) Designate new overlay districts.
(b) Design Guidelines. This Section works in conjunction with Section 1111.04 of this Code and utilizes the Design Guidelines adopted by reference herein for each individual overlay district. Appendix A: Design guidelines for the Kent Design Overlay District.
(c) Applicability. The provisions of this Section and related sections of the Code are applicable to properties located within the Architectural Design Review Overlay District subject to Section 1111.04. All such projects must obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Architectural Review Board prior to submitting applications for other additional reviews which may be required, including Site Plan Review (Section 1111.02
(d)), Conditional Zoning Certificates (Section 1111.01
(c)(3)C.), Sign Permits (Section 1109.04),
Zoning Permits (Section 1111.01
(c)) or Building Permits.
(d) Architectural Design Review Overlay Districts. The City may designate one or more areas within the corporation limits of the City of Kent as an Architectural Design Review Overlay District.
(1) Downtown / West River Overlay District. This overlay district is subject to "The Design Guidelines for the Kent Design Overlay District," (Appendix A) as adopted by Kent City Council on November 18, 2009 and any amendments thereto. The area of the City to be incorporated into this district is shown in Figure 12.
(2) Reserved for future overlay district.
![](https://export.amlegal.com/media/469ada890f218fe165045d310cad9c361efc9718/IMAGES/0-0-0-5402.jpg)
(e) Amendments/Additional Districts.
(1) Any overlay district may be amended upon the approval of Kent City Council;
(2) Additional overlay districts may be created upon approval of Kent City Council, pursuant to the procedures in Section 1112.01
.
(3) The following entities may propose an amendment to an existing overlay district or the creation of a new overlay district:
A. The Architectural Review Board;
B. Planning Commission; City staff; or
C. Property owners within the geographic area of an existing or proposed overlay district providing that the property owners have obtained signatures supporting the proposal of no less than fifty-one percent (51%) of the properties in the overlay district.
(Ord. 2021-057. Passed 6-16-21.)