The City Council adopts this Zoning Ordinance to protect the public health and safety, quality of life, economic development, and fiscal and functional health of the city and its present and future inhabitants in accordance with the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. The provisions of this Zoning Ordinance are specifically intended to:
(A) Public health and safety. Protect public health and safety and environmental quality by:
(1) Open space. Ensuring the provision of adequate public and private open space for light, air, environmental protection, recreation, and fire safety;
(2) Density and intensity. Preventing both the overcrowding of land and urban sprawl by regulating the density and intensity of development;
(3) Screening and buffering. Establishing reasonable screening and buffering of residential, nonresidential, and mixed-use areas from incompatible uses; and
(B) Quality of life. Protect the quality of life of city residents, business owners, employees, and visitors by:
(1) Character. Protecting and enhancing the character and property values of all parts of the city;
(2) Environmental assets. Preserving and protecting existing trees and vegetation, woodlands, floodplains, stream and riparian corridors, scenic views, and other areas of scenic and environmental significance from adverse impacts of land development; and
(3) Appearance. Improving the city’s appearance through the regulation of design, where such regulations are appropriate.
(C) Economic development.
(1) Commercial and industrial districts. Encourage a diverse and stable economy with employment opportunities, particularly those that have meaningful multiplier effects in the local economy, by promoting the vitality and development of commercial and industrial districts;
(2) Entrepreneurship. Enable and encourage entrepreneurship and local business growth; and
(3) Business retention and expansion. Enable retention and sensitive expansion of local businesses.
(D) Fiscal and functional health. Protect the fiscal and functional health of the city by:
(1) Compatibility. Encouraging the most appropriate, efficient, and compatible use of land, buildings, and other structures throughout the city;
(2) Efficiency. Securing economy in government-private sector expenditures by promoting efficiency in development review;
(3) Housing stock. Promoting a diverse housing stock in new developments and maintaining such diversity where it currently exists;
(4) Promote equitable, affordable housing. Encourage location-efficient housing options to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation;
(5) Reinvestment, redevelopment, and infill. Protecting property against blight and depreciation by facilitating reinvestment, redevelopment, and infill development; and
(6) Supply of land. Promoting a balanced supply of residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and mixed land uses for conservation and development.
(E) Encourage contextually sensitive development and redevelopment.
(1) Redevelopment and infill. Promote contextually compatible redevelopment and infill development of vacant or underutilized properties;
(2) Mixed-use. Enable and encourage efficient development patterns, including by-right mixed-use development; and
(3) Historic character. Facilitate orderly and harmonious development with the visual and historical character of Marshalltown.
(F) Clear regulations and processes. Establish transparent regulations and review procedures for development, the duties and powers of responsible administrative bodies, and reasonable penalties and enforcement mechanisms for violations of this Zoning Ordinance.
(Ord. 15039, passed 4-11-2022)