(A) Applications for amendment to the official zoning maps shall be made only in accordance with this subchapter.
(1) Initiation of amendment applications for amendment of the zoning maps may be initiated by:
(a) The Planning Commission;
(b) The legislative body within the county having zoning authority over an affected property;
(c) The owner of the property in question.
(2) The procedures for those amendments to the zoning map originating with the Planning Commission or the legislative body shall be as prescribed in KRS 100.211.
(3) Prior to formal application for amendment of the zoning maps, the applicant, and/or his or her attorney, must hold a conference with the Planning Commission staff to discuss the effect of the Comprehensive Plan, this chapter, the subdivision regulations and other land development controls on the proposed development. The preapplication conference shall include discussions of apparent characteristics of the site that would affect the proposed development. In addition, the preapplication conference may be utilized for discussing whether a general development plan should be submitted with the application for amendment of the zoning map. No application will be accepted for a public hearing prior to the preapplication conference being held, and no preapplication conference may be scheduled for any day which is a filing deadline.
(4) Amendment application. Application for amendment of the official zoning maps shall be filed with the Planning Commission in accordance with the Planning Commission by-laws and this chapter and shall contain the following:
(a) Demonstration of appropriateness. Any application for amendment to the official zoning map shall be submitted with a written detailed explanation as to the following:
1. How the proposed map amendment would conform to the Comprehensive Plan;
2. Why the original zoning classification of the property in question was inappropriate or improper;
3. What major economic, physical, or social changes, if any, have occurred in the vicinity of the property in question that were not anticipated by the Comprehensive Plan and which have substantially altered the basic character of the area, which make the proposed amendment to the zoning map appropriate. The explanation for this section shall include:
A. A list of such specific changes.
B. A description as to how said changes were not anticipated by the Comprehensive Plan.
C. A description as to how said changes altered the basic character of the area.
D. A description as to how said changes make the proposed amendment to the official zoning map appropriate.
(5) A description as to how utilities and essential public services will be provided to the property in question.
(6) Property owners signature. All applications for amendment to the official zoning map shall:
(a) Be signed by all persons necessary to convey in fee simple absolute the property in question or the attorney for all such persons;
(b) Identify all lessees, option-holders and developers of the subject property;
(c) Identify all attorneys who will represent the applicants before the Planning Commission;.
(7) An accurate boundary survey of the property in question shall be filed with the application and shall contain the following information:
(a) Owner/applicant name; scale; bearings and distances; locating distance (to nearest road/railroad center line or right-of-way); north arrow; rights-of-way of road; adjacent property owners (showing property lines); acreage of property; Kentucky Registered Land Surveyor’s stamp and vicinity map.
(8) Responsibility for accuracy. The applicant shall be responsible for the accuracy of the information filed and shall demonstrate that the identity of all adjoining property owners is made known to the Planning Commission by him or her as part of the zoning maps amendment application.
(B) Applications for variances or conditional uses and may be filed concurrently with the application for zoning map amendment on the same property to be considered by the Planning Commission for a zoning map amendment.
(1) In the event the applicant elects to file for a variance or conditional use under this chapter, the Planning Commission shall hold the public hearing concurrently with the zoning map amendment. In the event the applicant fails to file for a variance or conditional use concurrently with the zoning map amendment application, then they shall file an application with the Board of Adjustment for the variance or conditional use.
(2) Each requested variance or conditional use filed under this section shall be considered as separate applications and shall otherwise be administered, advertised and handled in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and KRS Ch. 100 except that the notice by mail for the zoning map amendment shall include the notice for the variance or conditional use shall state that these items will be concurrently heard by the Planning Commission.
(3) The Planning Commission shall assume all the powers and duties otherwise exercised by the Board of Adjustment in considering a conditional use or variance but shall only have this authority when subject conditional use or variance is being considered concurrently with the property being considered for a zoning map amendment, except that it shall take four concurring votes of the Planning Commission to approve a variance or conditional use.
(Ord. 665-98, passed 12-21-1998)