(A) Ordinances or Resolutions establishing, amending, revising, changing or repealing zoning classifications, districts, uses or regulations shall be initiated in one of the following ways:
(1) By adoption of a motion by the Planning Commission.
(2) By adoption of an Ordinance or Resolution by Council.
(3) By the filing of an application by the owner, or in the event of multiple parcels by the majority of owners, of property within the area proposed to be changed or affected by such amendment.
(B) Immediately after the adoption of an Ordinance or Resolution by Council or upon the filing of an application by the owner or a majority of owners of the property within the area proposed to be changed or affected, such Ordinance, Resolution or application shall be transmitted to the Planning Commission.
(C) Within forty-five (45) days after receipt of the proposed amendment, the Planning Commission shall certify its recommendation to Council that the application be granted as requested, not granted, or granted with specific amendment.
(D) Upon receipt of the recommendation of the Planning Commission, Council shall schedule a public hearing. Such public hearing shall be held not earlier than fifteen (15) days following certification from the Planning Commission. The Clerk of Council shall cause a notice of the public hearing to be published one time in a newspaper of general circulation within the municipality, such publication to be made at least ten (10) days prior to the date of the public hearing. When the enactment, amendment, revision, change or repeal involves ten (10) or less parcels of land as listed on the tax duplicate, written notice of the hearing shall be mailed by the Clerk of Council by certified mail with return receipt at least ten (10) days before the date of the public hearing, to the owners of property within, contiguous to and directly across the street from the affected parcel or parcels. Such notices shall be sent to the addresses of owners appearing on the County Auditor’s current tax list or such other list as may be required by Council. The failure to send or delivery of the notice shall not invalidate any Ordinance or Resolution.
(E) Within thirty (30) days after the public hearing, Council shall by Ordinance or Resolution either adopt or deny the recommendations certified by the Planning Commission, or shall adopt some modification thereof. In the event Council denies or modifies the recommendation as certified by the Planning Commission, it shall do so by not less than a three fourths majority vote of the members of Council, by in no event shall an Ordinance or Resolution be considered as having passed unless it receives at least a majority vote of the members of Council.
(F) In the event any proposed zoning amendment affects any land within 300 feet of the centerline of a proposed new highway or highways for which changes are proposed as described in the certification to local officials by the State Director of Transportation, or within a radius of 500 feet from the point of intersection of such centerline with any public road or highway, the foregoing procedure shall be modified to require the Planning Commission to give by registered or certified mail to the State Director of Transportation of such proposed zoning amendments. The Commission may proceed as required by law however Council shall not approve the amendment for 120 days from the date the notice is received by the State Director of Transportation. If the State Director of Transportation notifies the municipality that he shall proceed to acquire the land needed, then the municipality shall refuse to approve the proposed amendment. If the State Director of Transportation notifies the municipality that acquisition at this time is not in the public interest, or upon the expiration of the 120 day period or any extension thereof agreed upon by the State Director of Transportation and the property owner or owners, Council shall proceed as required by law.
(Amended November 8, 2005.)