NOTICE
CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF ORION
PROPOSED ORDINANCE ADOPTION
AMENDMENT TO ORD. 78,
ZONING ORDINANCE
ARTICLE XXX
CONDITIONAL REZONE
The Charter Township of Orion Board of Trustees, at the regular meeting of Tuesday, November 1, 2016, to be held at 7:00 p.m., at the Orion Township Hall, 2525 Joslyn Rd., Lake Orion, Michigan 48360, proposes to adopt an ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance No. 78, Article XXX, for the Charter Township of Orion, Michigan; providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances and portions thereof; and providing an effective date.
THE CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF ORION ORDAINS:
SECTION 1 of Ordinance
Pursuant to the provisions of the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act, pursuant to all applicable provisions of law, Article XXX is amended by adding the herein after language in the Article as follows:
ARTICLE XXX – Administrative Procedures & Standards
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Section 30.05 – Conditional Rezoning
A. Intent.
It is recognized that there are certain instances where it would be in the best interests of the Township, as well as advantageous to property owners seeking a change in zoning classification, that certain conditions could be proposed by property owners as part of a request for rezoning. It is the intent of this section to provide a process consistent with the provisions of Section 405 of the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act (MCL 125.3405) by which an owner seeking a rezoning may voluntarily propose conditions regarding the use and/or development of land as part of the rezoning request.
B. Application and Offer of Conditions.
1. An owner of land may voluntarily offer in writing conditions relating to the use and/or development of land for which a rezoning is requested. The offer shall be contained in a proposed Conditional Rezoning Agreement, as described in this section, below. This offer or any additional offer may be made either at the time the application for rezoning is filed or may be made at a later time during the rezoning process; however, the offer shall in all events be considered by the Planning Commission prior to being acted upon by the Township Board.
2. The required application and process for considering a rezoning request with conditions shall be the same as that for considering rezoning requests made without any offer of conditions, except as modified by the requirements of this section. Prior to submission of a formal application, applicants are encouraged to request and attend pre-application meetings with the Township staff.
3. The owner’s offer of conditions may not authorize uses or development not permitted in the requested new zoning district. The owner must state in the application the new zoning district under which the conditional rezoning will be reviewed and evaluated.
4. The owner’s offer of conditions shall bear a reasonable and rational relationship to the property for which the conditional rezoning is requested. The provisions to allow conditional rezoning shall not be construed to allow rezoning by exaction. may include deviations from the schedule of regulations under this ordinance or any overlay district and the Township Board may approve such deviations as part of the offer of conditions, including, but not limited to, deviations in location, size and height of buildings, setbacks, and architectural features.
5. Conditional rezoning shall not alter any of the various zoning requirements for the uses in question, i.e., parking, landscaping, lot area, lot width, building height, setbacks, lot area coverage, etc. Conditional rezoning shall not grant zoning variances of any kind. Any zoning variance must follow the provisions of section 30.07 of this Zoning Ordinance and can be obtained by separate application only after the conditional rezoning has been approved by the Board of Trustees, unless specifically allowed in advance by the Board of Trustees.
6. Any use or development proposed as part of an offer of condition that would require site plan approval under the terms of this ordinance may only be commenced if a site plan is made part of the offer of conditions and approval for such use or development is ultimately granted in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance, if necessary.
7. If the Township is in the process of proceeding with a conditional rezoning under this section, and the applicant has not voluntarily offered one or more of the conditions being considered, the applicant shall inform the Township Clerk in writing of such fact prior to any action being taken by the Township Board granting the conditional rezoning. Any use or development proposed as part of an offer of conditions that would require special land use approval under the terms of this Ordinance may only be commenced if special land use approval for such use or development is ultimately granted in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance.
8. The offer of conditions may be amended during the process of rezoning consideration provided that any amended or additional conditions are entered voluntarily by the owner. An owner may withdraw all or part of its offer of conditions any time prior to final rezoning action of the Township Board provided that if such withdrawal occurs subsequent to the Planning Commission’s public hearing on the original rezoning request, then the rezoning application may be referred to the Planning Commission for a new public hearing with appropriate notice and a new recommendation.
9. In addition to the factors for rezoning found in Section 30.04 of this Ordinance, the deliberations of the Planning Commission and Township Board shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
a. Compatibility with the policies and uses designated for the land and area in the Township’s Master Plan, or deviation from the Master Plan if the proposed development is compatible with the overall development, goals, character and/or needs of the Township.
b. Compatibility, or reasonable assimilation through offered conditions, with other uses in the surrounding areas considering the area as a whole and the overall development, goals, character and/or needs of the Township.
c. Availability and adequacy of public services and facilities, and whether there is likely to be any adverse impact from a development or use allowed under the rezoning with Conditional Rezoning Agreement; and
d. Whether the development that would be approved shall advance the public interest, weighing the reasonably expected burdens likely to result from allowing the development against the reasonably expected benefits to be achieved by the development.
C. Planning Commission Review. The Planning Commission, after public hearing and consideration of the factors for rezoning set forth in Section 30.04 30.05 B(9) of this ordinance, may recommend approval or denial of the rezoning.
D. Township Board Review. After receipt of the Planning Commission’s recommendation, the Township Board shall deliberate upon the requested rezoning and may approve or deny the conditional rezoning request. The Township Board’s deliberations shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
1. Compatibility with the policies and uses designated for the land and area in the Township’s Master Plan, or deviation from the Master Plan if the proposed development is compatible with the overall development, goals, character and/or needs of the Township.
2. Compatibility, or reasonable assimilation through offered conditions, with other uses in the surrounding areas considering the area as a whole and the overall development, goals, character and/or needs of the Township.
3. Availability and adequacy of public services and facilities, and whether there is likely to be any adverse impact from a development or use allowed under the rezoning with Conditional Rezoning Agreement; and
4. Whether the development that would be approved shall advance the public interest, weighing the reasonably expected burdens likely to result from allowing the development against the reasonably expected benefits to be achieved by the development.
The Township Board may consider amendments to the proposed conditional rezoning application as offered by the applicant, and may deny the application, or approve the conditional rezoning with or without offered amendments, or send the application back to the Planning Commission for further consideration. In the case of newly offered amendments to the proposed conditional rezoning and/or if a conditional rezoning request is referred back to the Planning Commission for further consideration the Township Board shall make a determination if a new public hearing shall be held.
E. Approval.
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2. The Conditional Rezoning Agreement, as initially submitted, or as may be modified during the course of the rezoning process, shall:
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d. Contain a A specification of all conditions proposed by the land owner to be applicable to the use and development of the land, including the following to the extent relevant:
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H. Termination. If approved development and/or use of the rezoned land does not occur within the timeframe specified under Subsection G above, or if the property owner makes a request in writing for termination of the Conditional Rezoning Agreement prior to making any improvements pursuant to the Conditional Rezoning Agreement, or if the land that is conditionally rezoned is thereafter rezoned, then the conditional rezoning and the Conditional Rezoning Agreement shall be deemed to be immediately terminated except in the Township’s discretion as to that part of the land, if any, that has been developed. In the event of such termination, no new development or use of the land shall be permitted until a new zoning classification is approved by a rezoning of the land. Upon such termination, the Planning Commission shall immediately initiate the process to rezone the land in whole or in part to its prior or other appropriate zoning classification. The procedure for considering and adopting this rezoning shall be the same as applied to all other rezoning requests. Once the rezoning has occurred, the Township shall, upon request of the land owner, record with the Register of Deeds for Oakland County a notice that the Conditional Rezoning Agreement, except in the Township’s discretion as to that part of the land, if any, that has been developed, is no longer in effect.
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SECTION 2 of Ordinance
All other ordinances or parts of ordinances which are inconsistent or in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency or conflict.
SECTION 3 of Ordinance
The various parts, sections and clauses of this Ordinance are declared to be severable. If any part, sentence, paragraph, section or clause is adjudged unconstitutional or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the Ordinance shall not be affected.
SECTION 4 of Ordinance
This Ordinance shall be published in full in a newspaper of general circulation in the Charter Township of Orion, qualified under State law to publish legal notices, and shall become effective upon publication, as provided by law.
SECTION 5 of Ordinance
This Ordinance is hereby declared to have been adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Charter Township of Orion at a meeting thereof duly called and held on the 1st day of November 2016, and ordered to be given publication in the manner prescribed by the Charter of the Township of Orion.
Complete copies of the proposed Ordinance can be viewed on the Township’s website, www.oriontownship.org and also are on file in the office of the Township Clerk, 2525 Joslyn Road, Lake Orion, Michigan, 48360, where they may be examined during normal business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Written comments may be submitted before the meeting to Penny S. Shults, Clerk, at the address listed above.
Penny S. Shults, Clerk
Charter Township of Orion
Publish: 10.12.16