Council reviews special-use-permit process; staff recommends comprehensive-plan update before broad changes

Paulette Hartman, planning staff, briefed the council on special use permits (SUPs) and how they relate to zoning and a comprehensive land-use plan. She said SUPs allow property owners to request uses not typically permitted in a zoning district and noted that about 208 distinct uses in the commercial land-use table currently require an SUP.

Hartman described the statutory and procedural elements of SUPs: notice to property owners within 200 feet of a proposed zoning change, signage on the property, and a public hearing with notice published at least 14 days prior to the hearing. She stressed that SUPs are effectively zoning changes that “run with the land,” though the council can place time limits or conditions in some cases.

Hartman also cautioned the council about legal risk. She said broad, piecemeal changes to SUPs or the permitted-use table could prompt legal claims from owners who previously obtained, or were denied, SUPs; she noted state law remedies that can include compensation for loss of permitted use. Hartman recommended beginning any major changes by updating the comprehensive plan and future land-use map so zoning changes could be addressed holistically rather than through many individual SUP changes.

Councilmembers generally agreed that a citywide comprehensive-plan review is the appropriate first step and that piecemeal changes to SUPs were inadvisable. Councilmembers asked staff to wait until after higher-priority items (including an upcoming bond program) and to start a comp-plan update when staff resources allow later in 2025. No formal vote was taken; the council agreed to “stay the course” for SUPs for now and to plan a coordinated review with the next comprehensive-plan update.