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State law adds new classification-request process for business uses; city staff preparing code language
Summary
New state requirements force cities to create a classification-request process for business license uses; Millcreek staff said the change creates an administrative-to-legislative path that staff and local counsel find awkward and will require additional code text.
Planning staff told the council that a recent state law requires a formal classification-request process to determine whether a proposed business use aligns with an existing listed use in city code, and that the law routes some administrative determinations to the city council.
Francis Lilly explained that, under the new process, an applicant can ask the planning director whether a proposed use (for example, a hypothetical “chinchilla grooming” business) aligns with an existing code category (such as dog grooming). If the planning director says the use aligns, the applicant proceeds with a business license. If the planning director determines the use is new, state law requires a public process that involves the planning commission and then city council review to designate where the new use may be allowed. Lilly described the result as an unusual hybrid: a classification request that results in what the state calls a zone-text amendment but is administrative in nature.
Lilly said he had discussed the new requirement with other municipal attorneys and legislators and that he expects some legislative fixes next session. In the meantime, staff will draft code language to comply with the statute and add explanatory procedural text to Millcreek’s code.
Lilly described other state-driven changes that affected the code rewrite, including bond-release-by-category requirements and minor changes to parking-space measurement rules. He said staff are implementing the state-mandated changes but lamented that the additional text makes the previously “elegant” subdivision ordinance more complex.
No council action was taken; staff will return with detailed code language as part of the zoning/subdivision ordinance package on April 28.
