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Staff asks commission for feedback on technical Land Development Code updates
Summary
City staff presented a package of technical and minor Land Development Code amendments covering procedural updates, new definitions (building story, driveway, pet relief area), a proposed 'transportation services' use, signage clarifications, and design standard tweaks; commissioners provided targeted feedback on signage, perforated vinyl rules, pet area materials, ADA parking alignment and implementation logistics.
City planning staff briefed the Centennial Planning and Zoning Commission on an initial package of proposed technical amendments to the Land Development Code intended to clarify language, add definitions and close gaps in implementation.
Principal Planner Jenna Campbell said staff’s intent is limited and technical: to keep the code clear and aligned with current planning and development practices rather than to enact new policy. Campbell grouped proposed edits into four categories: procedural updates (e.g., updating Appendix C and adding PUD and regulating-plan processes to administrative/public-hearing tables), new uses and definitions (including a proposed "transportation services" use to account for fleet parking and storage separate from vehicle sales, and definitions for building story and driveway), signage clarifications, and design-standard adjustments (glazing, parking dimensions and rooftop HVAC screening).
On signage, staff proposed removing permanent signage from vacant spaces after 30 days, clarifying temporary-sign duration by material, and explicitly treating perforated vinyl window signs as permanent for transparency calculations. Campbell said, "we have requirements, for example, that the transparency of windows must be 50%... we would say that is as shown 0% transparency" for solid perforated vinyl. Commissioners raised practical questions: whether a 30-day removal requirement should apply to temporary leasing banners, how the city would enforce a 30-day rule (inspections versus landlord notification), and if perforated vinyl should be permitted on vacant storefronts used for temporary screening or artwork. Staff clarified that the proposal targets permanent signage and that temporary "for lease/coming soon" banners would remain allowed.
On definitions, commissioners pressed staff to craft a precise definition of "story" (how to count high ceilings or retail ground floors) and to consider how the code’s 'district' term affects monument sign allowances; staff said they would likely replace 'district' with 'parcel' in that context. For pet relief areas, members suggested the city coordinate with SemsWA and avoid artificial turf; one commissioner recommended decomposed granite.
Design-standard items included aligning disabled parking dimensions with ADA and clarifying when rooftop HVAC screening applies to new versus replacement equipment and whether visibility from the right-of-way should be the determinative factor. Staff will take commissioners’ feedback and draft ordinance language for future Commission and council consideration. Campbell said staff has already discussed the initiative with council and will return with a proposed ordinance for public hearings and eventual council action.
Next steps: staff will draft specific ordinance language informed by the feedback from this meeting, return to the commission for recommendation, and then present the ordinance to city council for consideration at a public hearing.
