14-15-102 SCOPE

Any commercial development and/or any other type of development that requires site plan review shall be subject to the standards and regulations of this Chapter. Such standards and regulations are intended to be in addition to existing standards and regulations of the underlying zone of the property and other applicable regulations of this Title. A. This Chapter establishes two kinds of design criteria: design standards and design guidelines. 1. Design standards are required in addition to other standards set forth in this Title and are indicated by the verb “shall.” In the event of conflict between this section and other applicable provisions of this Title, the more restrictive provision shall apply. 2. It is the intent of the City that every development subject to this section be designed in conformity to the purpose and requirements of this Code. However, the City also recognizes that it cannot anticipate all possible circumstances, nor the best means for dealing with them, in the preparation and adoption of these regulations. For example, criteria established herein may be more germane to larger projects than to smaller ones, depending on the individual characteristics of the site, such as size, configuration, topography and location. Therefore, the approving authority, unless expressly stated to the contrary in this chapter, shall have reasonable discretion in implementing the purpose of this chapter by modifying both mandatory and recommended criteria as individual circumstances may merit. In deviating from the adopted standards, it shall be the responsibility of the applicant to show why the requirements would be an unreasonable burden, and how the project would still meet the purpose and intent of the Code. In the same vein, the approving authority may also require that certain provisions 14-15-103 of this Code, which are not mandatory, be included in a project based on individual circumstances. See Chapter 3 of this Title for the following definitions: “HARDSCAPE” “SOFTSCAPE”