ITEM NO.

MEETING DATE: 1/10/2001

BACKGROUND

The Town is currently undertaking text amendments to the Tiburon Zoning Ordinance, which was completely revised in 1990. As a courtesy due to the size of the packet, the proposed text amendments are being forwarded to Commission a few days early. Do not be alarmed by the thickness of the packet; it greatly exaggerates the nature of the amendments.

Text amendments to Subchapters 1-5 are proposed; Subchapter 6 is not affected. The timing of the amendments is a result of several factors:

The Town Council has directed Zoning Ordinance text amendments to reflect reduced membership on the Parks & Open Space Commission as well as to close a loophole in the condominium conversion regulations.

The Town Clerk is preparing for the "codification" of the Zoning Ordinance into the Tiburon Municipal Code. Codification will require numerous minor text changes to the Zoning Ordinance, mostly involving "effective dates" and changes from "Ordinance" to "Chapter".

There is an opportunity to perform various "clean-up" text amendments that are periodically warranted. These include amendments to reflect changes in other Town ordinances and documents (Subdivision Ordinance, Sign Ordinance, Encroachment Permit Ordinance, etc) for which the Zoning Ordinance contains outdated information. Other amendments are to sections that have been identified over the years as vague, confusing, or ineffective. The last such "clean-up" amendments were made in 1992.

The end of the year holidays provided Staff to sufficient time to perform the tedious amendment preparation and word processing.

 

ANALYSIS

Text to be deleted is shown as "double struck-through", while proposed new text is "double-underlined". Only pages of the Zoning Ordinance containing proposed amendments are included. Please refer to your binder copies for the full text if needed.

All of the proposed amendments are intended to be non-controversial. Should any amendment generate controversy, the Commission should consider tabling that specific amendment to a later phase of amendments in order to allow the non-controversial amendments to proceed apace.

If there are any questions regarding proposed amendments, Staff encourages individual Commissioners to call the Planning Director prior to the meeting for clarification. Otherwise, Staff will be prepared to discuss and explain all of the proposed amendments at the meeting.

EXHIBITS

1. Proposed text amendments to Zoning Ordinance.