§ 27-340. Amendment to the text of the Unified Development Ordinance.

27-340-1 Purpose. It may be necessary to periodically amend the provisions of the Unified Development Ordinance regulations. This section provides the method of amending the regulations.

27-340-2 Applicant. Any proposed text amendment may be initiated by the board of directors, planning commission, or director. Any citizen of Fort Smith may request in writing to the planning commission that a proposed text amendment be considered. After review of such request from a citizen, the planning commission may initiate the proposed text amendment.

27-340-3 Review procedures.

A.

Staff report. The director or planning staff shall prepare a staff report that reviews the proposed amendment in light of the comprehensive plan, master land use plan, master street plan, other adopted plans, and the terms of the Unified Development Ordinance.

B.

Planning commission review. The director shall provide a copy of the report to the planning commission prior to the scheduled public hearing.

C.

Notice. Notice of the proposed amendment shall be provided pursuant to section 27-308. Notice shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Fort Smith.

D.

Consideration. The planning commission shall take into account all factors that it deems relevant, including consistency of the proposed amendment with the comprehensive plan, master land use plan, master street plan, and other adopted plans, as well as whether the proposed amendment serves to carry out the purposes of the Unified Development Ordinance, and the factors established in section 27-310.

E.

Planning commission action. Following the public hearing, the planning commission may recommend approval, approval as amended, or denial of the proposed amendment.

1.

The planning commission's recommendation shall be certified to the board of directors.

2.

The board of directors shall consider the planning commission's recommendation at the second regularly scheduled meeting following action by the planning commission.

3.

If the planning commission fails to make a recommendation on the amendment, it shall be deemed to have made a recommendation of denial. At that point the amendment shall be forwarded to the board of directors with no recommendation having been made.

F.

Action by the board of directors. When the planning commission certifies a recommendation to the board of directors, the board shall consider the criteria established in subsection 27-340-3(E) and take any action consistent with its authority, including:

1.

Approving the amendment;

2.

Approving the amendment as amended;

3.

Denying the amendment;

4.

Returning the application to the planning commission with specific questions or issues; or

5.

Continue the application to a date certain.

27-340-4 Official copy. If amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance regulations are approved, the director shall have appropriate changes made to the official copy of the regulations and make the updated information available.

27-340-5 Application Appeals Chart.

Application	Appeal Entity
	Planning Commission	Board of Directors	Court of Jurisdiction
Rezoning		X	X
Comp Plan & Master Land Use Amendment		X	X
Conditional Use		X	X
Home Occupation		X	X
Accessory Residential Use	X	X	X
Zoning Variance			X
Subdivision Variance		X
Driveway Variance		X
Preliminary Development Plan Amendment - Major			X
Preliminary Development Plan Amendment - Minor	X		X
Development Plan Review	X	X	X
Subdivision Plat — Major			X
Subdivision Plat — Minor	X		X
Text Amendment		X	X
Written Interpretation of UDO	X	X	X
Vested Rights		X	X

 

(Ord. No. 26-13, § 1(Att.), 6-4-13)