Planning Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 02 11

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes January 14, 2016 Page 12 of 14 use category ten years ago. You see this throughout the LMC. The first column, the planned community zone district, is Chapter 17.72. In Chapter 17.72, there are 23 allowed land uses. In Chapter 17.12, we have 62 allowed land use categories. Chapter 17.12 is City wide. The planned community zone districts are only the PCZD zone districts. This table can be upgraded over time to mix in the Mixed Use Zone District, the planned community zone district, and office zone district. What you are seeing is evidence of the incremental change over time as new business or land uses are discovered. We put them in incrementally. You are bringing up an obvious point from a Planning staff perspective. We know it is frustrating to applicants and it is equally frustrating to staff. Do we need to do a wholesale update to Chapter 17 itself? I would support that as you get through the Small Area Plans. PC has done the Comprehensive Plan. The Small Area Plans and Neighborhood Plans cover every different aspect of the City. You have Staff that supports it. Tengler asks what is the distinction of a commercial gymnasium and when does a fitness or an athletic club turn into a commercial gym? What are they? Russ says we don't allow commercial gymnasiums in the City of Louisville. We don't know what they are. They are not defined in the LMC. We don't have a definition in Chapter 17. Staff then goes to the common interpretation of it in the Webster's or Oxford dictionary and interpret it. Generally, commercial gymnasiums are large commercial facilities. They are similar to health clubs. Multiple sporting events go on within them that are commercial - related. They are slightly different than a health spa. A health spa introduces sales, massage, and other types of businesses. Commercial gym is a really antiquated use. You are seeing evidence of an old land use that was common in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s that is no longer common now. Tengler says if an ice rink proposal came up, how would it be handled? Would it be considered a commercial gym or would it fall under one of these other health or athletic clubs? Russ says I would go through all 62 of the Use Groups. If a specific land use is not identified, it is not allowed. The Use Groups in Chapter 17.12 are very general and leave room for interpretation and some flexibility as new businesses come on time. A publicly- operated ice rink is very different than a private operation. Is it a City municipal service? We have a land use code called Municipal Services and that is where the Downtown Ice Rink falls. Hsu asks about Use Group 16 of private recreational and social facilities such as tennis clubs, swimming clubs, and golf courses. How is that different than what you are proposing? Why haven't gyms been used in this one instead of vocational schools? Russ says I don't think a fitness studio is a recreational item because of the way their business plan works. They are based on instruction. In a yoga studio, you have an instructor with classes that sign up. In a tennis club, you don't. You can interpret it all sorts of ways. I don't think we have a Use Group that clearly defines or accurately reflects a yoga studio, a Crossfit studio, or a climbing gym, which is a very specific single user group. These are nuances on why we kept it in a school because their business plan is school- based, not free use - based. O'Connell asks if we have a definition of spa. Russ says he does not have the LMC in front of me. I suspect we do not. O'Connell asks if we have a definition of massage parlor. Can a massage parlor apply under a spa? Russ says we do have a definition of massage parlor and we heavily regulate them. That specific business model requires licensure to be a massage therapist. If within your business plan, you call for massage, we have codes that specifically call it out. This is different than a spa. A business comes to the Finance Department and applies for a business license and use and licensure are entered. The Finance Department gives it to the Planning Department to determine concurrence.