City Council Agenda and Packet 2019 01 08

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City Council Meeting Minutes December 18, 2018 Page 4 of 14 A columbarium is a room or wall with niches for storage of funeral urns and is classified as a Cemetery under the Louisville Municipal Code (LMC). Approval of this application would allow only what is proposed; any changes would require additional approvals. She reviewed the history of the property. The application, if approved, will not allow burial of human remains rather it will only permit the construction of the columbarium as shown on the SRU plans to hold cremated human remains. The property, and the surrounding neighborhoods are zoned Residential Estate (RE). A cemetery requires approval of a SRU in the RE zone district. This was originally submitted in September 2017, after meetings with neighbors the applicant submitted a new design and included a trip generation letter that shows no increase in traffic, with which Public Works concurs. The columbarium will be in a fully enclosed courtyard with a 7'4" foot wall. All access to the columbarium is from inside the Sanctuary, with no access from outside. From the exterior it will match the existing building. The niches for urns are located on the screen walls facing the existing church and are not visible from the exterior of the building. Planner Ritchie showed renderings of the proposed columbarium. Ritchie stated staff recommends approval of the Special Review Use. Councilmember Maloney asked if this is a cemetery use or a church use. He noted he thinks when it was external facing it might be more cemetery, but now as it is internal facing it seems more of a church use. Ritchie stated it could have fallen in either category. Staff felt the use as a cemetery was the most appropriate and consistent with the code based on the use, not the design. Director Zuccaro stated staff looked at many definitions as there is no definition in the LMC but did find this consistent. He noted either way staff would be looking at the design, external impacts, lighting, architecture, etc. They felt cemetery use was the appropriate category when the application was submitted. Ritchie noted either use would have required a Special Review Use hearing. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton asked if the City Attorney could highlight the federal law affecting this application. City Attorney Kelly stated the requirements of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) prohibit a local government from applying zoning laws and regulations in a way that substantially burdens religious exercise including the use, building or conversion of real property for the purpose of religious assembly without a compelling government interest pursued through the least restrictive means. It also prohibits local governments from treating religious uses less favorably than non- religious assembly and uses. It prohibits local governments from discriminating based 17