1. Specific Approval Criteria. The following uses are subject to the following additional criteria:

1. Adult businesses;

2. Animal shelter;

3. Automobile service (including trucks and commercial vehicles);

4. Automobile sales;

5. Automobile leasing (except when no vehicles are stored on site);

6. Batch plants, coalbed methane extraction, resource extraction, and other similar uses;

7. Boat and/or recreational vehicle service, sales, or leasing (except when no boats or recreational vehicles are stored on site);

8. Campgrounds or recreation vehicle parks;

9. Car washes, detail shops, and/or service stations;

10. Cemetery;

11. Check cashing establishments;

12. Coffee stands (within a free-standing portable-type structure);

13. Communication equipment, digital or electrical signal transmission towers, and/or cell towers over 10 feet in height (all types);

14. Contractor’s establishments (except for purely professional offices without outdoor storage of equipment or supplies);

15. Donation boxes;

16. Drive-through of any kind (except as allowed in subsection (D) of this section);

17. Flea market;

18. Fortune tellers, palm readers, psychics, etc.;

19. Funeral homes and/or crematoriums;

20. Garden center or plant nursery (does not include retail florist);

21. Head shops;

22. Helipad/heliport;

23. Hospitals;

24. Indoor firing range;

25. Industrial uses (These include, but are not limited to, manufacturing, distribution, warehouse, lumber yards, waste facilities, recycling collection or processing facilities, scrap yards, junkyards, wrecked motor vehicle compounds, machine and/or welding shops, storage yards, heavy machinery storage, rental, sales and/or repair, etc.);

26. Minor manufacturing for direct retail sales in the same building for uses such as artisan or craftsman shops is permissible;

27. Institutional home;

28. Landscaping or lawn business (except for professional office space only without outdoor storage of equipment or supplies);

29. Laundromats;

30. Marijuana clubs, retail stores, cultivation facilities, and/or testing facilities;

31. Massage parlors;

32. Mini-warehouse or pay storage facilities of any kind;

33. Pawn shops;

34. Play field;

35. Residential single-family (detached) or duplex;

36. Zoo.

“Appearance” means the outward aspect that is visible to the public.

“Appropriate” means fitting to the context of a site, neighborhood or community.

“Architectural concept” means the basic aesthetic idea of a structure, or group of structures, including the site, signs, buildings and landscape development that produce the architectural character.

“Architectural feature” means a significant element of a structure or site.

“Architectural merit” means an acknowledgment by a recognized institution or organization of architecture or historical preservation such as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) that a building represents a high quality work or quality example of a specific architectural style.

“Architraves” means molding around a door or window.

“Attractive” means having qualities that attract and create interest and appeal in numerous, but not necessarily all, observers.

“Building height” means the distance from lowest point in the finished earthen grade around the building to the highest point on the roof or chimney.

“Building setback” means the distance from the right-of-way or property line to the face of the closest building or projection including roof overhangs and attached utilities. Projections shall be considered part of the building and therefore must be included in any setback determination.

“Building site” means each buildable tract or parcel of real property that is contained in the downtown overlay district defined herein. For the purposes hereof, any adjoining or contiguous property conveyed to an owner of a building site shall be deemed to be part of the building site owned by said owner.

“Build-to lines or zones” means a line or zone along a public street to which the main face or wall of a building must directly abut or be built within. Unlike a setback which sets a minimum distance from the road, a “build-to” line ensures the building will be built closer to the road to create the proper sense of scale for the sidewalk and streetscape within the district. The distance is measured from the back of curb and not the right-of-way.

“Cohesiveness” means unity of composition among elements of a structure or among structures, and their landscape development.

“Compatibility” means harmony in appearance of architectural features in the same vicinity.

“Cornice” means a horizontal molded projection that crowns or completes a building or wall.

“Design and development standards” means those standards adopted hereby by ordinance of the Wasilla city council from time to time and in accordance with the provisions of this section and maintained by the city clerk and made available by the city planning department.

“Designation” or “designated” means a decision by the city council wherein a property or district is declared an overlay district.

“Exterior architectural features” means the architectural style, general design, and general arrangement of the exterior of a structure and site including, but not limited to, the kind or texture of the building material and the type and style of all windows, doors, signs, facade, landscaping, and other architectural fixtures, features, details, or elements relative thereto.

“External design feature” means the general arrangement of any portion of structures or landscaping that are open to the public view, including but not limited to, the type, and texture of the materials, the type of roof, windows, doors, lights, signs, and fixtures of portions.

“Fenestration” means the arrangement of windows in a building.

“Geographic area” means the land area subject to the downtown overlay district regulations.

“Harmony” means a quality that represents an attractive arrangement of parts, as in an arrangement of various architectural elements.

“Head shop” means a retail store specializing in tobacco paraphernalia used for the consumption of tobacco, marijuana, and/or other non-legal substances. Other products offered for sale often include pipes, pipe screens, bongs/water pipes, clips, vaporizers, rolling papers, incense, lighters, and counterculture art, magazines, music, clothing, and home decor.

“Historical significance” means the building or property that has been recognized and proven to be an integral part of a historically significant event or place by any agency lawfully authorized to assign a historical designation.

“Improvements” means any and all building site developments, betterments, modifications and construction including, but not limited to, buildings, structures, walks, towers, tanks, patios, decks, driveways, signs, docks, walls, fences, screens, parking areas, drainage and utility conduit, excavations and grading. Routine maintenance is not an improvement.

“Landscape” means plant materials, landscape beds, berms and earthen topography and other physical elements combined in relation to one another and to structures including pavement.

“Landscape zones” means an area a minimum of 10 feet in width and located immediately adjacent to the curb and shall be continuous. This zone may be used for street trees, streetlights, benches, planters, trash receptacles, bicycle parking racks and other street furniture, pedestrian lights, landscaping or sod.

“Logic of design” means widely accepted principles and criteria in the solution of design problems.

“Lunette” means a crescent-shaped or semicircular space, usually over a door or window that may contain another window, a sculpture or a mural.

“Material change in appearance” means a change in a structure or a parking lot within the downtown overlay district that exceeds ordinary maintenance or repairs (see definition) and requires either a sign permit, building permit, or land disturbance permit such as, but not limited to:

“Mixed-use development” means a building containing nonresidential and residential uses. The nonresidential use(s) shall occupy the first or bottom floor and the residential use(s) occupy the second or upper floor(s).

“Muntins/mullions” means a strip of wood or metal separating and supporting and holding panes of glass in a window or panels set in series.

“Nuisance” means any usage of a building site that:

“Occupant” means an entity or person who may or may not also be an owner and is in lawful possession or has the lawful right to use any building site or portion thereof.

“Ordinary maintenance or repair” means the ordinary maintenance or repair of any exterior of any structure, parking lot, or sign in or on a downtown overlay district property to correct deterioration, decay or damage or to sustain the existing form and that does not involve a material change in outer design, material, or appearance thereof. Painting, reroofing, resurfacing, replacement of a broken sign face, and other similar types of ordinary maintenance shall be deemed ordinary maintenance and repair.

“Overlay district” means a geographically definable area, possessing a significant concentration or linkage of sites, buildings, structures, objects or landscapes, including the adjacent area necessary for the proper treatment thereof, united by plan and/or physical development. An overlay district shall further mean an area designated by the city council as such.

“Owner” means the record title holder, whether one or more persons or entities, of fee simple title to any building site located within the downtown overlay district and shall include the owner’s heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns but exclude those persons holding title thereto merely as security for the performance of one or more obligations.

“Parapet” means a low protective wall or railing along the edge of a raised structure such as a roof or balcony.

“Personal service” means a business or enterprise providing individual services generally related to personal needs, including, but not limited to, barber shops, beauty, nail, or tanning salons, shoe or watch repair, and tailor shops.

“Project” means an improvement, repair, upgrade, addition, change in appearance, modification, alteration or development on a site or building that requires some form of construction or labor to take place.

“Projection” means any physical attached part of a building including, but not limited to, a roof overhang, steps, porch, stoop, elevated wood deck, raised patio or an attached utility such as an air-conditioning condenser. Note: Patios at grade may not be considered projections.

“Proportion” means a balanced relationship of parts of a building, signs and other structures, and landscape to each other and to the whole.

“Routine maintenance” means activities such as, but not limited to, cleaning building exterior and property, replacing deteriorated materials that compose less than 25 percent of the building’s exterior, and/or painting.

“Scale” means the proportional relationships of the size of parts to one another and to humans. Also a drawing’s relative size as referenced against a known dimensional standard.

“Sidewalk clear zones” means a continuous area located immediately contiguous to the landscape zone.

“Street hardware” means objects other than buildings that are part of the streetscape. Examples include but are not limited to, street light fixtures, utility poles, traffic lights and their fixtures, benches, litter containers, planting containers, and fire hydrants.

“Streetscape” means the appearance and organization of buildings, paving, plantings, street hardware and miscellaneous structures along a street.

“Transom window/panel” means a small window or panel above a door that is usually hinged to a horizontal crosspiece over the door.

1. Approval of Plans Required. No improvements shall be constructed, erected, placed, altered, maintained, or permitted to remain on any building site by any owner or occupant until final plans and specifications have been submitted to and approved in writing by the city planner or planning commission, as required in subsection (D) of this section. Such final plans and specifications shall be submitted in duplicate with the authorized signature of the owner and/or occupant of the building site, or the authorized agent thereof. The plans and specifications shall be in such form and shall contain such information as may be reasonably required by the city planner and the design must comply with the then-current district design standards established for the downtown overlay district.

2. Thresholds for Review. The following project types require review:

3. Exemptions from Review. The following are exempt from review:

1. Pre-Application Meeting. Prior to submitting an application under this title for property in the downtown overlay district, the applicant shall schedule a pre-application meeting with the city planner. The purpose of the pre-application meeting is to identify design issues and provide recommendations and advice to the applicant on the design proposal relative to the Downtown Overlay District Design Standards. At the pre-application meeting, the applicant shall present dimensioned sketches or more refined conceptual drawings for the project that is the subject of the application that provide sufficient information so the city planner may identify conflicts with the Downtown Overlay District Design Standards and any other applicable regulations in this title. One pre-application meeting shall be required per application; however, the applicant may schedule subsequent pre-application meetings to obtain additional design evaluations and recommendations.

2. Application Submittals. All application submittals for property within the downtown overlay district are subject to the application requirements in WMC Chapters 16.08, 16.12, and 16.16. In addition to those requirements, all of the following items must be submitted with the application:

If changes to the site plan that is submitted with an application are required as conditions of the approval of the application, the applicant shall submit a revised site plan that incorporates the required changes before the application is approved. The approved site plan shall be part of the approved application, and development under the approved application shall conform to the approved site plan.

3. Approval. Approval shall be based upon adequacy of site dimensions, structural design, conformity with the downtown overlay district design standards, harmony of external design with neighboring structures, effect of location and use of proposed improvements upon neighboring lots, proper facing of main elevation with respect to nearby streets, adequacy of screening of mechanical installations and conformity of the plans and specifications to the purpose and intent of this section. Reasonable conditions may be placed on the permit to ensure that the use will be consistent with the purpose and intent of this section. One copy of the approved plans and specifications shall be retained by the city and the other copy shall be returned to the applicant.

1. Commencement of Work. Upon approval of the plans and specifications, the applicant shall, as soon as practicable, satisfy any and all conditions of such approval and shall diligently proceed with the commencement and completion of all approved excavation, construction, refinishing and alterations. In all cases, work shall commence within one year from the date of approval. If work is not so commenced, approval shall be deemed revoked unless the city planner, pursuant to written request made and received prior to the expiration of said one-year period, extends the period of time within which work must be commenced.

2. Completion of Work. Any improvement that has received final approval shall be prosecuted diligently and in a workmanlike manner and shall be completed within 18 months from the construction starting date. In the event of strike, fire, national emergency, natural disaster or other supervening force beyond the control of the applicant, the city planner may, upon written request made and received prior to the expiration of the period, extend the period of time within which work must be completed.

3. Site Inspection and Final Completion. Prior to the city’s issuance of a certificate of completion (COC) for a project or development falling under the purview of this section, the owner or developer (or agent) shall notify the city of the project’s completion and the city staff shall visit the site and inspect the work performed. If the work is found to have been completed in compliance with the plans and documents and all other city requirements have been met, the city will issue a COC and provide it to the owner, developer or agent.

1. Buildings and Site Improvements. Each building site and all improvements thereon (whether occupied or vacant) including, without limitation, buildings, walls, walkways, fences, screens, driveways, parking areas and/or signs shall at all times be constructed, kept and maintained by the owner or occupant in a neat and attractive condition. All repairs, alterations, replacements or additions to such improvements shall be at least equal to the original work quality and class. The necessity and adequacy of such repairs shall be measured by the same standard as set forth herein for the original construction and maintenance. Landscaping shall be maintained in a well-kept condition. Upon the failure of any owner or occupant to repair and maintain improvements to a building site to the reasonable satisfaction of the city, the city or its authorized representatives may in its reasonable discretion (but without obligation to do so) after seven days’ written notice to the owner and to the occupant (if other than the owner) enter upon such building site and perform the necessary repair or maintenance when and as often as the same is necessary in its reasonable judgment. The owner of the building site (and when occupied by a non-owner, the occupant) shall be personally liable to the city for the cost of such necessary repair and/or maintenance as was incurred by the city.

2. Grounds. The grounds of each building site (whether vacant or occupied) shall be maintained in a neat and attractive condition. Upon the failure of any owner and/or occupant to maintain the grounds of a building site (whether vacant or occupied) in a neat and attractive condition, the city may (but shall be under no obligation to) after seven days’ prior written notice to such owner and occupant (if other than the owner) enter upon the building site and have the grass, weeds or other vegetation cut or trimmed when, and as often as, the same is reasonably necessary in its judgment and may have dead trees, shrubs and/or other plants and trash removed therefrom and, if appropriate, replaced. The owner of the building site (and when occupied by a non-owner, the occupant) shall be liable to the city for the cost of any such cutting, clearing, maintenance or removal determined by the city to be necessary.

1. Application. After the pre-application conference, the applicant shall submit an application for the design exception to the city planner with the appropriate application fee. The site plan for the application shall depict all information relevant to the requested waiver or modification.

2. Public Hearing. The planning commission shall hold a public hearing on the application. The notice, comment period, and hearing procedure shall be the same as provided in WMC 16.16.040 for a conditional use.

3. Consideration. In evaluating an application, the planning commission may consider any of the following alternatives to offset a design deficiency, if they find that the proposed alternative will serve the purpose of this section:

4. Decision. The planning commission may approve an application only if they find that the application meets one or more of the following standards: