Ontario council will tackle zoning proposal

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The second public hearing concerns the language of the proposed Urban Growth Area employment zone, which is a mixture of uses included in the city's heavy commercial and light industrial zones.

This will be the second time the City Council has addressed the issue. The first time, members referred the ordinance back to the planning commission so it could revise the uses that would be included because council members felt it was too restrictive.

During the City Council's Friday work session, the council further considered uses for the zone, after interim Ontario Planning Director Dan Stieneke brought to the council's attention the city's lawyer opposed one of the recommendations made by the planning commission.

The commission recommended anything not named on the expressly permitted or prohibited lists be considered as a conditional use.

"If we try to do that we're going to get beat up pretty bad," Stieneke said.

He said any business or industry listed as conditional can be built in that area, only conditions will be placed upon them prior to building.

Not listing specific conditional uses would open up the city to many problems in terms of what the zone was planned for, Stieneke said, and open the city up to potential litigation.

He explained to the council, while the city would not want the employment zone to be too restrictive, it was better than having too few restrictions, as the city can go back and amend the zone later to make it less restrictive if necessary. It would be harder to make it more restrictive because property owners could then possibly present a Measure 37 case to the city.

During Friday's work session, the council went through the original lists and made adjustments to the conditional use category. At the recommendation of the city's lawyer, the light manufacturing use included currently in the expressly permitted category will not be a conditional use, so city planners can determine what light manufacturing is desired for the zone, rather than allowing all light manufacturing. The council also agreed, in addition to the original conditional uses, an amusement center should also be included in the list.

The council will vote on all the language, and any additional items members choose to add, after the hearing at Monday's meeting.

Also during the meeting, the council will vote on changing the golf course fees to include a "new member" season pass.

The Ontario Golf Course has not received many new members - only membership renewals, and the Golf Course Committee wanted to present more of an incentive to join. The current membership for a single player is $500, and the committee is recommending a discounted rate of $299 for new members who did not own a golf membership within the past year.