§ 403.010. General Requirements For All Applications., Chapter 403. Development Review Procedures, Unified Development Code, Code of Ordinances, Blue Springs

The following general requirements shall apply to all applications under this Development Code:

Authority To File Applications. Table 403.010-1 indicates applicants eligible for each particular application under this Development Code, which include the following:

Owner. The record owner of property impacted by the application, or that owner's authorized agent according to contract or authorization form provided by the City executed by the record owner. In the case of an application requiring a public hearing, and for the purposes of the right to appeal, all those receiving mailed notice shall be considered owners impacted by the application.

Staff. Any department head acting on behalf of the City.

Planning Commission. The Planning Commission, acting on its own initiative according to its bylaws and rules of procedure.

City Council. The City Council acting on its own initiative according to its bylaws and rules of procedure.

Editor's Note: Table 403.010-1 is included as an attachment to this Chapter.

Applications And Fees.

Applications required under this Chapter shall be submitted on forms provided by the Community Development Department and in such numbers as required by the City. The Community Development Director is authorized to modify the application forms and submittal requirements as deemed necessary in the Director's discretion.

Applications shall be accompanied by a non-refundable fee established by the City Council from time to time to defray the costs of processing applications. Any application that does not include the required fee shall be returned to the applicant as incomplete. Fees shall not be required with applications initiated by the staff, Planning Commission, or City Council.

Application Processing Cycles.

Timing Generally. The Director of Community Development, after consulting with the Planning Commission and City Council, may from time to time establish a processing cycle for each type of application. Processing cycles may include:

(1)

Dates of regular meetings of review bodies and decision makers;

(2)

Deadlines for receipt of a complete application for consideration of such application at a particular meeting;

(3)

The scheduling of staff reviews and staff reports on complete applications;

(4)

All required steps in the application process (including public hearings, decision meetings and review by other bodies); and

(5)

The publication of required notices of public hearings.

Pre-Application Meeting. Pre-application meetings shall be required as indicated in Table 403.010-1. Where required, the applicant shall confer with the Director of Community Development and other City Officials designated by the Director. The purpose of the pre-application meeting is to discuss the proposal and the applicable development review and approval procedures.

Editor's Note: Table 403.010-1 is included as an attachment to this Chapter.

Staff Review. Upon receipt of an application, the Director of Community Development shall take the following steps:

(1)

Review the application for completeness within five (5) days of filing. If the Community Development Director determines that the application is complete, the application shall then be processed. If the Community Development Director determines that it is incomplete, the Director shall, within such five-day period, notify the applicant of the specific ways in which the application is deficient and no further processing of the application shall occur until the deficiencies are corrected. If the application is not completed within thirty (30) days of the notice to the applicant, the incomplete application is deemed rejected and shall be returned to the applicant.

(2)

Schedule the application for further review for applications that require official review beyond staff.

(a)

Timing Of Review.

(i)

Applications that require a public hearing shall be scheduled for initial review within sixty (60) days of a determination of a complete application.

(ii)

Applications that require multiple public hearings shall have subsequent hearings within thirty (30) days of the close of the prior public hearing.

(iii)

Applications that do not require a hearing but an official public meeting shall be scheduled within thirty (30) days of a determination of a complete application or within thirty (30) days of the recommendation from another review body.

(b)

In the event that the next regular meeting of the review body is beyond these time periods, or the required notice cannot be given within these time periods, the application shall be scheduled for the regular meeting closest to the time period which permits compliance with the UDC and for which notice may be given.

(3)

Prepare a staff report that reviews the application in light of the appropriate policies, plans and regulations. The Director of Community Development shall provide a copy of the report to the review body and the applicant at least five (5) days before the scheduled meeting.

Notice. Notice shall be provided for each application as indicated in Table 403.010-1, and based on the following requirements:

(1)

Published. Where published notice is required, at least fifteen (15) days' notice of the time and place of scheduled review shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation within the City. Where applications require more than one (1) public hearing, separate notices of each public hearing may be provided or notice of the time and place of both public hearings may be provided in one (1) consolidated notice.

(2)

Posted. Where posted notice is required, the applicant or their designee shall post notice on property that is the subject of the application at least fifteen (15) days before the scheduled review. The City will furnish the sign(s) for posting. Posting shall be placed in a manner so that it is visible from public rights-of-way adjacent to the subject property. The City shall determine the number of signs needed and the general location of the posting based on a site plan provided by the applicant. Failure to post or maintain such posted notice shall not invalidate any action taken.

(3)

Mailed. Where mailed notice is required, the City, at applicant's cost, will attempt to notify, by mail, all property owners whose property limits are within one-hundred-eighty-five (185) feet, excluding existing rights-of-way, of the boundaries of the property that is the subject of the application. When mailed notices have been properly addressed and deposited in the mail, failure of a party to receive such notice shall not invalidate any subsequent action.

(4)

Constructive Notice. Minor technical deviations from stated notice requirements shall not be deemed to impair notice where there is actual notice of the time, date and place of the public hearing. In all cases, requirements for the timing of notices and for specifying the time, date and place of public hearings shall be strictly construed. Where there is a question raised regarding the adequacy of notice, the body hearing the matter may make a formal finding at the public hearing about whether there was substantial compliance with the notice requirements of this Chapter.

Editor's Note: Table 403.010-1 is included as an attachment to this Chapter.

Action By Review Bodies.

(1)

Review bodies shall take the actions indicated in Table 403.010-1 on individual applications. A review body may take any action on the application, regardless of the presence of the applicant, that is consistent with the notice given, including the following (or recommend the following when the review body is a recommending body):

(a)

Approve the application.

(b)

Approve the application with conditions or modifications. When imposing conditions or approving modifications, the review body may allow amendments to the application if the effect is to allow a lesser intensity or impact from the application or mitigate a situation created or aggravated by the proposed application.

(c)

Deny the application.

(d)

Continue the application to allow further analysis. A public hearing for which proper notice was given may be continued to a later date without again complying with the notice requirements of this Chapter, provided that the continuance is set for a date and time certain and the date and time is announced at the original public hearing. The continued application shall not be more than sixty (60) days from the original public hearing without consent of the applicant. No application shall be continued more than once by each review body without consent of the applicant.

Editor's Note: Table 403.010-1 is included as an attachment to this Chapter.

(2)

When a review body recommends to another review body, the recommending body shall transmit a written summary of its action and proceedings to the next review body. Recommendations shall be made at the close of the hearing or end of the meeting. When a review body fails to take action on an application within the time required, such inaction shall be deemed a recommendation for denial of the application, unless the applicant requests or agrees to an extension of the time frame. When the review body makes the final decision as indicated in Table 403.010-1, the decision shall be made within sixty (60) days of the close of the public hearing or end of the meeting.

Editor's Note: Table 403.010-1 is included as an attachment to this Chapter.

Appeals. Where a review body is designated as the appellate body in Table 403.010-1, the following appeal procedures apply:

(1)

Appeals shall be filed with the Director of Community Development within seven (7) days of the decision by the decision-making review body.

(2)

The following persons and entities shall have standing to appeal the action of the review body: the applicant; the Director of Community Development; the Planning Commission or any member thereof; the City Council or any member thereof; any owner of land directly affected by the action or proposed action; any person who received mailed notice of the application; any person who participated in a public hearing on the proposed action; any other person that the body taking the final, non-appellate action or the appellate body determines to be actually or potentially aggrieved by the appealed action; and any person given the right of appeal by law.

(3)

The review body designated as the appellate body shall consider the application as a new matter, and within sixty (60) days of the date that the appeal was filed take any action authorized by the decision-making review body. The procedure and required notice shall be the same as required of the original application.

Editor's Note: Table 403.010-1 is included as an attachment to this Chapter.

Submission Of Technical Studies For Additional Review. The Community Development Director, Director of Public Works, Planning Commission or City Council may require applicants for development or permit approval to submit such technical studies as may be necessary to enable the Planning Commission or City Council to evaluate the application, or may require technical review by outside entities with expertise or jurisdiction over some aspects of the application. Examples of technical studies that may be required may include traffic studies, engineering studies, geologic or hydrologic studies, environmental impact assessments or noise studies. The persons or firms preparing the studies shall be subject to the approval of the Community Development Director and Director of Public Works. The costs of all studies shall be borne by the applicant. Any application that is determined to require technical studies or review from entities outside of the City may require special schedules based on the reasonable time frames to conduct those studies or additional reviews.

Successive Applications. In the event that the review body takes final action to deny an application, the same or a similar application shall not be refiled for one (1) year from the advertised review date. The Director of Community Development, upon petition by the applicant, may permit a refiling of the application six (6) months after the scheduled review date when it determines that significant physical, economic or land use changes have taken place within the immediate vicinity or a significant Development Code text amendment has been adopted. There shall be no time limitation on a substantially different application if such is determined to be substantially different in the discretion of the Director of Community Development.