06-21-2010 Planning Commission Packet

Home Browse Search

#10-3473 RPUD Amendment June 17,2010 ' Page 3 For purposes of the following discussion, staff is using the term"assisted living facilities"to • iriclude nursing homes, rest homes,retirement homes,memory care facilities, skilled nursing facilities (but not hospitals, sanitariums or similar institutions, or licensed residential care facilities). Proposed RPUD Amendment The RPUD District is the only distxict in which Orono allows multifamily attached dwellings as a permitted use, and the RPUD code section establishes specific standards for such dwellings with regards to setbacks, separation of uses, height limitations and outside storage limitations, as well as other development standards applicable to both multifamily attached and single family dwelling developments. � Because assisted living facilities are likely to be somewhat si.milar in character to multifamily uses in their impacts,�and because the appropriate standards for regulating those impacts are generally in place within the RPUD District standards, it follows that"assisted living facilities" would be an appropriate use in the RPUD District. Permitted Use or Conditional Use? Esta.blishing"assisted living facilities" as a permitted use in the RPUD District would subject it directly to all the standazds established in that District, all of which were created to be applicable to strictly residential use. The value in making"assisted living facilities" a conditional use is the ability of the City to impose additional appropriate conditions in its approvals. Why would � we want this ability? Because there may be aspects of the assisted living facility use that,while perhaps subtle, are not within the `norm' for residential dwelling use. An example is that there will be employees working fizll-time at the site that do not live there; and there is the likelihood y of more service and delivery vehicle traffic than a standard multi-family dwelling situation. ' For the above reasons, staff believes it would be most appropriate to add"assisted living facilities"to the RPUD District as a conditional use. This has the additional benefit of subjecting the use to the various general conditional use standards that ensure appropriate development. " Proposed Amendment Text and Definitions The various definitions in Attachment A are included to generate discussion about the variety of assisted living options or nuances the City could potentially see proposed as our population ages. However,the scope of this amendment is intended to be fairly narrow at this time, and does not intend to address the appropriate zoning for higher institutional uses such as hospitals. �