Cortez Land Use Code Chapter 5 - Site Development Standards (Public Review Draft)

Review and comment on Chapter 5 of the Cortez Land Use Code using the below digital PDF. Click anywhere on the document to add a comment. 

Learn more about the update on the City's website here>>

Purpose: Establish specific design standards for all developments to adhere to with regards to parking, lighting, landscaping, fencing, natural resource protections, and signage.

What Changed:

• Relaxed the minimum off-street parking space requirements
• Added an allowance for an alternative parking study to justify a proposed reduction in parking
• Added shared parking standards for flexibility in achieving the minimum parking requirements
• Clarified vision clearance distance for access and driveways
• Increased required sidewalk width in most districts from 4’ to 5’ with additional provisions to accommodate existing, nonconforming conditions
• Increased allowance of fencing for commercial uses to 8’ to match residential uses
• Updated landscape standards from a blanket 10% of the site required to be landscaped to requirements tailored to the specific use
• Incorporated new landscape buffer standards to mitigate impacts of more intense uses on adjacent less intense uses
• Added new natural resource protection standards which require a minimal buffer from public lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands
• Added new lighting standards that establish a baseline for all exterior lighting in the City with the intent of moving the City toward dark sky compliance without strictly specifying compliance
• Added electronic messaging sign standards and updated billboard standards to prohibit new billboards

What remains the same:

• Maintained the basic concept and computation of parking requirements
• Maintained the majority of the existing fence and wall standards with minor clarification and simplification of language
• Maintained applicability and landscape plan requirements within the landscape section
• Maintained most of the existing sign standards with minimal updates for clarification