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11" to care for aging or infirm relatives and, if the Council agrees with this, then prohibiting '35 ADUs would not seem be a productive step toward regulating them in a positive way. '36 2.2 Even if there's no intellectual qualms about using the interim use process to routinely, 7' and more-or-less permanently, allow what is ostensibly a prohibited use, eliminating ' 8 ADU requirements from the code discards the parameters within which an ADD proposal "39 might be considered. Planning Division staff, the Planning Commission, and the City 40 Council might all agree that a particular ADD could be approved with a set of conditions 41 to include all of the pertinent size and occupancy limits and the design standards that are 42 presently in or proposed for) the zoning code, but the City could not refuse to accept and 4,'3 act upon an application to utilize something like a motor home or camper as an ADD. 14,14, Such an application may even become the norm; since the City doesn't need a 145 compelling reason to deny a proposed interim use (which, again, is a prohibited use to 146 begin with),, homeowners may reasonably be reluctant to make expensive improvements 4 7' to their homes if they have no assurance that they'll be allowed to utilize an ADD from 148 one year to the next. 4 9 3. 0 STRENGTHS OF THE CONDITIONAL USE APPROACH 5o 3.1 The conditional use process allows the City to clearly establish the parameters within 51 which an ADD application will be accepted, as well as to codify the requirements that 52 would apply to all ADUs if they're approved. Applications would still necessarily be 5'3 reviewed to ensure that a particular proposal would not create the sort of negative 54 impacts which the conditional use process guards against, but the City would not have to 55 address the camper-type application used as an example in the preceding paragraph. 56 3.2 Conditional use approvals have a permanence that may impart more confidence to 5 7' property owners who can then justify making better improvements to their properties that 58 are more harmonious with the surrounding neighborhood. But conditional use approvals 59 are not so permanent as to prevent revocation. A conditional use approval can be revoked 60 at any time that an ADD fails to meet every applicable code requirement or condition of 61 approval; the revocation process is the same public hearing /Council /Council action process as for 1 9 62 conferring the approval. For example, if a particular ADD is found at some point in the 6'3 future to be injurious to the surrounding neighborhood, the City can initiate the process to &4 revoke the approval. If a property owner makes expensive improvements to his/her home 65 to create an ADD, the threat of revocation would seem to be a meaningful incentive to 66 ensure that the ADD continues to meet all of the applicable code requirements. 6 7, 3.3 And,, while no specific expiration date can be established in a conditional use approval, 68 the approval can be made to expire if the use is discontinued for a specified period of 69 time. In this event,, the approval for an ADD which has been unused for that purpose for 7'0 the requisite number of months or years can be revoked through exactly the same process 7'1 as that described above for violations of the code requirements. Even if the City pursues 7'2 the revocation of a fallow approval, the current and future property owners can be 7`3 reasonably confident that the conditional use could be reapproved in the future when 74 there are plans to resume occupancy of the ADD. 7'5 4. 0 SUGGESTED ACTION 7'6 The City Council should discuss these issues and provide further direction to staff Prepared by: Associate Planner Bryan Llo d (651-792-7073) ADD —RCD-04251 Ldoc Page 2 of 2