Fowler Municipal Code Art. 11 C-2—COMMUNITY Commercial District

The Community Commercial District is to be applied to the community commercial areas of the City, as may be designated by the General Plan. These areas constitute the primary commercial districts of the community where a wide range of retail, financial, governmental, professional, business service, and entertainment activities and uses are encouraged to concentrate several neighborhoods.

All uses shall be subject to the provisions of Article 21.

A. Any use permitted in the C-1 District.

B. Parking lots improved to standards prescribed for required off-street parking in Article 20.

C. Professional, commercial, medical and governmental offices and clinics.

D. Retail stores and service establishments, including:

1. Antique stores;

2. Art and craft schools and colleges, art galleries, art supply stores;

3. Auction rooms;

4. Automobile detailing, hand car wash within an enclosed building;

5. Automobile supply stores;

6. Bakeries, retail and wholesale;

7. Bicycle shops;

8. Business, professional, and trade schools and colleges;

9. Camera shops and photography studios;

10. Candy and confectionery stores;

11. Clothing and costume rental establishments;

12. Copying, blueprint, and printing services;

13. Dairy product stores;

14. Department stores;

15. Drapery and interior decorating shops;

16. Drug stores;

17. Dry goods stores;

18. Electrical appliance and incidental repair shops;

19. Florists;

20. Furniture and home furnishing stores;

21. Garden supply stores and nurseries, provided that all equipment and merchandise, other than plants, shall be kept within a completely enclosed building or under a lathed structure, and further provided that fertilizer shall be stored and sold in packaged form only;

22. Gift shops;

23. Gymnasium and health studios;

24. Hardware stores;

25. Health food stores;

26. Hobby supply stores;

27. Ice dispensers (coin operated);

28. Jewelry stores, including clock and watch repairing;

29. Leather goods and luggage stores;

30. Locksmith;

31. Medical and orthopedic appliance stores;

32. Music stores, music and dance studios;

33. Newspaper publishing;

34. Newsstands and magazine stores;

35. Office and business machine stores;

36. Paint and wallpaper stores;

37. Pawn shops;

38. Pet stores and pet grooming, but not including boarding of pets;

39. Picture framing shops;

40. Post offices, public and private;

41. Non-profit charitable institutions;

42. Radio and television broadcasting studios;

43. Restaurants, including drive-in restaurants, cafes, and outdoor cafes;

44. Scientific instrument stores;

45. Shoe stores and shoe repair shops;

46. Sporting goods stores, including incidental boat sales and sporting equipment repair;

47. Stamp and coin stores;

48. Stationery stores;

49. Storage buildings incidental to a permitted use;

50. Tailor and dressmaking shops, including pressing, altering, and repairing;

51. Thrift shop;

52. Toy stores;

53. Tire sales;

54. Trophy shops;

55. Variety stores;

56. Veterinarian offices and small animal clinics including short-term boarding of animals provided that all operations are conducted within an enclosed structure that complies with specifications of soundproof construction prescribed by the California Building Code;

57. Wedding chapels;

58. Incidental and accessory structures and uses located on the same site as a permitted use.

(Ord. No. 2013-01, § 4, 9-3-2013)

The following uses shall be permitted, subject to the provisions of Article 24:

A. City, County, State, and Federal administrative offices, community buildings, libraries, and police and fire stations;

B. Electrical distribution substations, communication equipment buildings, gas regulator stations, and utility pumping stations;

C. Rental equipment, including trailers, trucks, and cars;

D. Incidental and accessory structures and uses located on the same site as a use permitted by administrative approval, or conditional use;

E. Sidewalk sales and use of the public right-of-way for the display and sales of merchandise, or for outdoor dining;

F. Murals subject to Article 21;

G. Expansion or remodeling of an existing nonconforming use of a structure or land, up to fifty (50) percent or less of the value of the structure, or reestablishment of a nonconforming use that has been damaged, except nonconforming signs and outdoor advertising structures, nonconforming uses occupying a structure with an assessed valuation of less than one hundred dollars ($100.00), and nonconforming fences, walls, and hedges.

A. Uses permitted subject to a conditional use permit shall be as follows (see Article 25):

1. Any use selling or serving alcohol, including liquor stores;

2. Automobile repair;

3. Automobile sales, new and used, including repair within an enclosed building;

4. Arcades;

5. Automated car wash, including use of mechanical conveyors, blowers, and steam cleaning;

6. Bars, cocktail lounges, and nightclubs;

7. Billiards and pool rooms;

8. Boat sales and service;

9. Book, magazine, and stationery stores;

10. Bowling alleys;

11. Bus depots and transit stations, provided that no transit vehicle storage, maintenance, or repair shall be conducted on the site;

12. Card rooms;

13. Churches and other religious institutions;

14. Coin-operated self-service car wash;

15. Convenience stores, with or without gasoline sales;

16. Dance halls, social halls, and banquet facilities;

17. Day care center;

18. Drive through facilities;

19. Farmer's markets (permanent) including indoor and outdoor facilities;

20. Funeral homes;

21. Gunsmith shop;

22. Hotels and motels;

23. Laundromat, coin-operated laundry, and dry cleaning establishments;

24. Massage and physical culture studios;

25. Meeting halls, private clubs and lodges;

26. Mini-storage facilities;

27. Motorcycle sales and service;

28. Planned Unit Development subject to provisions of Article 28;

29. Recycling collection facilities (see Article 2 for definition and standards);

30. Residential dwellings over or to the rear of a permitted use provided such dwellings shall be subject to the use, site area, coverage and yard requirements of the RM-3 district;

31. Service stations;

32. Smoking bars and hookah lounges;

33. Sports arenas within buildings;

34. Theaters and auditoriums;

35. Tobacco shops;

36. Travel trailer and motor home sales, rentals, and service;

37. Wholesale establishments.

(Ord. No. 2013-01, § 5, 9-3-2013)

A. Where a site adjoins or is located across a street or alley from any residential district, a decorative masonry wall six (6) feet minimum in height, or such other height or type of screening device as may be required by the City shall be located on the property line common to such districts, except in a required front yard.

B. Open storage of materials and equipment attendant to a permitted use or conditional use shall be permitted only within an area surrounded or screened by a solid wall or fence six (6) feet minimum in height, except as may be modified under Site Plan Review. Said storage shall not be visible above said fence or wall.

C. Street trees and other forms of landscaping may be required under the provisions of Articles 21 and 26.

A. All businesses, services, and processes shall be conducted entirely within a completely enclosed structure, except for off-street parking and off-street loading areas, gasoline service stations, outdoor dining areas, nurseries, garden shops, signs, and public utility stations.

B. No manufacturing or processing of any article or commodity shall be permitted except as follows:

1. Only where incidental to a permitted use;

2. Only where sold at retail on the premises; and

3. Only where not more than five (5) persons are engaged in such manufacturing or processing.

C. Wholesale sales and services shall not be conducted.

D. No use shall be permitted and no process, equipment, or materials shall be used that are found by the City to be objectionable to persons living or working in the vicinity by reasons of odor, fumes, dust, smoke, refuse, water-carried waste, noise, vibration, glare, or unsightliness or to involve any hazard of fire or explosion.

E. When an exterior wall of a building faces abutting property in any residential district, no advertising sign shall be painted or placed on such wall, or on any portion of the lot between the wall and the residential district.

There shall be no minimum site area subject to the following exception:

A. In the case of buildings erected or structures altered after the date of passage of this ordinance, for purposes of residence or human habitation (such as hotels and apartment hotels), there shall be a lot area of not less than eight hundred (800) square feet per family; provided, however, that this regulation shall not apply to hotels or apartment hotels, if no cooking is done in any individual room, suite, or apartment.

No building shall exceed a height of fifty (50) feet, except as may be allowed under provisions of Article 27.

Where a lot in a C-2 zone is located in the same block as, and has a common frontage with, a lot in any residential district, the minimum front yard depth of the lot in the C-2 zone shall be a minimum of fifteen (15) feet, or which a minimum of ten (10) feet shall be landscaped.

There shall be no side yard requirement except as follows:

A. Where a lot abuts upon the side of a lot in any residential district, there shall be a side yard of a minimum width of ten (10) feet, which shall be landscaped.

B. Where the rear of a corner lot abuts upon the rear of a lot in any residential district, the side yard on the street side shall have a minimum width the same as the required side yard of such abutting lot in said residential district, which shall be landscaped.

C. Where the rear of a reversed corner lot abuts upon a lot in any residential district, the side yard on the street side of such reversed corner lot shall be a minimum of fifteen (15) feet and shall be landscaped.

There shall be no rear yard requirement except as follows:

A. Where a lot abuts a lot in any residential district, a landscaped rear yard of a minimum of ten (10) feet provided.

The minimum distance between a dwelling and another structure shall be ten (10) feet.

Off-street parking facilities and off-street loading facilities shall be provided on the site for each use as prescribed in Article 20.

No sign shall be provided except as prescribed in Article 22.

No use may be established until a site plan has been submitted and approved pursuant to the provisions of Article 26.

Commercial projects within the C-2 zone district shall be subject to the design review provisions of Article 16.