Chapter 18.34 — HEAVY COMMERCIAL ZONE (C-4)

The C-4 zone is intended to provide for highway related uses. (Prior code § 10-3.1701)

Buildings, structures and land shall be used, and buildings and structures shall be erected, structurally altered, or enlarged, only for the following uses. All uses shall be within an enclosed building unless expressly permitted and subject to the property development standards set forth in Section 18.34.050 .

• A. Any use permitted in the C-2 and C-3 zones provided all uses shall comply with all the requirements stipulated for the C-4 zone; except where expressly stated otherwise in this chapter.

• B. Stores, businesses, or commercial activities not involving any kind of manufacture, processing, or treatment of products other than that which is clearly incidental and essential to the business conducted on the premises and that such operations are not objectionable due to noise, odor, dust, smoke, vibration, or other similar causes. Permitted uses shall include:

  1. Administrative and professional offices;

  2. Auditoriums;

  3. Blueprinting and photocopying;

  4. Bowling alleys;

  5. Electrical distribution and public utilities substations;

  6. Medical and dental offices and clinics;

  7. Gymnasiums, reducing salons, natatoriums and similar physical educational centers;

  8. Mortuaries;

  9. Off-street parking lots;

  10. Plant nurseries;

  11. Real estate offices;

  12. Restaurants;

  13. Skating rinks;

  14. Theaters;

  15. Vocational colleges, such as barber and beauty colleges, modeling schools and medical training schools;

  16. Repealed;

  17. Laboratories, medical and dental;

  18. Repealed.

• C. Accessory uses in commercial parking lots subject to site plan review pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 18.44 .

(Prior code § 10-3.1702; Ord. 1487 § 7, 1995; Ord. 1517 § 18, 1997; Ord. 1550 § 6, 1998; Ord. 1554 § 8, 1998; Ord. 1667 § 26, 2004; Ord. 1666 § 26, 2005; Urg. Ord. 1682; Ord. 1683 § 39, 2006; Ord. 1714 § 2(K) and (L), 2010; Ord. 1738 § 20, 2012; Ord. 1757 § 9, 2015; Ord. 1806 § 9, 2019)

The following uses may be permitted in the C-4 zone subject to the issuance of a conditional use permit in accordance with the procedure set forth in Chapter 18.46 :

• A. Car wash facilities;

• B. Establishments selling or serving alcoholic beverages for consumption on or off the premises;

• C. Recreational vehicle storage facilities;

• D. Amusement arcades;

• E. Hotels and motels, subject to the requirements set forth in Section 18.46.030(C)(15);

• F. Amenity hotels, subject to the requirements set forth in Section 18.46.030(C)(29);

• G. Health facilities;

• H. Group care facilities and community care facilities, but excluding community care facilities for residential uses for less than seven persons;

• I. Hospitals;

• J. Urgent care centers;

• K. Churches and related facilities. Related facilities do not include day care facilities, schools (kindergarten through twelfth grade), and rectories, convents, parsonages or ministers' residences;

• L. Motor vehicle dealerships;

• M. Automobile service stations;

• N. Self-service laundromats;

• O. Neighborhood markets;

• P. Supermarkets;

• Q. Health clubs;

• R. Lodges and meeting halls;

• S. Drive-in restaurant;

• T. Drive-in theaters;

• U. Golf driving range and golf pitch and putt courses;

• V. Taxicab services;

• W. Massage establishments that are not otherwise exempt from the requirements of Chapter 5.48 ;

• X. Self-storage facilities; provided, that the self-storage units do not exceed more than seventy-five feet of ground floor street frontage on a major collector or arterial street, or are otherwise buffered by another allowed, or conditionally allowed, use, including a retail component of the facility, and subject to the requirements set forth in Section 18.46.030(C)(17);

• Y. Cigar and hookah lounges in compliance with Section 18.46.030(C)(30);

Z. Those uses permitted with a conditional use permit, pursuant to Section 18.46.030(C) . (Prior code § 10-3.1703; Ord. 1517 § 19, 1997; Ord. 1554 § 9, 1998; Ord. 1667 § 27, 2004; Ord. 1666 § 27, 2005; Urg. Ord. 1682; Ord. 1683 § 40, 2006; Ord. 1714 § 2(M), 2010; Ord. 1737 § 25, 2012; Ord. 1738 § 21, 2012; Ord. 1757 § 10, 2015; Ord. 1766 § 2, 2016; Ord. 1825 § 6, 2021; Ord. 1871 § 9, 2024)

All uses not listed in Sections 18.34.020 and 18.34.030 are deemed to be expressly prohibited, except those determined by the commission to be similar pursuant to the provisions of Section 18.42.040 . The following specific uses are deemed to be incompatible with the uses permitted in the C-4 zone or otherwise prohibited:

• A. Residential uses;

• B. Any combination of residential and nonresidential uses in any building or structure or on any lot;

• C. Industrial uses;

• D. Wholesaling and warehousing;

• E. Commercial uses other than those specifically listed or provided for in Sections 18.34.020 and 18.34.030 ;

• F. Outdoor sales, including sales of products from trucks, conducted on vacant lots and outdoor sales of products not related to the business conducted on the premises;

• G. Adult-oriented businesses as defined by Section 18.62.020(G);

• H. It is unlawful to sell, contract to sell, offer to sell, display for the purpose of sale, or permit the sale of any vehicle from a vacant or unimproved lot. "Vehicle," as used in this subsection, shall mean and include everything so defined in the Vehicle Code of the state and, in addition, boats;

• I. Swap meets;

• J. Significant tobacco retailers.

(Prior code § 10-3.1704; Ord. 1483 § 5, 1994; Ord. 1498 § 10, 1996; Ord. 1871 § 9, 2024)

The property development standards set forth in this section shall apply to all land and buildings in the C-4 zone.

• A. Lot area: there shall be a minimum area of seven thousand five hundred square feet.

• B. Lot dimensions: every lot shall have a minimum width at the building line of fifty feet. Every lot shall have a minimum depth of one hundred fifty feet.

• C. Building height/FAR: Building heights shall not exceed sixty-five feet in general, and shall not exceed thirty-five feet within one hundred feet of a zone boundary line between the C-4 zone and any R-1 or R-2 zone, and shall not exceed fifty feet within one hundred feet of a zone boundary line between the C-4 zone and R-3 and R-4 zones. The gross floor area of buildings or structures on a lot or lots that comprise a project site shall not exceed 0.50 FAR with the exception of:

  1. A development where at least eighty percent of the development includes self-storage facilities, in which case the FAR shall not exceed 2.75;

  2. Amenity hotels which may have a FAR of up to 2.0.

• D. Building setbacks: See Section 18.42.085 ; also see Section 18.42.080 of this code for additional setbacks which may be required for planned rights-of-way.

• E. A minimum ten-foot landscape perimeter shall be provided along all street frontages.

• F. Fences, hedges and walls: the provisions of Section 18.42.070 of this code shall apply.

• G. Off-street parking and loading: the provisions of Chapter 18.40 of this code shall apply.

• H. Access: there shall be adequate vehicular access to off-street parking facilities from a dedicated street, service road, or alley. The design of the access shall conform to all the standards and specifications of the city.

I. Signs: the provisions of Chapter 18.58 of this code shall apply. (Prior code § 10-3.1705; Urg. Ord. 1682; Ord. 1683 § 41, 2006; Ord. 1738 § 32, 2012; Ord. 1766 § 3, 2016; Ord. 1825 § 7, 2021)