Chapter 18.51 — C-3 ADMINISTRATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL OFFICES ZONE

The administrative office or C-3 districts are established to provide a suitable location for offices for professional services and those business activities which are related to professional type services and which will be compatible with professional service type uses. (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994)

The following uses shall be permitted in the C-3 district, plus such other uses as the planning commission may deem to be similar and not detrimental to other uses permitted in this zone subject to Section 18.81.020 of this title:

• A. Office or office building for the conduct of business, professional or administrative services;

• B. Bank or loan agency;

• C. Church;

• D. Medical or dental offices;

• E. Medical, dental and optical clinics or laboratories (not including the manufacture of pharmaceuticals or other products);

• F. Public and quasi-public buildings and uses of an administrative, recreational, educational, religious nature, but not including corporation yards, storage or repair yards, and warehouses;

• G. Photographic studio (excluding retail sales of equipment or supplies);

• H. Single room occupancy units;

• I. Transitional, supportive and group homes;

• J. Low barrier navigation centers (in compliance with California Government Code Sections 6566065668).

• (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994; Ord. 1290 § 38, 2022)

The following are conditional uses in a C-3 district and shall be permitted only if approved by the planning commission:

• A. Pharmacy, limited to the sale of drugs and medical supplies;

• B. Restaurant or store needed to serve the occupants of existing buildings in the same district, or their clients or patrons;

• C. Parking lot;

• D. Public utility substation or facility, not including any service yard or repair shop;

• E. Mortuary establishment;

• F. Informational kiosks and directory boards, in compliance with the requirements of Chapter 18.75 and subject to the requirements of Section 18.51.050 ;

• G. Mixed use;

• H. Multiple dwellings.

• (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994; Ord. 1007 § 23, 1998; Ord. 1143 § 11, 2009)

• A. In a C-3 district, a dwelling unit within a business building may be qualified as an accessory use if it is for occupancy by the owner or a lessee of business premises therein, or by a caretaker or watchman, provided a minimum fifty percent of the usable floor area is being utilized for the principal permitted use;

• B. Emergency housing, in conformance with the policies stated in the housing element of the Inyo County general plan;

• C. Signs and advertising for permitted, accessory or conditional uses in compliance with the requirements of Chapter 18.75 and subject to the requirements of Section 18.51.050 .

• (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994; Ord. 1007 § 24, 1998)

The following minimum standards are established for development in the C-3 (administrative and professional offices) zone, except as otherwise provided in this title or as modified for conditional uses:

• A. Maximum height of buildings:

  1. Principal: three stories or forty feet;

• B. Minimum parcel size: seven thousand five hundred square feet;

• C. Minimum parcel width: sixty feet;

• D. Front yard: none required;

• E. Rear yard: none required;

• F. Side yard: none required, except for those side yards abutting an R district, which shall be not less than that required by the abutting R zone;

• G. Distance between buildings on the same parcel: ten feet;

• H. One parking space shall be provided for each two hundred square feet of usable floor area, or as determined by the planning director;

• I. Residential densities shall be 7.6 to twenty-four dwelling units per acre. (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994; Ord. 1143 §§ 12, 13, 2009)