Chapter 18.54 — C-5 ZONE—COMMERCIAL RECREATION

The intent and purpose of this chapter is to provide a zone for commercially operated recreational activities, including resorts, lodges, motels, restaurants, general stores, campgrounds, mobilehome parks, service stations, dude ranches, and other uses oriented primarily to the traveler and tourist. (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994)

The following are the principal permitted uses of the C-5 zone:

• A. Hotel, lodge or motel;

• B. Dude/fishing ranch;

• C. Spa;

• D. Restaurant and bar;

• E. Riding stable and pack station;

• F. General store;

• G. Service station;

• H. Agriculture and grazing;

• I. Single room occupancy units;

• J. Any other use or service establishment determined by the planning commission to be of the same general character as the foregoing uses, and which will not impair the present or potential use of adjacent properties.

• K. Mobile food facilities when operated in compliance with Chapter 18.61 and Title 7 of the Inyo County Code.

• (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994; Ord. 1290 § 39, 2022; Ord. 1308, 8/20/2024)

The following are accessory uses permitted in the C-5 zone:

• A. Dwellings of persons regularly employed on the premises for commercial recreational activities. Mobilehomes may be used for this purpose;

• B. Private garages, parking areas and other structures used for storage of equipment appurtenant to a permitted use;

• C. Signs and advertising for permitted, accessory or conditional uses in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 18.75 and subject to the requirements of Section 18.54.050 ;

• D. Other uses and accessory buildings customarily appurtenant and clearly incidental to a permitted use;

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

• F. Outdoor seating when combined with or involving a permitted use.

• (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994; Ord. 1007 § 26, 1998; Ord. 1281 § 5, 2022)

The following are conditional uses in the C-5 zone:

• A. Campground;

• B. Golf course;

• C. Mobilehome park;

• D. Recreational vehicle storage;

• E. Informational kiosks and directory boards in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 18.75 and subject to the requirements of Section 18.54.050 ;

• F. Mixed use;

• G. Multiple dwellings;

• H. Public/quasi-public buildings and uses of recreational, religious, cultural or public service nature, excluding exterior storage, repair yards and warehouses.

• (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994; Ord. 1007 § 27, 1998; Ord. 1143 § 14, 2009; Ord. 1187 § 4, 2014)

The following are minimum standards for development in the C-5 zone, except as otherwise provided in this title or as modified for conditional uses:

• A. Maximum height of buildings:

  1. Principal buildings, two and one-half stories or thirty feet,

  2. Accessory buildings, two stories or twenty-five feet;

• B. Minimum parcel size, five acres, except when a greater minimum area is established pursuant to Section 18.78.055 ;

• C. Parcel width, three hundred fifty feet;

• D. Front yard, twenty-five feet;

• E. Rear yard, twenty feet;

• F. Side yard, twenty feet;

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

• H. Parking spaces:

  1. Per dwelling unit, two,

  2. Per lodging unit, one,

  3. Per three hundred square feet of usable public floor space for all permitted and conditional uses, unless otherwise specified,

  4. Per each full-time employee, one;

• I. Base residential densities shall be up to one dwelling unit per two and one-half acres. With clustering, residential densities may be up to twenty-four dwelling units per net acre.

• (Ord. 943 § 4, 1994; Ord. 1143 § 15, 2009)