Opinion ID: 2107895
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Zoning Certificate and Development Plan Review

Text: On October 26, 2000, Cliff Walk's attorney sent a letter to Guy Weston, the zoning officer for the City of Newport, requesting a zoning certificate for the parking area. [7] The attorney's correspondence explained that in 1999, the zoning board had decided that a commercial (or fee-for-parking) parking lot in the southwest corner of the property was not prohibited by the zoning code. Cliff Walk's attorney informed the zoning officer that the owner now proposed to remove an existing paved fifty-space parking lot from the front of the hotel and replace it with gardens and lawns. Cliff Walk also planned to pave the southwest corner of the parcel and dedicate other grass areas formerly used for both overflow and commercial parking solely to overflow parking, creating a total of fifty available spaces. With his letter, Cliff Walk's counsel provided a copy of the board's 1999 decision and findings of fact. In that decision, the board unanimously had found that since 1945, the lawn area and parking area not used by hotel guests had been rented out to area and beach visitors for parking vehicles, and it therefore approved the hotel's use of the area for commercial parking. The board attached a plan to its decision, which depicted the entire southwestern corner of the lot as an area generally used for parking. In response to Cliff Walk's letter, Weston requested a site plan showing the lawn and parking areas. On November 22, 2000, Cliff Walk's attorney responded to Weston, enclosing a site plan depicting the landscaping and a parking layout for fifty spaces. [8] On December 8, 2000, the zoning officer issued a zoning certificate to Cliff Walk, declaring that, [t]he proposed layout of the off-street parking spaces, as shown on the plan entitled `Proposed Lawn & Parking Plan, The Chanler at Cliff Walk', dated 11/15/00 is permitted under the present zoning code of the City of Newport. However Chapter 17.88.020(G) of the code requires the proposed off-street parking changes be reviewed as a Development Plan. On May 22, 2001, Cliff Walk submitted plans for development plan review of the proposed parking lot. The plans were slightly different from the designs submitted for the zoning certificate, in that a few of the parking spaces were moved, the driveway was redesigned, and the entrance to the property from Memorial Boulevard was narrowed. The plans were stamped site plan review and checked approval on May 25, 2001. Weston, acting as both zoning officer and development plan review agent, wrote to Cliff Walk on May 25, 2001; he specified that he approved the development plan for the parking area reconfiguration subject to conditions regarding sewer connections and signage size. He also required Cliff Walk to implement the landscaping plan as approved, and he forbade Cliff Walk from using the driveway running to Cliff Avenue as a major entrance to or exit from the property. On July 27, 2001, CRMC approved the design of the parking lot, water quality management measures, and landscaping plan.