20.14.030 Termination of nonconforming uses.
A. A discontinued or abandoned nonconforming use shall not be resumed. Discontinuation or abandonment shall be construed as follows:
1. When open land shall cease to be used for a nonconforming use for six consecutive months.
2. When a building designed or arranged for a nonconforming use shall cease to be used by that particular use for 12 consecutive months.
3. When a building designed or arranged for a permitted use but used for a nonconforming use shall cease to be used for such nonconforming use for six consecutive months.
In any proceedings held relevant to or concerning enforcement of this section, the burden of showing continuous use shall be upon the owner or applicant for a use.
B.
1. Between the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter and the end of 1990, the city planning department shall notify each nonconforming use located in a residential single or multi general use type and which engages in the operations hereinunder specified that it must, within 30 days of notification, apply for a certificate of nonconforming use which shall be granted only upon the following procedures:
a. Such issuance of a certificate of nonconforming use shall be considered and treated for the purposes of this section as an “action” under the State Environmental Protection Act and city Ordinance No. 8515, as amended; and
b. The hearing examiner shall hold a public hearing and, after consideration of any required environmental impact statement, shall impose conditions necessary to minimize detriment to the surrounding properties and neighborhoods.
If the conditions imposed by the hearing examiner are not followed or instituted by the nonconforming user, the planning director or building official may request and the city attorney’s office shall prepare and prosecute a complaint for permanent injunction to terminate the nonconforming use or eliminate detrimental effects or nuisance caused thereby.
2. The nonconforming uses subject to the review of the hearing examiner under this section shall be limited to those which engage in as its primary function the following operations:
a. Manufacturing uses engaging in the transformation or blending of materials into new products or in the assembly of parts.
b. Establishments engaged in the selling of merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, farm, or professional business users or to other wholesalers.
c. Establishments engaged in the repair or painting of automobiles and motorcycles or their parts or systems.
d. Establishments engaged in freight operations or transportation terminals.
The planning and economic development department shall investigate nonconforming uses which engage in the aforementioned operations and which are the subject of departmental or citizen complaint(s). If the department determines that a nonconforming use which is the subject of complaint(s) has a detrimental impact on surrounding properties, such use shall be required to apply for a certificate of nonconforming use within 30 days of notification by the department.
C. In the event a building or structure which houses a nonconforming use is less than 50 percent destroyed by any cause, nothing in this title shall prevent the securing of a building permit within one year from the date of destruction for the restoration of the building or structure. The determination of the percentage of destruction shall rest with the building official and shall be based upon the actual cost of repairing the portion of the building or structure destroyed in relation to the estimated replacement cost of the entire building or structure. Any building or structure which houses a nonconforming use which is 50 percent or more destroyed may be rebuilt according to a plan approved by the hearing examiner. Such a plan may be approved by the hearing examiner if it finds that the proposed reconstruction minimizes detriment to the surrounding properties or the general welfare consistent with the reconstruction needs for the nonconforming use. The hearing examiner may condition such approval to mitigate such detrimental effects caused by the nonconforming use. [Ord. 2002-10-069 § 46; Ord. 9691 § 1, 1987; Ord. 9024, 1982].