Chapter 18.48
LIGHT INDUSTRIAL ZONE
Sections:
18.48.022 Retail accessory use.
18.48.010 Intent.
The light industrial (L-I) zone is intended to accommodate certain industrial structures and uses having physical and operational characteristics which might adversely affect the economic welfare of adjoining residential and commercial uses. The light industrial zone provides a location for high technology industrial and incidental commercial uses of light intensity, which has minimal environmental impacts. These regulations are designed to permit those industrial uses which can be operated in a relatively clean, quiet and safe manner compatible with adjoining industrial uses and without serious impact, danger or hazard to nearby residential, commercial or other nonindustrial uses. (Ord. 947 § 1, 2014: Ord. 722 § 102, 1998; Ord. 394 § 2.28.02, 1981)
18.48.020 Permitted uses.
The following uses shall be permitted in the L-I zone; in the case of a question as to the inclusion or exclusion of a particular proposed use in the L-I zone, the city planner shall have the authority to make the final determination. The city planner shall make the determination according to the characteristics of the operation of the proposed use.
A. Fabrication and assembly, wholesaling, warehousing, distribution, repair, rental and servicing of any commodity, the sale of which is permitted in any commercial district;
B. Food and drug processing;
C. Brewery, winery or distillery, including tasting rooms and related sales provided the proposed establishment is not closer than 500 feet from any church, school, or public park or playground;
D. Cold storage plants;
E. Truck, trailer, manufactured home, marine, auto and farm implement sales, service and rental, vehicle repair, body and fender shops, fueling service stations, car wash and steam cleaning;
F. Manufacture, processing, or fabrication of metal products and machinery, plumbing, heating and mechanical, welding, electrical, sheet metal, and similar shops to include sales and service; finished lumber and building material storage and sales;
G. Commercial laundries and dry cleaners;
H. Animal hospitals, clinics, schools, veterinary offices and kennels;
I. Restaurants, taverns, nightclubs and drive-in restaurants;
J. Industrial and scientific research laboratories and science-based industrial and manufacturing facilities;
K. Administrative and business offices and vocational technical schools, financial institutions;
L. Communication service centers, systems and sales including facilities;
M. Public and quasi-public uses;
N. Any light manufacturing, reduction, assembly, warehousing of light and small items made from previously prepared materials and includes operations which do not constitute public nuisances by reason of air pollution, emission of odors, gas or noise, or emission of wastewater wastes and which conform to the other regulations and ordinances of the city;
O. Public utilities;
P. Agricultural chemicals and fertilizer warehouse and distribution facilities;
Q. Commercial nurseries and greenhouses and the agricultural use thereof, within an enclosed building which could include all agricultural uses such as tree farming, vineyard/winery, vegetable and produce production, floriculture or flower farming, retail and wholesale;
R. Wireless communication facilities in accordance with Chapter 18.110 DPMC, including co-location of wireless communication facilities. (Ord. 974 § 1, 2018: Ord. 947 § 1, 2014: Ord. 648 § 2, 1994; Ord. 394 § 2.28.04, 1981)
18.48.022 Retail accessory use.
Retail uses associated with and accessory to the permitted use on the property may exist; provided, that the retail uses occupy less than 30 percent of the developed area on a property, inclusive of all buildings, structures and nonlandscaped outside areas. (Ord. 974 § 1, 2018)
18.48.025 Prohibited uses.
Prohibited uses in the light industrial zone include, but are not limited to, the following as determined by the city planner:
A. Cemeteries;
B. Public and parochial schools, general hospitals, sanitariums and churches;
C. Slaughterhouses, stockyards, fat rendering, soap manufacture, glue manufacture, tannery and hide preparation for taxidermy, paper manufacture, wool scouring and cleaning, cotton textile sizing, scouring, bleaching, dyeing and similar uses, varnish manufacture and creosote and creosote products manufacture;
D. Raw log storage and processing and lumber mills;
E. The production of corrosive and noxious chemicals including, but not limited to, acids, acetylene gas, ammonia, chlorine and bleaching compound;
F. The production and processing of coal and coal tar, the processing of petroleum and petroleum products, the aboveground storage of petroleum products and petroleum refining;
G. The extraction, preparation and processing of dust-producing mineral products, including, but not limited to, abrasives, cement, lime, fertilizer, plaster, crushed stone, and the mining of sand, gravel or topsoil;
H. The smelting and reduction of metallic ores, including, but not limited to, blast furnaces, open hearth and electric furnaces, Bessemer converters, nonferrous metal smelters;
I. The manufacture and storage of explosive products, including, but not limited to, dynamite and commercial explosives, T.N.T. and fireworks, unless previously sited and permitted under federal and state guidelines;
J. Salvage or wrecking yards, the storage of parts associated with auto salvage or similar materials and the storage of scrap products and junk as the sole use of the parcel whether private or retail in nature;
K. Battery rebuilding, recycling and storage, and manufacturing;
L. General residential use;
M. No building, structure, or premises, or portions thereof, shall be used for human habitation, except as quarters for a caretaker, guard, or other person whose permanent residency on the premises is required for operational, safety or protective purposes. (Ord. 947 § 1, 2014)
18.48.030 Conditional uses.
Any of the following uses may be permitted upon the issuance of a conditional use permit granted in accordance with Chapter 18.80 DPMC:
A. Medical offices, private recreational facilities and similar establishments;
B. On-site hazardous waste treatment and storage facilities as a conditional use to any activity generating hazardous waste and lawfully permitted in this zone; provided, that such facilities meet the state siting criteria adopted pursuant to the requirements of RCW 70.105.210, or subsequent revisions;
C. Off-site hazardous waste treatment and storage facilities; provided, that such facilities meet the state siting criteria adopted pursuant to the requirements of RCW 70.105.210, or subsequent revisions. (Ord. 947 § 1, 2014: Ord. 648 § 3, 1994; Ord. 609, 1992; Ord. 394 § 2.28.06, 1981)
18.48.040 Building site.
The building site shall provide 10 percent of the land for landscaping and larger sites may reduce this amount with the written permission of the commission. Lot area and frontage requirements shall be those as required in DPMC 18.50.060. Yard requirements shall be those as required in DPMC 18.50.070. Buffer will be provided to adjoining residential zones by construction of a solid wood fence, vinyl fence or solid decorative masonry wall eight feet in height at property line in conjunction with a 10-foot in width landscaping strip consisting predominantly of evergreen trees. Evergreen trees shall be a minimum height of four feet at the time of planting, and provided with at least three inches for mulch in at least a three-foot diameter ring around each tree. Trees shall be chosen and spaced so as to grow together in a manner that is sufficient to obscure sight through the trees to a height of 12 feet in 10 years from planting. The eight-foot wall and trees must be maintained in good condition or replaced for as long as this section or any replacing ordinance is in effect. A water supply must be available, maintained, and adequate to sustain all plant life in this barrier strip through any reasonable drought. (Ord. 947 § 1, 2014: Ord. 760 § 1, 2001; Ord. 394 § 2.28.08, 1981)
18.48.050 Height.
There shall be no building or structure height limitations in the light industrial zone except as follows:
A. When abutting a residential district, the building or structure height limitation shall be no greater than that permitted in the abutting residential district for a distance laterally from the boundary line of the residential district of 600 feet.
B. When a building exceeds 45 feet in height, the portion of the building above 45 feet shall be set back one foot from each side and rear property line for each one foot the building exceeds 45 feet.
C. Airport overlay zone compliance provisions in accordance with Chapter 18.72 DPMC, including specifically requirements of DPMC 18.72.030, building height and Federal Aviation Regulations Part 77.
D. The following structures may be erected above the height limits of this code, provided:
1. The structure is accessory to or part of a building which is a permitted use in the zone; and
2. The structure complies with the height limits in the airport overlay zone:
a. Penthouses or roof structures for the housing of elevators, stairways, tanks, ventilating fans, or similar equipment to operate and maintain a building;
b. Fire or parapet walls, skylights, flagpoles, chimneys, wireless masts and similar structures;
c. Structures such as silos, feed mills and fixed cranes which are used in a manufacturing process which utilizes vertical processing and storage of materials; or
d. Public utility water stand pipes and elevated reservoirs. (Ord. 947 § 1, 2014: Ord. 394 § 2.28.10, 1981)
18.48.060 Limitations.
The following limitations shall apply in the L-I zone:
A. All service, processing and storage on property abutting or facing a nonindustrial zone or a public street shall be wholly within an enclosed building or screened from view from the nonindustrial zone or public street by a permanently maintained, sight-restricting barrier at least six feet in height, which barrier shall take one of the following forms, or a combination thereof, as authorized by the city: a solid fence or wall, planting of a solid evergreen hedge (such as green arborvitae shrubs), installation of a landscaped berm, or development of a combination landscaped earthen berm topped with a solid evergreen hedge.
B. All outdoor trash, garbage, and refuse containers shall be:
1. Located within the screened area of the facility; or
2. Screened on all sides from public view and, at a minimum, shall be enclosed on three sides with a six-foot-high concrete block or masonry wall, or a solid fence, with a solid gate for access installed on the fourth side. As an alternative to a fence or wall on the non-access sides, the city may permit one of the following: planting of a solid evergreen hedge at least six feet in height (such as green arborvitae shrubs); installation of a landscaped berm with the berm being a minimum of six feet in height; or development of a combination landscaped earthen berm topped with a solid evergreen hedge having a combined total minimum height of at least six feet. The solid gate for access shall still apply on the fourth side.
C. All uses in the L-I zone shall not emit obnoxious odors of any kind, or exhaust waste into the air or create dust by commercial or industrial operations on or adjacent to the site. All uses must meet requirements of the Spokane County air pollution control authority. All uses shall not operate in any manner that would produce heat or glare perceptible from any property line of the site on which the commercial or industrial operation is located, create any electrical disturbance off the site, or produce noise in excess of the standards identified in Chapter 173-60 WAC as measured from any residential property adjacent to the site on which the commercial or industrial operation is located.
D. Access from a public street to properties in the L-I zone shall be so located as to minimize traffic congestion and avoid directing industrial traffic onto residential streets.
E. Building entrances or other openings adjacent to a nonindustrial zone shall be prohibited if they cause glare, excessive noise or otherwise adversely affect the use or value of the adjacent property. (Ord. 947 § 1, 2014: Ord. 831 § 8, 2006; Ord. 394 § 2.28.12, 1981)
18.48.070 Off-street parking.
Parking and loading shall conform with the provisions of Chapter 18.74 DPMC. (Ord. 947 § 1, 2014: Ord. 722 § 103, 1998)