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Item No. 14 <br />TO: Mayor & Council <br />FROM: John Godwin, City Manager <br />SUBJECT: BUFFERING & SCREENING BETWEEN USES <br />DATE: March 5, 2019 <br />BACKGROUND: Recommendation 15.27 of the 2018 comprehensive plan states: "Require <br />substantial buffering and screening to visually separate incompatible land uses [italics added]." <br />This is extremely important to the future of quality development and the protection of both <br />existing and future neighborhoods in Paris. In the past it appears the city has too often forfeited <br />quality development and neighborhood integrity for quicker, less costly non-residential <br />development. That is a pattern that needs to be set aside, and by following recommendations of <br />the new plan, including 15.27, we can make significant strides, over time, towards this end. <br />STATUS OF ISSUE: I have attached a relatively detailed buffering and screening program that <br />I believe will over time make a significant difference for Paris while not being onerous. <br />Screening is mostly of three types: right-of-way, compatibility, and incompatibility. The first <br />type requires set -backs and landscaping between a development and the road, the second type <br />requires buffering between two similar types of uses such as single family and multiple family, <br />and incompatibility buffering is much more significant in nature and scope because it separates <br />neighborhoods from business developments. Suggested standards provide for both walls and <br />living screens, depending on the application, and also have some standards to screen loading <br />docks, dumpsters, equipment, etc. <br />RECOMMENDATION: On March 4, the planning and zoning commission unanimously voted <br />to recommend to the city council approval of a zoning ordinance amendment providing for <br />buffering and screening between land uses and intensities. <br />