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Comprehensive Plan, City of Paris, Texas Planning Process property owners. In addition, the Planning Commission and the City should try to distinguish between facts and opinions at a public hearing. Unsubstantiated assertions ("This project would reduce the value of my property by 75 percent") or generalizations ("People who live in apartments always drive fast cars and race up and down the streets") should be analyzed for their validity. Even "expert witnesses" should be pressed to give as factual a basis as possible for their judgments. Second, zoning decisions should include consideration of long-range community goals as well as short-range needs. The recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan should be the primary source for this information. Because of its importance in the zoning process, the Comprehensive Plan should be reviewed by the Paris Planning Commission on a regular basis and amended as necessary to ensure that it remains cunent. Third, it is important to zone based on land use issues, not the issues affecting the individual applicant. An error frequently made is approval of a rezoning to accommodate an applicant's personal circumstances without consideration of land use conditions and characteristics. Such a rezoning is rarely in the public interest and, if challenged, can be held to be invalid. Instead, decisions should be based on whether the land is appropriate for the proposed zoning district. Appropriate matters that should be considered for each rezoning application include: 1. The character of the neighborhood; 2. The zoning and uses of properties nearby; 3. The suitability of the subject property for the uses to which it has been restricted; 4. The extent to which removal of the restrictions (or change of zone) will detrimentally affect nearby property and the community at large; 5. The length of time the property has remained vacant as zoned; 6. The relative gain to the public health, safety and welfare by not rezoning the property as compared to the hardship imposed on the property owner; - 7. The adequacy of public utilities and other needed public services 8. The recommendation of staff; and 9. Compliance with the Comprehensive Plan. When considering a rezoning application all of the uses which the proposed zoning district permits should be considered rather than just the use the applicant proposes, since a change in ownership or in market conditions could easily result in a change of the proposed use. 5A98288\WPClfmal rcpurt 2-0I.Juc 8 B WR