Section 650. The Historic Canal-Side Restaurant Overlay District.
A. Purpose and Intent. Historically, a restaurant use has existed on a lot currently bounded by residential uses, Central Avenue/Murphy Bridle Path, and the Arizona Canal since 1911. The site hosted the original Phoenix Country Club, establishing a restaurant use prior to current residential development. Canal right-of-way acquisitions and natural events, such as floods, have altered the facility over the years. This district recognizes the benefits to be realized from re-establishment of a restaurant on this property while acknowledging that the location of a prior restaurant use on this property proximate to both residential and recreational uses has been associated with use conflicts which have adversely affected adjacent residential areas.
The intent of the Historic Canal-Side Restaurant Overlay District is to ensure the viability of a restaurant business while ensuring that this use does not contribute to the deterioration of the living environment, the downgrading of property values, and the diminishment of health, safety and general welfare conditions of the adjacent residential area. To this end, the district includes specific provisions regarding the range of allowable uses and operational restrictions regarding hours, parking, signage and property lighting.
The specific intent of the district is to:
1. Protect existing residential neighborhoods from negative impacts caused by the proximate location of an historic restaurant business through:
a. Limitations on allowable primary and secondary uses; and
b. Setting use and site standards to maintain a scale that will be compatible with adjacent residential areas;
2. Allow a viable restaurant use adjacent to existing residential neighborhoods; and
3. Prohibit certain uses and restrict the addition of certain other uses sometimes associated with a restaurant use which could have negative impacts on adjacent residential neighborhoods.
B. Applicability. The Historic Canal-Side Restaurant Overlay (HCRO) District applies to an irregular parcel bounded by Central Avenue on the west, the Arizona Canal on the north and east, and the Butler Drive alignment on the south which has been the site of a nonresidential use since 1911.
C. Permitted Primary Uses. Except as provided in Section 650.E, land in the HCRO district may be used for all uses permitted in the base district in accordance with the standards and procedures established in this ordinance and the limitations of this district. In addition, the following is a permitted use:
D. Permitted Accessory Uses. Land in the HCRO district may be used as permitted accessory uses, incidental to and on the same zoning lot as a primary restaurant use, for the following:
1. Customer parking lot; provided, that customers are cleared from the parking lot no later than 1:30 a.m.
2. Indoor music; provided, that the music is limited to recorded music or one acoustic (unamplified) musician, such as a pianist.
3. Parking lot maintenance and trash collection; provided, that these activities shall not occur between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.
4. Sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on site.
5. Outdoor dining; provided, that the outdoor dining shall not extend to the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
6. Reception or banquet use of the restaurant.
7. Package liquor retail sales.
8. General retail sales.
E. Prohibited Uses. Land in the HCRO district shall not be used for the following uses, whether primary or accessory:
1. Patron dancing, including as part of reception or banquet uses.
2. Drive-through and drive-in facilities.
3. Outdoor uses and/or displays, except as otherwise specifically provided in Section 650
4. Playing of music, live or recorded, in an outdoor dining area.
F. Height, Yard and Area Requirements. Development in the HCRO district shall comply with the height, yard and area requirements of the underlying zoning district except as set forth in this section. Any restaurant uses shall comply with the following requirements:
1. Height. A maximum building height of one story not to exceed fifteen feet shall be permitted by right. Requests to exceed this height limit may be granted by the City Council for development up to two stories not to exceed thirty feet upon recommendation from the Planning Commission or the zoning hearing officer finding that such additional height is not detrimental to adjacent property or the public welfare in general.
2. Maximum lot coverage. Lot coverage shall not exceed twenty-five percent of the net lot area.
3. Yards/setbacks.
a. Street and canal right-of-way setbacks. An average twenty-foot setback shall be provided for the site if it contains structures not exceeding two stories or thirty feet in height with a minimum fifteen-foot setback permitted for up to fifty percent of the structure (including projections). Landscaping equal to the required average setback times the street or canal frontage (exclusive of necessary driveways or canal right-of-way accessways) shall be provided adjacent to the street or canal right-of-way property line and shall not be less than fifteen feet in depth.
b. Reserved.
G. Design Guidelines and Standards. Development in the HCRO district shall comply with the design guidelines and standards of Section 507 Tab A for residential or nonresidential development, as appropriate, and shall be subject to site plan review in accordance with the standards and procedures of Section 507.
H. Signs. The following standards are intended to permit only signs which are attractive, low in profile, and compatible with a residential area. Signs for a restaurant in the HCRO district shall be governed by the regulations set forth below. Signs for residential development shall comply with the standards of Section 705 for residential uses. Any sign which is not visible beyond the boundaries of the lot or parcel on which it is located shall not be regulated as a sign.
1. Prohibited signs:
c. Balloons and banners.
d. Roof-mounted signs.
e. Ground signs for business identification.
f. Signs which move, rotate, flash, automatically or manually change copy, or simulate movement.
2. Permitted signs for a restaurant, except as allowed in Section 705.B.2 (signs which do not require a sign permit), shall be limited to signs attached to the building surface as provided below:
a. Maximum of one square foot for each lineal foot of horizontal building elevation to a maximum of fifty square feet.
b. Minimum of twenty square feet.
c. Placed no closer to the roofline than one-half the vertical dimension of the sign.
d. The signs shall not face a residential development or zoning district unless separated from that development or district by an arterial street or canal right-of-way.
I. Lighting. Outdoor lighting shall conform to the following:
1. Lighting within one hundred fifty feet of a residential zoning district or development shall not exceed fifteen feet in height; all other lighting shall not exceed twenty-five feet in height.
2. Lighting shall satisfy the standards of Section 704 (Ord. No. G-4235, 2000; Ord. No. G-5561, 2010; Ord. No. G-7013, 2022)