§ 122-100. Purpose.

This zoning ordinance is based on the provisions, goals, and values as adopted in the City of Ypsilanti Master Plan, amendments to those plans, and similar adopted plans addressing future development patterns and goals. This ordinance is intended to implement the master plan by regulating the use of land, buildings, and structures to promote the public health, safety, and welfare. In the interpretation and application of this chapter, the provisions of this chapter shall be held to be minimum requirements for the promotion of the public health, safety, and welfare. The provisions of this chapter are intended to:

•

Create a safe, diverse, and sustainable city;

•

Meet the needs of the city's residents for food, fiber, energy, and other natural resources;

•

Guide the location of places of residence, recreation, industry, trade, service, and other uses of land;

•

Ensure that uses of the land shall be situated in appropriate locations and relationships;

•

Limit the inappropriate overcrowding of land and congestion of population and transportation systems and other public facilities;

•

Facilitate adequate and efficient provision for transportation systems, sewage disposal, water, energy, education, recreation, and other public service and facility needs;

And for those purposes, divide the city into districts and within those districts designate the uses for which buildings or structures may be erected or altered; provide regulations for land uses, activities, or special uses which may be permitted subject to approval and regulation; establish the height and bulk of buildings, the area of yards and other open spaces; restrict the maximum number of families which may be housed in dwellings; and impose regulations for land prone to flooding.

This ordinance is further intended to enable, encourage, and qualify the implementation of the following policies regarding:

(a)

The districts.

(1)

That neighborhoods should provide meaningful choices in living arrangements as manifested by distinct physical environments.

(2)

That the district descriptions in article IV shall constitute the intent of this Code with regard to the general character of each of these environments.

(b)

The block and the building.

(1)

That buildings and landscaping should contribute to the physical definition of streets as civic places.

(2)

That development should create complete streets that adequately accommodate vehicles and bicycles while respecting the pedestrian and the spatial form of public areas.

(3)

That the design of streets and buildings should reinforce safe environments, but not at the expense of accessibility.

(4)

That architecture and landscape design should grow from local climate, topography, history, and building practice.

(5)

That buildings should provide the community with a clear sense of geography and climate through energy efficient methods.

(6)

That institutional buildings and public gathering places should be distinctive in appearance, conveying their role in community identity.

(7)

That institutional buildings should be distinctive and appropriate to a role more important than the other buildings that constitute the fabric of the city.

(8)

That the preservation and renewal of historic buildings should be facilitated, to affirm the continuity and evolution of society.

(9)

That the harmonious and orderly evolution of urban areas should be secured through codes that regulate both building type and land use.