A. 
The purposes of this chapter are the following:
(1) 
To guide the future growth and development of the City in accordance with a well-balanced and comprehensive plan, which plan is embodied in this chapter.
(2) 
To regulate and limit the height, bulk and location of buildings hereafter erected, to regulate and determine the area of yards, courts and other open spaces and to regulate the density of population in any given area, and for said purposes, to divide the City into districts.
(3) 
To regulate each class of buildings uniformly throughout each district, although the regulations in some districts differ from those in other districts.
(4) 
To secure safety from fire, flood and other dangers and to promote the public health, safety and welfare, including, so far as conditions permit, provision for adequate light, air, convenience of access and the accommodation of solar energy systems and equipment and the access to sunlight necessary therefor.
(5) 
To regulate, with reasonable regard to the character of buildings erected in each district, the value of land and the use to which it may be put, to the end that these regulations are designed to promote public health, safety and welfare and the most desirable use for which the land of each district may be adapted.
(6) 
To conserve the value of buildings and enhance the value of land throughout the City.
(7) 
To regulate and restrict both the location of trades and industries and the location of buildings designed for specific uses, and for said purposes, to divide the City into districts and to prescribe for each such district the trades and industries that shall be permitted, those subjected to special regulation and the uses for which buildings may not be erected or altered. Such regulations are designed to promote the public health, safety and general welfare and are made with reasonable consideration, among other things, to the character of the district, its peculiar suitability for particular uses, the conservation of property values and the direction of building development, in accord with a well-considered plan.
(8) 
To protect the character and social and economic stability and to encourage the orderly and beneficial development of the City and all of its neighborhoods.
(9) 
To bring about the gradual conformity of the use of land with the Comprehensive Plan as set forth in this chapter and to minimize conflicts among the uses of land.
(10) 
To promote the most beneficial relation between the use of land and the circulation of traffic throughout the City, having particular regard to the avoidance of congestion in the streets and the provision of safe and convenient vehicular and pedestrian traffic movements appropriate to the various uses of land throughout the City.
(11) 
To provide a guide for public policy and action in the efficient provision of public facilities and services and for private enterprise in building development, investment and other economic activity relating to uses of land throughout the City.
(12) 
To limit development to that which will not exceed the capacity of existing and programmed public facilities and services to safely and adequately support it.
(13) 
To avoid hazardous conditions and excessive damage resulting from stormwater runoff and flooding and to encourage the appropriate use and sound management of natural resources throughout the City.
(14) 
To preserve the natural beauty and historic values of the City; to protect the City against unsightly, obstructive and obnoxious land uses and operations; to enhance the aesthetic aspect of the natural and man-made elements of the City; and to ensure appropriate development with regard to those elements.
(15) 
To preserve the natural and scenic qualities of open lands.
[Added 11-10-2021, approved 11-11-2021]
B. 
For the purpose of this chapter, certain words and terms used herein are specifically defined. Where words and terms are not defined, they shall have their ordinarily accepted meanings or such as the context may imply.