18.40.010 Purpose.
The purposes of the commercial districts are to:
A. Designate adequate land for a full range of commercial uses and regional-serving retail services consistent with the general plan to maintain and strengthen the city’s economic resources;
B. Provide for the orderly, well-planned, and balanced growth of commercial areas;
C. Plan for commercial development to expand the variety of goods and services to meet the needs of city residents and those living within Maricopa’s market area;
D. Establish design standards that improve the visual quality of development and create a unified, distinctive, and attractive character along commercial streets;
E. Contribute to the pedestrian environment with standards that promote ground-floor visibility, orientation of buildings to the street, and pedestrian access across parking lots and between commercial centers and adjacent land uses;
F. Ensure that new development is designed to minimize traffic and parking impacts and is appropriate to the physical characteristics of the area; and
G. Address transitions and provide appropriate buffers between commercial and residential uses.
Additional purposes of each commercial district:
1. NC Neighborhood Commercial. This district is intended to provide areas for locally oriented retail and service uses that serve the surrounding residential trade area within one-half-mile to one-mile radius. Typical uses include, but are not limited to, retail stores, small grocery and drug stores, specialty food sales and services, restaurants and cafes, neighborhood dry cleaners, personal services (e.g., laundries, barbers, hair and nail salons, fitness studios), small gas stations, and convenience stores. Other compatible uses include small-scale medical and professional offices as well as public and semi-public uses. Large-format retail stores, greater than 40,000 gross square feet for a single user, and shopping centers are not appropriate in this district.
2. GC General Commercial. This district is intended to provide retail and service-oriented businesses that serve a large surrounding residential trade area within a one- to five-mile radius. Examples of allowable uses include but are not limited to animal sales, care, and services; automobile servicing; building materials; storage facilities with active storefronts; equipment rental; wholesale businesses; and specialized retail and service uses not normally found in shopping centers.
3. GO General Office. This district is intended to enhance employment opportunities and the overall economic vitality of Maricopa as well as to promote attractive development and ensure minimal impacts on surrounding development. It is intended for low- to medium-intensity office and medical center development located along thoroughfares, arterials, or collectors, or near existing/planned public transit stops. This district also allows supporting services such as banks, clinics, lodging, small-scale retail, service, or restaurant uses developed in conjunction with office use.
4. SC Shopping Center. This district is intended to meet local and regional retail demand, such as large-scale retail, office, civic and entertainment uses, shopping malls with large footprints, “big-box” retail use, and other uses that are not appropriate in other areas because of higher volumes of vehicle traffic and potential impacts on other uses. Typical uses include but are not limited to grocery store and anchored tenant shopping centers with additional drug stores, fast food chains, smaller hardware and building supply stores, gas stations with convenience stores, and restaurants and cafes. Other compatible uses include medical and professional offices as well as public and semi-public uses. The focus of district development standards is to ensure that structures complement the surrounding development pattern. [Res. 21-09; Ord. 21-05 § 2; Res. 14-36 § 203.01; Ord. 14-12 § 1.]