This ordinance shall be known as the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Ithaca.
Pursuant to the authority conferred by the Public Acts of the State of Michigan, this ordinance has been established for the purpose of:
(a) 
Promoting and protecting the public health, safety, and general welfare;
(b) 
Protecting the character and the stability of the agricultural, residential and nonresidential areas within the City of Ithaca and promoting the orderly and beneficial development of such areas;
(c) 
Providing adequate light, air, privacy and convenience of access to property;
(d) 
Regulating the intensity of use of land and lot areas and determining the area of open spaces surrounding buildings and structures necessary to provide adequate light and air and to protect the public health;
(e) 
Lessening and avoiding congestion on public highways and streets;
(f) 
Providing for the future growth needs of housing, commerce, industry, public and nonpublic institutional facilities;
(g) 
Promoting healthful surroundings for family life in residential and public areas;
(h) 
Protecting the public and adjacent uses from fire, explosion, noxious fumes or odors, excessive heat, dust, smoke, glare, noise, vibration radioactivity and other health and safety hazards;
(i) 
Preventing the overcrowding of land and undue concentration of buildings and structures appropriate in each zoning district by regulating the use and bulk of buildings in relation to the land surrounding them;
(j) 
Enhancing social and economic stability in the City;
(k) 
Conserving the taxable value of land, buildings and structures in the City;
(l) 
Enhancing the aesthetic desirability of the City's environment;
(m) 
Promoting efficient improvements and services to conform with the most advantageous uses of land.
The primary consideration of this ordinance has been to devise technical solutions which minimize or eliminate conflicts between activities and man-made improvements on adjacent and nearby properties. This ordinance has been designed to protect and accommodate the interests of the individual property owner as well as the interests of the surrounding properties and the public in general. To facilitate equitable solutions to conflicts, this ordinance contains the option of using performance criteria with nondiscretionary, objective, administrative evaluation, thus reducing the number of times that case by case (ad hoc) decisions need to be made. This greatly increases the potential uses or choices available to individual property owners. The ad hoc decisions which conventional zoning ordinances frequently necessitate appear to reduce the certainty of protection to neighbors and to increase the potential for adverse impacts. Distinctions between districts are significant and are based on the Ithaca Sketch Land Use Plan. The districts include areas set aside for future phased development adequate to handle long-term needs yet which must be monitored relative to any necessary changes or updating. Where performance criteria severely limit the use of properties, this ordinance has gone to considerable extremes to provide the landowners with a range of choices, flexibility and options for development.
[Added 11-16-2010]
Each district, as created in this ordinance, shall be subject to the regulations contained in this ordinance. Uses not expressly permitted are prohibited. Uses for enterprises or purposes that are contrary to federal, state, or local laws or ordinances are prohibited. Waiver uses, because of their nature, require special restrictions and some measure of individual attention in order to determine whether or not such uses will be compatible with uses permitted by right in the district and with the purposes of this ordinance. Waiver uses are therefore prohibited uses unless a waiver of such prohibition is reviewed and findings submitted by the City Planning Commission as provided in this ordinance and approved by the City Council.