There is hereby created a special purpose zoning classification to be known as the retail use overlay, the boundary of which shall be depicted on the official zoning map.
(Ord. 869 § 1, 2000; Ord. 1198 § 22 (Exh. D), 2017; Ord. 1306 § 2 (Exh. A), 2025)
A. 
For purposes of this chapter, "retail use" means a business primarily characterized by the sale of goods or merchandise to the local public and tourists for personal, household or business consumption, and rendering of services incidental to the sale of such goods, a business providing entertainment or recreation, a business engaged in the sale of food and/or beverages for on-premises consumption, or barber, beauty or nail salon, but excluding the sales, fueling, repair or storage of motor vehicles, excluding adult-oriented businesses of any nature and excluding any drive-through food or beverage service.
B. 
The director shall determine whether existing uses and any proposed new use are a retail use for purposes of this chapter, and shall consider whether the proposed use has the following retail characteristics:
1. 
The establishment is engaged to a significant degree in business to attract the general public to sell tangible goods to consumers for their own personal or household use, or to render personal, entertainment or recreational services to customers on the premises;
2. 
The business may process, repair, or manufacture some or all of the products it sells, such as jewelry, candy, baked goods, apparel, pottery, or consumer electronics; however, such processing, repair, or manufacturing shall be of items sold on the premises, whether or not also sold at wholesale, and shall be of a scale compatible with the retail component of the business.
C. 
By way of illustration only, the following are retail uses:
1. 
General merchandise, such as apparel, books, arts and crafts, furniture, and home furnishings;
2. 
Jewelry, records/compact discs/videos, consumer electronic equipment, hardware, sporting goods, stationery and office supplies, and toys;
3. 
Convenience goods such as food and grocery stores, pharmacies and drug stores;
4. 
Restaurants, other than drive-through food service, and taverns;
5. 
Personal services, such as barber shops and beauty salons, tailors, florists and shoe repair, which include incidental sale of related goods;
6. 
Movie theaters and bowling alleys; and
7. 
Museums and galleries.
D. 
By way of further illustration, the following are nonretail uses:
1. 
Professional service businesses such as advertising, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, planning, law, medicine, music instruction, interior design, dentistry, accounting, insurance, real estate, finance and securities investments, and any similar type business;
2. 
Any drive-through food or beverage service;
3. 
Motor vehicle related uses, including sales, fueling, repair or storage;
4. 
Uses that require outside storage of stock, vehicles or machinery; and
5. 
Wholesale sales, other than those by a business also engaged in retail sales.
(Ord. 869 § 1, 2000; Ord. 1198 § 22 (Exh. D), 2017)
A. 
Subject to the underlying use regulations of this title, within the retail use overlay at least 90 percent of the storefronts facing Railroad Avenue S.E. and Falls Avenue shall be occupied by retail uses, and no more than 10 percent of storefronts shall be occupied by nonretail uses. For purposes of this section, a "storefront" shall mean separately owned or leased ground floor premises with a separate entrance in the retail use overlay. A building may have one or more storefronts. Permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and emergency housing or shelter uses as defined in Chapter 17.10 SMC and city-occupied buildings in the retail use overlay shall not be included within the definition of "storefront."
B. 
The director shall establish and maintain a list by address of all storefronts within the retail use overlay and a determination of whether such storefront is occupied by a retail use. The list shall include a calculation of the percentage of storefronts occupied by retail uses as of the date of the list. The list shall be updated prior to the issuance of any business license for a business intending to locate in any storefront in the retail use overlay. No business license shall be issued for any business proposing to locate in a ground floor storefront in the retail use overlay unless the director certifies that the issuance of such business license is in compliance with the requirements of subsection A of this section; provided, the renewal of business licenses for businesses in existence as of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter shall not be prohibited by this section.
C. 
Storefronts and second-story uses located outside the retail use overlay shall be subject to the underlying zoning only and shall not be subject to the special use regulations of this chapter.
(Ord. 869 § 1, 2000; Ord. 1198 § 22 (Exh. D), 2017; Ord. 1306 § 3 (Exh. A), 2025)
In the event any of the provisions of this chapter shall be held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the finding of invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions hereof.
(Ord. 869 § 1, 2000; Ord. 1198 § 22 (Exh. D), 2017)