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B-3 Central Business
ARTICLE XII - B-3 CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT
PREAMBLE
The City of Muskegon B-3 Central Business District is designed and intended to provide for and
regulate land and building uses so as to continue to create a shopping, living, cultural,
governmental, office, heritage, and institutional focal point for the City of Muskegon and the
Muskegon Area. The District is designed to provide flexibility to encourage a diversity of uses,
yet provide regulatory standards to create and maintain a safe and aesthetic environment.
SECTION 1200: PRINCIPAL USES PERMITTED
In the B-3 Central Business District, no building or land shall be used and no building shall be
erected, structurally altered, or occupied except for one (1) or more of the following specified
uses, unless otherwise provided in this Ordinance.
1. Retail sales of new merchandise and commodities, provided that all sales are made from
a completely enclosed building except that this section shall not prohibit the sales of
antique collector items, this section shall prohibit the operation of a store whose primary
sales are previously used products, except as further regulated.
2. Professional and personal services of any type where any repair work done on the
premises is incidental to the service rendered.
3. Banks, including those with drive-in windows, and other financial institutions.
4. Restaurants and cocktail lounges.
5. Business schools, or private schools operated for profit. Examples of private schools
permitted herein include, but are not limited to, the following: dance schools, music and
voice schools, and art studios.
6. Offices of business, government, and the professions.
7. Hotels and motels.
8. Indoor theaters.
9. Residential uses as part of a building in this business zone shall be allowed upon issuance
of Certificate of Occupancy from the Department of Inspections, but provided that the
minimum lot requirements of the RM-3 District are met.
10. Accessory buildings and accessory uses customarily incidental to the above Principal
Uses Permitted.
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11. Uses similar to the above Uses Permitted.
SECTION 1201: SPECIAL LAND USES PERMITTED
The following uses, and their accessory buildings and accessory uses, shall be permitted under
the purview of Section 2332 after review and approval of the use (and a site plan, if required) by
the Planning Commission, after Public Hearing, subject to the applicable conditions and any
other reasonable conditions imposed by the Planning Commission.
1. Automobile service stations for the sale of gasoline, oil, and minor repair, not including
major repair such as engine rebuilding, undercoating, and similar industrially oriented
activities and subject further to the following:
a. The curb cuts for ingress and egress to a service station shall not be permitted at
such locations that will tend to create traffic hazards in the streets immediately
adjacent thereto. Entrances shall be no less than twenty-five (25) feet from a
street intersection (measured from the roadway) or from adjacent residential
property, and subject to other Ordinances of the City.
b. The minimum lot area shall be ten thousand (10,000) square feet, and so arranged
that ample space is available for motor vehicles which are required to wait.
c. There shall be provided, on those sides abutting or adjacent to a residential district
or residential uses a four foot (4') completely obscuring wall or fence. The height
of the wall or fence shall be measured from the surface of the ground.
d. All lighting shall be shielded from adjacent residential districts and from abutting
streets.
2. Amusements and recreational facilities, including bowling alleys and skating rinks.
3. Commercial parking lots and parking structures.
4. Churches and other facilities normally incidental thereto subject to the following
conditions:
a. The site shall be so located as to provide for ingress and egress from said site
directly onto a major or secondary thoroughfare.
b. The principal buildings on the site shall be set back from abutting properties
zoned for residential use not less than thirty (30) feet.
c. Buildings of greater than the maximum height allowed in Section 2100 may be
allowed provided front, side, and rear yards are increased above the minimum
requirements by one (1) foot of building that exceeds the maximum height
allowed.
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5. Specialized adult educational programs, under the following conditions: [amended 1/02]
a. The program must be associated with a school district.
b. No residency will be permitted in the facility.
c. The hours of operation will be limited to the regular school hours of the
associated school district.
d. The facility must be located either on a major street or within two (2) blocks of
regular bus service.
e. No more than 75 students can be associated with the program.
6. Live music concert halls, under the following conditions: [amended 8/02]
a. The business will operate in such a manner as to comply with the Noise
Ordinance enacted by the City of Muskegon. No music (either live or piped) will
be permitted outside the building.
b. The business will maintain security staff, both inside and outside the building, at
all times when open to customers. Loitering will not be permitted on or around
the site.
c. The business will not operate between the hours of 3:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. No
person of 16 years of age or younger will be permitted within the business after
midnight and must directly exit the premises after that time.
d. The site and general vicinity will be maintained and litter-free, and will be
checked for litter every day before opening.
e. Security lighting will be provided for the site.
8. Private clubs, lodge halls, social and similar organizations, including assembly or rental
halls.
9. Galleries and museums.
10. Antique shops.
11. Accessory buildings and accessory uses customarily incidental to the above Special Land
Uses Permitted.
12. Uses similar to the above Special Land Uses Permitted.
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SECTION 1202: PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENTS
Planned developments may be allowed by the Planning Commission under the procedural
guidelines of Section 2101. The intent of Planned Unit Developments in the B-3 Central
Business District is to allow mixed land uses, which are compatible to each other, while
prohibiting nonresidential uses which would not be compatible or harmonious with residential
dwellings or other commercial uses.
1. Uses permitted in Section 1200 and 1201 together with combinations of multiple family
residential development, provided such uses are located on parcels of at least ten (10)
acres in area, and abut a major thoroughfare.
2. Accessory buildings and accessory uses customarily incidental to the above combination.
SECTION 1203: AREA AND BULK REQUIREMENTS [amended 4/00]
1. Minimum lot size: 4,000 sq. feet.
2. Maximum lot coverage:
Buildings: 100 %
Pavement: 25%
3. Lot width: 30 feet (shall be measured at road frontage unless a cul-de-sac, then measured
from setback).
4. Width to depth ratios: The depth of any lot(s) or parcel(s) shall not be more than three
(3) times longer its width.
5. Height Limit:
Maximum height: 6 stories or 90 feet
Minimum height: 2 stories or 35 feet.
Minimum heights are in the form of an "overlay district" on the following street
corridors:
Western Avenue from Ninth Street to Pine Street.
Clay Avenue from Seventh Street to Fourth Street.
Pine Street; from Western Ave. to Apple Avenue.
Height measurement: In the case of a principal building, the vertical distance measured
from the average finished grade to the highest point of the roof surface where the
building line abuts the front yard, except as follows: to the deck line of mansard roofs,
and the average height between eaves and the ridge of gable, hip, and gambrel roofs (see
Figure 2-2). If the ground is not entirely level, the grade shall be determined by
averaging the elevation of the ground for each face of the building (see Figure 2-4).
6. Front Setbacks: [amended 1/05]
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Minimum:
Expressway or Arterial Street: 30 feet
Collector or Major Street: 20 feet
Minor Street: 10 feet
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Maximum:
Expressway, Arterial Street or Major Street: 50 feet
Collector Street: 40 feet
Minor Street: 30 feet
Note: For minimum front setbacks new principal structures on minor streets may align
with existing principal structures in the immediate area even if the setback is below the
minimum required.
7. Rear setback: 10 feet
8. Setback from the ordinary high water mark or wetland: 75 feet (principal structures
only).
9. Side setbacks: no requirement
Note, setback measurement: All required setbacks shall be measured from the right-of-
way line to the nearest point of the determined drip line of buildings. [amended 10/02]
10. Zero lot line option: New principal buildings may be erected on the rear lot line
provided: [amended 10/02]
a. The building has an approved fire rating for zero-lot line development under the
building code.
b. The building has adequate fire access preserved pursuant to fire code
requirements.
c. The zero lot line side is not adjacent to a street.
d. A maintenance access easement is granted by the adjacent property owner and
recorded with the County Register of Deeds and provided to the zoning
administrator with the site plan or plot plan.
e. It is not adjacent to wetlands, or waterfront.
11. All required side and rear setbacks shall be landscaped, greenbelt buffers, unless zero-lot-
line is employed for a structure or fire access. At least fifty percent of all required front
setbacks shall be landscaped and adjacent to the road right-of-way. An average minimum
greenbelt of 10 feet shall be maintained along each street frontage. [amended 12/01,
amended 10/02]
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