Request By:
Honorable Thomas M. Matthias
Planner, Hopkins County Joint
City-County Planning Commission
42 South Main Street
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of May 11 in which you state that the Hopkins County Joint Planning Commission is planning to recommend various zoning amendments to various legislative bodies within the city. Your question is as follows:
". . . Does K.R.S. 100.211 require that a planning commission hold a public hearing when proposing an amendment to the text of an adopted zoning ordinance prior to submitting their recommendation to the various legislative bodies and fiscal courts for possible adoption or denial?"
Our response to your question would be in the affirmative. KRS 100.211 relating to amendments to zoning regulations requires a hearing as you well know. At the same time KRS 100.212, also pertaining to zoning amendments but basically of a wider scope, also refers to a hearing before adoption. For your information, we quote the first paragraph which reads as follows:
"When in any planning unit containing any portion of a county a hearing is scheduled on a proposal to amend any zoning map plat, plan, text or regulation, the following notice shall be given in addition to any other notice required by statute by local regulation or ordinance."
You will note the above statute specifically refers to amending zoning maps, plans, texts, etc. KRS 100.211 and 100.212 must be read together and embraces all proposed zoning amendments regardless of whether they involve a single piece of property or a part of the text of the zoning ordinance, and we have taken this position in OAG 78-74 [copy attached].
We have however taken the position where there is a major change in zoning regulations and map amendments, such as you are apparently referring to, that the notice requirements under either KRS 100.207 or KRS 100.211 would be sufficient, which means a general notice to be given pursuant to Ch. 424 KRS.