KRS 99.050: Conditions of approval of plan by planning commission.

(1) A planning commission may approve a development plan, but no certificate of

approval thereof shall be issued by it unless and until an application for approval

has been filed with it, together with the development plan, and unless and until,

after a public hearing before it, notice of which hearing giving the time, place and

purpose of the hearing shall be given by publication pursuant to KRS Chapter 424,

and by one or more handbills posted up in the area sought to be redeveloped giving

the time, place and purpose of the hearing, the planning commission finds:

(a) That the area within which the development area is included is substandard or

insanitary and that the redevelopment of the development area in accordance

with the development plan is necessary or a dvisable to effectuate the public

purposes declared in KRS 99.020;

(b) That the development plan is in accord with the master plan, or city map, if

any, of the city;

(c) That the development area is of sufficient size to allow its redevelopment in

an efficient and economically satisfactory manner;

(d) That the various stages, if any, by which the development is proposed to be

constructed or undertaken, as stated in the development plan, are practicable

and in the public interest;

(e) That public facilities, including, but not limited to school, fire, police,

transportation, park, playground and recreation, are presently adequate, or will

be adequate, at the time that the development is ready for use, to service the

development area;

(f) That the proposed changes, if any, in zoning ordinances or maps and in streets

and street levels, or any proposed street closing, are necessary or desirable for

the development and its protection against blighting influences and for the city

as a whole; and

(g) Upon the data submitted by or on behalf of the redevelopment corporation, or

upon data otherwise available to the planning commission, that the carrying

into effect of the development plan will not cause undue hardship to the

families, if any, occupying dwelling accommodations in the development area

to such a degree as to outweigh the public purpose defined in KRS 99.020.

(2) Any such findings shall be conclusive evidence of the facts so determined except

upon proof of fraud or willful misfeasance. In arriving at such de termination, the

planning commission shall consider only those elements of the development plan

relevant to such determination under paragraphs (a) through (g) of subsection (1) of

this section and to the type of development which is physically desirable f or the

development area concerned from a city planning viewpoint, and from a

neighborhood unit viewpoint if the development plan provides that the development

area is to be primarily residential. Upon approval of a development plan by the

planning commission, it shall forthwith issue a certificate of approval thereof.

(3) Such planning commission may state general standards of city and neighborhood

unit planning to which a development plan should conform to be approved by it.

Such standards, however, shall be as flexible as possible and only for the guidance

of prospective proponents of development plans. Variations therefrom shall be

freely allowed upon a showing of their advisability, to the end that individual

initiative be encouraged.