For the purpose of establishing and carrying out the several powers, duties, and privileges conferred upon the City of Topeka and Shawnee County, Kansas, in, under and by the laws of the State and to encourage the most appropriate use and development of land throughout the metropolitan area; to stabilize and conserve the value of property; to provide adequate air, light, and reasonable access; to secure safety from fire and other dangers; to prevent overcrowding of land; to avoid undue concentration of population; to improve the appearance of the metropolitan area; to facilitate the provisions of transportation, water, sewers, schools, parks and open space, and other community and public improvements; and in general, to promote the public health, safety and welfare; and to regulate and restrict the locations and use of buildings, structures and land for business, industry, dwelling, public and quasi-public and other specified uses, consistently and uniformly throughout; to regulate the area of yards and open space, the height, density, intensity and bulk of buildings and structures; and for said purposes, to divide the jurisdiction into districts of such number, shape and area as may be deemed necessary to carry out these regulations hereby established. In the development, execution, implementation and enforcement of the zoning regulations, it is recognized that there are some uses which, because of their very nature, are recognized as having serious objectionable operational characteristics and effects, thereby requiring special regulation of these uses to ensure that these characteristics and effects will not contribute to the blighting or downgrading of the surrounding neighborhood. (Code 1995 § 48-1.00.)