Development Code Update Integrated Public Draft Available for Review - Public Forum Scheduled November 4

[Bill Cantin]

The latest installment of the City of Columbia draft Development Code Update has been posted for public review. The Community Development Department will host a public forum to review the draft code on Wednesday, November 4, 2015 from 6:30 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 701 E. Broadway. Don Elliott, Clarion Associates, will make a presentation and answer questions regarding the draft code. Details on the draft and the project may be found by visiting: 

http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/community-development/planning/development-code-update-project/

Titled the "Integrated Draft," the latest revision combines three "modules" presented earlier into a single document. As before, footnotes indicate where text is different from the existing City Code, denoting changes in response to public comment, corrections, text moved from the existing code, and changes recommended by the consultants and staff. In all there are more than 1,000 changes from the existing code.

The Development Code consists of the full Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Regulations, Sign Ordinance, and parts of the Land Preservation and Planning Chapters of the City Code. Though checking in at a hefty 385 pages (including notes), the material is organized into just 5 sections: 1) General Provisions; 2) Zoning Districts; 3) Permitted Uses; 4) Form and Development Controls; and 5) Procedures and Enforcement. 

The Development Code Update Project does not "rezone" property, though it does revise the rules for development in a number of zoning districts. An exception is the downtown area where a new form-based M-DT Mixed-use Downtown District replaces the existing C-2 Central Business District and some pockets of M-1 General Industrial Zoning. In the downtown, traditional zoning based on the mapping of parcels into districts will be replaced by a form-based system of mapping streets into one of several "building form standards" which determine the form and development controls of properties that front on those streets.

Other changes include:

• Improved organization of contents
• More frequent use of figures and tables
• Consolidation of zoning districts, including replacement of four different planned districts into one
• Fewer, more flexible land use categories
• More than 40 uses with associated "use-specific standards," including multiple-family housing, to specify conditions of use
• New Design Standards and Guidelines and Neighborhood Protection Standards to protect neighborhood character
• A process for optional development standards to enable "cottage" developments in the R-2 Two Family Dwelling District, pedestrian-oriented development standards in the M-N Mixed Use Neighborhood District, and transit-oriented standards in the M-C Mixed Use Commercial District
• Lot bonus provisions for environmentally sensitive subdivision design
• Adequacy of utilities and infrastructure assessments to be provided to the Planning & Zoning Commission in zoning map amendment ("rezoning") cases.

Since the release of module 3, the Community Development Department and the consultant have received numerous comments regarding increases to residential density and height in the proposed R-MF Multiple-family Residential district. Those standards have since been changed to restore the maximum density and height limits of the existing R-3 District. 

The Development Code Update Project began in January 2014 with the hiring of lead consultant Clarion Associates and their sub-consultant Ferell Madden Associates. The integrated draft will be available for review and comment from now until Friday, December 4, 2015. Following completion of the review period, the Planning & Zoning Commission will begin hearings to consider approval of the draft code and recommendations to the City Council.