Two commissioners on the Zoning Design & Review Board (ZDRB) have been working overtime for seven months. ZODO Ad Hoc members Kim Cooke and Steven Miller have been working with two members from the Town Council to update the zoning ordinance and design ordinance. After 11 meetings, they brought Phase 2 of the changes to review before the entire ZDRB commissioners. Phase 1 was implanted in April last year after the General Plan update to make the ZODO consistent with the General Plan. Phase 2 plans to be complete by July 2021, with final adoption by the Council in September.
The goal is to consolidate Title 17 of Zoning and Title 18 of Design and create a one stop shop for those wanting information for building and design.
Consultant Robert Brown, who has been leading the Ad Hoc committee forward, presented the changes made thus far. The new code structure dealt with Division 2 Zoning Districts Allowable Uses Development and Design standards: A – Ag, RS- Single Family Residence RM – Mixed Residential H- Old Town MPR-Master, Planned Res MHP- Mobile home parks Res – residential Design Standards Overlay Districts, Affordable Housing and Senior Mobile Home Park. Also, Division 3: General Development standards, Parking, Tree Preservation, and Division 4: Affordable Housing and Home Occupation. Over 200 pages of Zoning code were reviewed.
As Mr. Brown noted, it is very important that the design standards be objective, so quantifiable and unambiguous. They want to remove subjectivity and create objective standards.
The changes were accepted with a unanimous vote and will to the Council. See the underline strikeout version and the clean version. You can also see the agenda and watch the full meeting.