9.
City Council Work Session
- Meeting Date:
- 11/27/2012
- RE
- Discussion to identify technical and policy amendments to the Flagstaff Zoning Code
- FROM:
- Roger Eastman, Zoning Code Administrator
- Department:
- Planning & Development Services
Co-Submitter:
Information
TITLE
Discussion to identify technical and policy amendments to the Flagstaff Zoning Code.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
At this work session, staff will be seeking from the City Council consensus on whether the suggested amendments to the Flagstaff Zoning Code are technical or policy amendments. In addition, ideas and recommendations will be solicited from the City Council on possible amendments to the Zoning Code.
INFORMATION
DISCUSSION
On November 1, 2011 the City Council, by unanimous vote, adopted the new Flagstaff Zoning Code. This action concluded over three years of committed work by City staff, elected and appointed officials, and Flagstaff residents to rewrite the former Land Development Code (LDC) as a modern, integrated, user-friendly hybrid code.
At the time of the Code’s adoption, staff notified the Council that within 6-9 months a round of amendments to the Zoning Code would be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council for approval. With a document as complex as the Zoning Code, and despite staff’s best efforts and attention to detail, it was realized that some standards or issues would be incomplete or incorrect. Over the past few months, City planning staff, as well as staff who work with the Zoning Code on a regular basis (i.e. from the engineering, traffic, stormwater, housing or legal sections/divisions), have documented sections of the Code where possible amendments would be required. Through a series of meetings that are still ongoing, staff from all of these sections/divisions is discussing the noted corrections and reaching agreement on how they should be amended and corrected. Ideas for amendments submitted by Flagstaff residents have also been included, and over the coming months members of the public will have opportunity to share their suggestions with staff.
At a work session with the Council on October 9, 2012 staff presented a suggested path forward for the adoption of amendments to the Zoning Code. At this meeting, it was agreed that staff would summarize the proposed amendments into a table so that decisions could be made as to whether the amendment was technical in nature or one that required a policy discussion by the Council. A more detailed description of this distinction is provided below:
The table referred to above is attached. It includes some important notes, and a row number so that the Council can quickly refer to a specific amendment, the section number, section name, a description of the suggested amendment, and finally a suggestion/recommendation from staff whether the amendment is technical or policy in nature.
CONCLUSION
At the November 27, 2012 work session, staff will be seeking the following from the City Council:
On November 1, 2011 the City Council, by unanimous vote, adopted the new Flagstaff Zoning Code. This action concluded over three years of committed work by City staff, elected and appointed officials, and Flagstaff residents to rewrite the former Land Development Code (LDC) as a modern, integrated, user-friendly hybrid code.
At the time of the Code’s adoption, staff notified the Council that within 6-9 months a round of amendments to the Zoning Code would be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council for approval. With a document as complex as the Zoning Code, and despite staff’s best efforts and attention to detail, it was realized that some standards or issues would be incomplete or incorrect. Over the past few months, City planning staff, as well as staff who work with the Zoning Code on a regular basis (i.e. from the engineering, traffic, stormwater, housing or legal sections/divisions), have documented sections of the Code where possible amendments would be required. Through a series of meetings that are still ongoing, staff from all of these sections/divisions is discussing the noted corrections and reaching agreement on how they should be amended and corrected. Ideas for amendments submitted by Flagstaff residents have also been included, and over the coming months members of the public will have opportunity to share their suggestions with staff.
At a work session with the Council on October 9, 2012 staff presented a suggested path forward for the adoption of amendments to the Zoning Code. At this meeting, it was agreed that staff would summarize the proposed amendments into a table so that decisions could be made as to whether the amendment was technical in nature or one that required a policy discussion by the Council. A more detailed description of this distinction is provided below:
Technical Amendments: These are the needed “fixes” to the Code to correct and clarify text and standards, and as needed to include standards from the former Land Development code that were inadvertently omitted from the Zoning Code. These amendments are, therefore, relatively minor in nature and would not have any policy implications. Staff has identified the majority of these, and it is conceivable that the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council may identify the need for other technical amendments.
Policy Amendments: These are amendments to the Zoning Code as directed by the Council to be considered as a part of the 2012 Zoning Code Amendments process. These policy amendments would be based on a discussion by the Council to ensure firstly, that there is consensus on the issue, and secondly, to provide general direction to staff on the desired outcome for the issue.
Policy Amendments: These are amendments to the Zoning Code as directed by the Council to be considered as a part of the 2012 Zoning Code Amendments process. These policy amendments would be based on a discussion by the Council to ensure firstly, that there is consensus on the issue, and secondly, to provide general direction to staff on the desired outcome for the issue.
The table referred to above is attached. It includes some important notes, and a row number so that the Council can quickly refer to a specific amendment, the section number, section name, a description of the suggested amendment, and finally a suggestion/recommendation from staff whether the amendment is technical or policy in nature.
CONCLUSION
At the November 27, 2012 work session, staff will be seeking the following from the City Council:
- Agreement and consensus on which amendments are technical in nature and which will require a future policy discussion by the Council
- The solicitation of other ideas and recommendations from the Council on possible amendments to the Zoning Code. These will be compiled with the all of the amendments and forwarded to the Planning and Zoning Commission for its recommendation, before being submitted to the City Council for final approval.
Attachments
Form Review
- Form Started By:
- reastman
- Started On:
- 11/15/2012 11:25 AM
- Final Approval Date:
- 11/21/2012