Body
Department of Community Development
Reference: Land Use and Development Code Update
To: Mayor Kenneth J. Kreutzer and Members of City Council
Chairman Chris Maslanik and Members of Planning Commission
Through: Holly Prather, AICP, Community Development Director
Marv Falconburg, AICP, Acting City Manager
Prepared By: Aja Tibbs, Long Range Planner
Date Prepared: July 22, 2019
PURPOSE
To keep the City Council and Planning Commission informed of the Land Use and Development Code Update, discuss the code drafts and public review process, and receive any specific comments or feedback regarding the work completed thus far.
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREAS
Facilities, Amenities, and Open Space
Recognizable and Well-Planned Community
Safe, Active and Engaged Community
Financially Responsible
Supportive, Sustainable Infrastructure
BACKGROUND
Brighton is updating the Land Use and Development Code to better implement the policies and strategies as set forth in the Comprehensive Plan Be Brighton, adopted in April of 2016.
The overall approach of the code update is to:
• Clarify regulations that may be confusing or conflicting with other provisions;
• Simplify where development processes and regulations have become unnecessarily cumbersome or have become barriers to more effective plan implementation; and
• Improve where dated or routine regulatory techniques no longer match with the City’s official policies and plans.
To assist staff in completing this major update to the code, the City has contracted with Gould Evans and their sub-consultant, Ayers. The code update process began in the winter of 2017, and is expected to continue through the end of this year. The code amendment process will consist of three phases:
1. Diagnose: Identify conflicts and omissions with the current regulations, as well as connections needed between the Comprehensive Plan and other master plans of the city.
2. Align: Work through the issues identified during the diagnose phase through research and case studies of each topic. A code framework will be completed to address where new provisions will be created, which items will remain in their current form, and the standards that will be revised.
3. Launch: New codes and updates to the existing code will be drafted according to the developed framework. Drafts will go before the public, Planning Commission, and City Council for final approval.
DIAGNOSE PHASE (10/2017-2/2018) - COMPLETE
The “Diagnose” phase of the project has been completed, which included the consultant team’s review of the City’s Comprehensive Plan and other plans and policies, and a comparison of those documents with the current regulations. The Plan Conformance Report provided a summary of those findings. It was organized around the following major themes and sub-topics of the Comprehensive Plan that most affect development regulations.
• Active & Multi-Modal Transportation
o Connectivity
o Streetscapes
o Transit and Bicycle Networks
• Heritage & Identity
o Vibrant Downtown
o Productive Agriculture Lands
o Historic Preservation
o Gateways and Focal Points
• Sustainability
o Resilient Infrastructure
o Mixed-use Employment and Retail Centers
o Housing Options and Walkable Neighborhoods
o Open Space and Natural Environment
The findings of the Plan Conformance Report identified strengths and weaknesses of the current regulations, and began to frame where code changes were needed to best implement the plan. The report was discussed with the Advisory Committee and Technical Committee in February of 2018, and then presented to the City Council and Planning Commission in March of 2018.
ALIGN PHASE (3/2018-7/2018) - COMPLETE
The next step in the scope of work that was to be completed was the “Align” phase. While the Plan Conformance Report in the “Diagnose” phase identified what needed to be changed in the code, the “Align” phase was set up to engage stakeholders and the broader community to discuss strategies and options prior to creating an initial draft. This process allowed staff to begin translating some of the policies and strategies of the Comprehensive Plan into design and procedure strategies for the draft code.
The “Align” phase included several internal and external facing events and meetings. A public open house, also known as the Development Collaborative, was held on June 4, 2018, which invited all known developers, applicants, and the general public to study the key topics and gather feedback. Additionally, seven case studies were developed, which evaluated how places most similar to Brighton’s vision are using unique street patterns, building forms and open space systems. A Metro Innovation Tour was attended by members of the Technical Committee and the Planning Commission on June 10, 2018 which studied three model neighborhoods. The tour allowed participants to experience three of the model projects in person, and discuss topics as a group. Additionally, the studies were posted online for the public and other interested individuals.
Engagement activities such as the open house, metro tour, and case studies focused on the following key topics:
• Public Realm Design
o Connectivity - Large Scale (Transportation Master Plan and Parks and Trails Master Plan implementation)
o Connectivity - Area / Project Scale (Local Street Networks and Open Space Systems)
o Streetscape Design / Types
o Open Space Design / Types
• Housing & Neighborhoods
o “Missing Middle” Housing (small scale, multi-unit, and higher density building types)
o Accessory Dwelling Units
o Neighborhood Design
o Density Strategies (Where?, How?, Why?)
• Downtown
o Sub-districts - Core, Edges, and Neighborhood Transitions
o Public Realm Framework - Local Street Network, Street Types and Open Spaces
o Building Form and Scale
o Uses
The results of this engagement included a greater understanding of appropriate and preferred regulatory approaches to the above major themes, which were then framed in a Draft Framework of the new development code - an annotated table of contents that allowed for the drafting of the new regulations to begin.
LAUNCH PHASE (8/2018-PRESENT DAY) - UNDERWAY
The last and final phase of the code update is the Launch Phase. In this phase, the team has worked through several rough and initial drafts of each article. Meetings have been held with legal counsel and the Advisory and Technical Committees as policies and procedures were ironed out. The final internal draft included a month-long review by both the Technical and Advisory Committee members of all new eleven articles. The new proposed drafts codes are organized as follows:
Article 1: General Provisions
Article 2: Applications & Procedures
Article 3: Subdivision Standards
Article 4: Zoning District & Uses
Article 5: Neighborhood Design Standards
Article 6: Non-residential Design Standards
Article 7: Access & Parking Standards
Article 8: Landscape and Site Design Standards
Article 9: Sign Standards
Article 10: Supplemental Standards
Article 11: Definitions & Terms
Following the internal and committee review period, staff will be publishing a public draft. The public draft will be posted on the website and advertised for review from August 15 to September 15. Also during this time, city staff will hold another open house to present the key topics and issues drafted into the proposed code. Scheduled for August 14th, the open house will focus on how public input received during the Be Brighton Comprehensive Plan and “Align” phase has been incorporated into the draft Land Use and Development Code. Staff will also be advertising the public draft review throughout the community, and referring the drafts to external agencies and other interested parties.
OPTIONS FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
Staff welcomes any feedback the Planning Commission and City Council would like to provide regarding the public drafts and the upcoming public review process. Over the next month, staff will be collecting the public comments to bring back for review and consideration at the September 24th joint study session meeting. If desired, the City Council and Planning Commission may also access a full copy of the public draft texts on the city website by going to the Land Use and Development Code Update page.
ATTACHMENTS
• Land Use and Development Code Update Website Link
• Plan Conformance Report
• Draft Framework