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, Assistant City Manager
Philip Rodriguez, City Manager
Prepared By: Aja Tibbs, Long Range Planner
Date Prepared: March 7, 2018
PURPOSE
To keep the City Council and Planning Commission informed of the Land Use and Development Code Update, and receive any specific comments or feedback regarding the work completed thus far.
BACKGROUND
Brighton is updating the Land Use and Development Code to better implement the recently adopted Comprehensive Plan Be Brighton, adopted in April of 2016.
The overall approach of the regulation 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 fall of last year, and is expected to continue through the spring of next 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: A time to work through the issues identified during the diagnose phase by research and case study 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
We have concluded the “Diagnose” phase of the project, which includes the consultant teams 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 provides a summary of those findings. It is 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 identifies strengths and weaknesses of the current regulations, and begins to frame where code changes may be needed to best implement the plan. This was discussed with the Advisory Committee and Technical Committee in February of this year.
The next step in the scope of work to be completed is the “Align” phase. While the Plan Conformance Report identifies what may need to be changed in the code, some of these issues need a more in depth analysis and discussion than what is provided from the Comprehensive Plan - essentially the “how” and “why” of those changes. The Align phase is set up to engage stakeholders and the broader community to discuss strategies and options prior to creating an initial draft. This phase will include a public open house, and more targeted and structured exercises in April through June. The results of this engagement will be a greater understanding of appropriate and preferred regulatory approaches to some major themes, which will be framed in a Draft Framework of the new development code - an annotated table of contents that allows us to begin to draft regulations.
Based on the Plan Conformance Report, the open house is tentatively arranged 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 open house will be set up for informal discussions on these topics with stakeholders and the broader community. The content of the open house and the outcomes of these discussions will be used to frame more targeted discussions on these topics, and any others that emerge through the “Align” phase (scheduled to run from March through June).
OPTIONS FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
Staff welcomes any feedback the Planning Commission and City Council would like to provide regarding the Plan Conformance Report, and any issues collected during the Diagnose phase. The items identified at this stage will help inform the topics for further discussion and research during the code update process.
ATTACHMENTS
• Plan Conformance Report
• Study Session Presentation