Using Consultants To Revise Your Zoning
Ordinance
Leslie S. Pollock, AICP
 As
a city's key land use control, a zoning ordinance significantly
influences public decision-making, private market location,
land value, and real estate investment decisions. Hence, when
a community considers updating this document it should recognize
that the new ordinance should reflect the issues and development
realities of the city as well as its traditions of land use
control.
To do this, the update of a zoning ordinance should be structured
to serve as a bridge between the normative aspects of the
city's comprehensive plan and the more traditional concerns
of private property ownership. This is best achieved through
a zoning ordinance revision process which utilizes those innovative
concepts and techniques best suited to carry out - and make
more effective - the planning notions of the city; yet it
should also couple these techniques with the traditional zoning
approaches that best carry out particular policies of the
community.
Why Use a Consultant?
The work involved in updating a zoning ordinance can be
quite involved and time consuming. Therefore, cities may consider
utilizing outside assistance rather than burden existing planning
and legal staff with the work. The use of outside assistance
is also often contemplated since the city may desire to have
insights and knowledge of zoning reflected in the update beyond
that found within the city staff. Last, but not least, outside
assistance represents a most useful approach in cases where
the city senses the need for substantial changes to the ordinance
and, therefore, could benefit from the presence of a professional
who has no ties to the present ordinance and zoning review
process.
 When
deciding upon the use of outside consultants, a first question
is that of the skills needed - lawyer or planner. The needs
of zoning dictate that both are required for different reasons.
Simply, the role of the planner is to identify what should
be controlled and achieved through zoning in order to reflect
the notions of the city's comprehensive plan. The role of
the lawyer is to assure that these controls are structured
in a legal manner and that the ordinance can withstand any
legal challenges. In essence, though, both disciplines should
be involved in the process.
Approaches to the Zoning Revision
Consultants can help to update zoning ordinances in two
ways. The quickest, and initially the most cost-effective,
is a "turnkey" type approach. Under this approach, the consultant
would meet with city representatives, learn of their concerns,
and then proceed to draft an ordinance that presumes to respond
to such concerns. The disadvantage of this approach is that,
with the limited input that this process allows, there is
a risk that the draft would not completely reflect the concerns
and interests of the city. As a result, it is possible that
the process will require substantial meetings and revisions
to the document beyond that budgeted and may also create misunderstandings
of the city representatives' objectives.
An alternative approach is more interactive, and is structured
to identify and address issues on a step-by-step basis early
in the process so that the concepts embodied in the draft
ordinance can be "pre-tested" and agreed to by city representatives.
This approach, while initially more time consuming, minimizes
meeting time following the production of the draft ordinance
and assures that the concepts in the draft reflect those desired
by, and applicable to, the city. It could consist of the following
steps:
Review of present ordinance and related plans and
documents so as to gain familiarity with the land use planning
and control process in the community and to determine the
strengths and weaknesses of present approaches in terms of:
- The present utility of the ordinance and administrative
problems and concerns.
- The ability of the ordinance to carry out community plans
and development desires, especially with respect to the
implementation of the policies contained within the comprehensive
plan and related neighborhood and area plans.
- Legal issues affecting the structure of the new ordinance
and assuring the city's protection against challenges brought
as a result of the proposed comprehensive amendment.
Preparation of proposed new ordinance structure so
as to secure agreement upon the overall structure and content
of the proposed revised ordinance. This could involve several
major tasks which include:
- The identification of desired approaches to ordinance
structure, organization and control techniques.
- The preparation of an annotated outline indicating the
anticipated content of the revised ordinance, its organization
and the reasons for various recommended changes.
Detailed drafting, review and revision of ordinance.
During this phase the final document would be drafted. All
aspects of the new ordinance would be reviewed, standards
and performance criteria tested to assure the desired outcome,
and administrative procedures evaluated in terms of their
impact upon staff operation, user needs, and the functions
of relevant boards, commissions and the City Council.
Public hearing and development of final ordinance.
Conclusion
In general, the "turnkey" approach is most
applicable in newly developing cities which have little history
of development and limited zoning "tradition." It is also
applicable should the city desire to replace its present ordinance
with a completely different set of controls utilizing performance
control and/or an emphasis on negotiation and wide discretion.
The "interactive" approach is responsive to the needs of
older communities where ordinance modifications, rather than
wholesale replacements, are appropriate. Therefore, if the
city wants to build upon the present ordinance, or merely
wants to assure a step-by-step process, then a more "interactive"
approach might be most useful.
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