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This
article is from Camiros Newsletter #25. The full newsletter
(6 pages, color) can be downloaded from the following links
as a pdf file: Pg.1 Pg.2 Pg.3 Pg.4 Pg.5 Pg.6
The Continuing Evolution of Development
Controls
Cities across the country continue to update zoning ordinances
to meet the demands of contemporary living. Changes in technology,
concepts of family, and real estate development trends require
adjustments to zoning ordinances that, in many cases, were
drafted 25 or more years ago. For example, major growth areas
such as Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada, maturing suburbs
such as Barrington, Illinois, and mature cities like Chicago,
are all updating their development controls.
Often, this happens in an orderly manner, following a review
and modification of land use and development policy. But there
are many instances where the revision is driven by the need
to fix up ordinances so patched by ad-hoc actions that they
are barely useful to either the public or to policy-makers.
While the reasons for ordinance revision may vary, certain
needs stand out, which include: increased flexibility, the
search for best practices, development of special districts,
revised development standards, and computer accessibility.
FLEXIBILITY: THE GUIDELINES APPROACH
Most ordinances consist of districts that regulate use, building
location, and site layout as separate items. Yet the development
industry tends to treat them as a whole. The result is a continuing
cry for flexibility in development regulations that accommodates
unique mixed-uses, special design programs, and changes in
the development program without requiring a finding of hardship.
Planned development and special use procedures have been established
to respond to this need. Yet each has inherent limitations
in terms of scope and procedure.
 Many
communities respond to this problem by using flexible review
guidelines rather than fixed standards. For example, Clark
County will consider a request for a waiver of specific standards
based upon responses to a range of criteria-based guidelines.
Phoenix, Arizona, has put in place a design review process
consisting of several types of guidelines. They range from
those that require an affirmative response to those that only
need to be considered, but not necessarily applied, to a project
design. Chicago’s planned development requires petitioners
to show how they respond to thirteen different guidelines
in order to be considered for approval.
SEARCHING FOR BEST PRACTICES
Cities have always tried to learn from their neighbors, but
lately this search has grown to a national, or even international,
scope enabled by the Web and our greatly increased flow of
information. Thus the zoning revision process now tends to
look to new techniques beyond standard approaches to development
controls. As a result, new performance measures, as well as
development control techniques, are being applied to specific
local situations.
Specialized Districts
Much of current zoning has swung from the "one-size-fits-all
district" to the use of highly specialized districts
in an effort to encourage desired forms of development within
different areas of cities. Examples include commercial area
transition districts, which maintain a residential character
while accommodating a mix of commercial and residential uses.
In other cases, commercial districts are designed to place
special emphasis on various place-making elements, such as
build-to lines, common cornice heights, retail uses on the
ground floors of office buildings, and street-oriented, active
building frontages.
Revised Development Standards
Development standards are also evolving. In some cases, the
location and operation characteristics of permitted uses are
being designated within the zoning ordinance to assure that
new development responds to community policy. For example,
some communities have limited the location of larger places
of worship to arterial streets because of their major traffic
generating consequences.
 "In
our recent revision of the Barrington, Illinois, Zoning Ordinance,
we found that the community's concerns required us to establish
a fairly complete range of location requirements for uses
like churches, which have substantial off-site impacts,"
says Camiros Associate Beth Hibner, who drafted major portions
of the new ordinance.
Other site development standards, such as those affecting
parking, landscaping, site lighting, and noise, also need
review to assure that performance measures meet community
needs and expectations.
Computerized Ordinances
As communities develop their own web pages, a key component
should be the zoning ordinance. Current revisions to many
zoning ordinances include an electronic version with internally
linked cross-references and definitions. As this becomes a
more popular approach, there is a need to assure that the
most current amended version is maintained on the Web.
"A computerized version of a zoning ordinance also reinforces
the concepts of ‘ease of use’ and efficiency,"
says Arista Strungys of Camiros, who worked on a web-version
of the Clark County Ordinance.
Strungys continues, "Rather than forcing the user to
flip through endless pages to keep track of definitions and
cross-references, a web document allows clarification through
a few clicks of the mouse. Highlighted links take you to exactly
what is pertinent in a few seconds."
Cycle of Change
 "Revising
local development controls is never an easy matter,"
says Les Pollock, Principal Consultant of Camiros, who has
directed many revisions. "However, a new or revised ordinance
provides a city with the ability to better realize its development
policies and allows local developers to secure more timely
approvals in a less tortuous fashion."
"Cities are not static," Pollock continues. "The
cycle of change seems to quicken as new ideas emerge and lifestyles
change. Regulatory controls need to evolve in a similarly
responsive manner."
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