Last night, during a meeting that lasted nearly 5 hours, the council approved several changes to the municipal code that will affect the future developments in our CBC zone. Following is a brief list of the changes. I fully intend to address each of the changes in more depth but will do so over the next few weeks for the sake of not having time to write a novel in this one post.
First, the changes that were enacted last night:
- The requirement that pedestrian oriented uses must occupy 50% of the ground-level of new developments.
- Ground-level transparency of 50% (ie. the frontage of a building must use 50% transparent materials like glass)
- Minimum ground-floor height of 12 feet.
- An increased building height of 75 feet (previously the max height was 5 stories)
- Slightly lowered minimum parking requirements depending on usage and a new maximum parking requirement of 200% of the minimum. (300% max for dining and food uses)
- The prohibition of new Drive-thru lanes
- A minimum building size (Floor Area Ratio) of .75 FAR with a max of 4.0 FAR. (eg. a 10,000 sq ft lot would require a building of at least 7,500 sq ft with a max of 40,000 sq ft)
- Finally we updated the permitted use tables for the MU and MU/I zones in the CBC. (permitted use tables define what types of business can locate in those zones and under what conditions)
I supported all of these changes and believe that they will finally bring our development codes into closer alignment with the vision set forth in the CBC plan the city adopted several years ago. There are a few things here that I don't think are perfect, parking is one of those things, but I understand that this is just a step in the direction we need to take to ensure quality development in our downtown and that these things can and should change slightly over time.
Next post.... My responses to the public comments on this issue.
