Residents discuss massive Columbia “down zoning”
Residents gathered Tuesday to discuss a massive rezoning of properties in central Columbia.
The city’s planning staff held a public information session in the lobby of the Daniel Boone City Building after landowners filed a petition to “down zone” 37 lots in the Benton-Stephens neighborhood from R-3 to R-1.
More than a dozen people met with City Planner Steve MacIntyre to go over the next steps in the process. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission will consider and vote on the proposal at its January 5 meeting. It would then go to the Columbia City Council for final approval.
Benton-Stephens neighborhood residents said the move was to preserve the “character” of the area, just east of College Avenue and south of Paris Road. An amalgamation of students and families reside in the majority of single-family homes there. Peter Norgard, the petitioner and Hinkson Avenue resident, said the last five years has seen a boom of multi-family units and single-story apartments.
“It’s tilting the pans in favor of, sort of a dormitory-like atmosphere,” Norgard told ABC 17 News.
R-1 zoning would allow those lot owners certain protections from a neighbor’s redevelopment. The proposed unified development code would dictate a building’s height and distance from a neighboring single-family residence. Even if the UDC doesn’t include those protections, Norgard said, he hoped the large number of applicants would send a strong message to the city council anytime someone tried redeveloping or rezoning property in that area.
One of those developments is a sixplex of townhomes on Windsor Street, spearheaded by Mark Stevenson and Justin Naydhor. Stevenson said he’s owned one of the parcels of land since 1971, and always planned to redevelop the lot for student residences due to the area’s proximity to the University of Missouri and Stephens College. While many of the homes are aging, Stevenson said his project seeks to revitalize the area when it opens in fall 2017.
Many homes in the Benton-Stephens neighborhood are rented to several people. R-1 even allows up to three unrelated people to live in the structure, with R-2 allowing up to four and R-3 allowing for the construction of multi-family units. Norgard said while some homes may appear dilapidated, many occupants are low-income, and purchased their place before land became so expensive in the housing boom that’s come to Columbia.
“We’d prefer to see re-developments that look more like the houses that they’re replacing,” Norgard said.
The city council extended a moratorium on central city and downtown building and demolition permits until March 2017, citing needed infrastructure improvements to catch up with the rapid large-scale development downtown. The Windsor St. project was approved before the moratorium, so can go forward unimpeded.
