Unified development code heads to council

After spending months hearing public input and making changes to the newly revamped zoning ordinance, the Planning and Zoning Commission put a stamp of approval on it early this year, and tonight, it’s on the council’s agenda for the first time since its approval.

The zoning code appears on the City Council’s agenda in the form of a resolution stating the council will set more public hearings with the community.

City planner Pat Zenner said the public hearings are tentatively scheduled for Feb. 20 and Feb. 25. The council could vote on the entire code March 20, but Zenner and members of the Planning and Zoning Commission have made it clear that the code is a huge undertaking, and it’s implementation has been delayed several times already.

The code is a 400-page document covering everything from mixed-used downtown zoning to neighborhood protections.

“We think it’s the road map or vision for the city on how the city’s going to grow,” Rusty Strodtman, Planning and Zoning Commision chair and general manager of the Columbia mall. “We do understand that the city is going to grow based on the past few years. It’s more about controlling it, doing it right and not letting growth control us.”

Planning and Zoning commissioners worked for months to take down every last comment about the code and made more than 100 changes to it based on public comments.

Strodtman said one of the challenges was making sure everyone, in some way, got a fair deal.

“We don’t want these large multistory residential complexes outside of downtown because then all those people have to drive somewhere and so we increase our traffic on the roads,” he said. “That was probably the most difficult: understanding the players and what we think is the best solution. To put student housing downtown has a lot of ramifications for a lot of people that live there that don’t want a large student housing complex next to them.”

The commission’s role involved rules and regulations, specifically concerning what works and what doesn’t. The council’s role will now be more about determining the look and feel of the codes. Strodtman characterized it as more political than regulatory.

Public input has been key, Strodtman and Zenner said, because residents were often able to point out minor corrections that the commission hadn’t caught, or they brought real-life zoning regulation examples to the table, which helped the commission visualize what they were undertaking.

“It’s just nice to know that there’s a lot of engaged citizens out there that are trying to make Columbia the great place we live and work,” said Strodtman. “I this [the unified development code] will help make it better and it brings us more into modern times.”

The council could ask the Planning and Zoning Commission to review some additional sections, according to Zenner.

Strodtman said he is hoping to have more time with the traffic and neighborhood protections sections.