Terry: Proposed zoning ordinance 'modern and user-friendly'

Jul. 31—A proposed zoning ordinance that is modernized and more user-friendly makes changes to where Decatur package stores can be located, as well as in regulation of parking spaces, unattached garages, apartments and landscaping.

City Planner Lee Terry said the need for a new zoning ordinance became apparent in a series of public meetings that led to the creation of the One Decatur comprehensive plan in 2018.

The current zoning ordinance was published in 1987, with several portions dating back to the 1950s.

"We have an outdated zoning ordinance, so there was a desire to get us to a more modern and up-to-date zoning ordinance that's more reflective of current zoning practices," Terry said.

The City Council hired consultant Clarion Inc. in 2018 for $195,000 to draft the 370-page updated zoning ordinance, available for public review at onedecatur.org. The public can also submit comments through the website through Aug. 18, and Terry said he is working on holding a public review meeting on or after that date.

"The biggest change and main goal is to make it more user-friendly for the general public," Terry said. "Our old ordinance is a lot of text. There are now diagrams and easy-to-read tables added in the new ordinance. For example, in the Residential Single-Family district, there's a diagram showing what the measurements mean, what it should actually look like in a clear picture."

Planning Commission Chairman Kent Lawrence said he has read the proposed zoning ordinance from Clarion three times as it moved through a process that included one public input session and reviews by a zoning committee and the Planning Commission.

Lawrence said some of the most notable changes for future developments are that more open space will be required in multi-family and some business developments, chain-link fences would have to be vinyl coated and some parking requirements would change for businesses.

The proposed zoning ordinance lays out the city's approval process, which Terry said doesn't change much except that it now "reflects the current structure of the city's departments and how the public interacts now with the city. The public won't notice any change."

Terry said most of the approval process wouldn't change. The new ordinance does lay out the timeline of the process more precisely and all of the steps are clearer. They are in charts that are easy to read.

"If you're applying for a zoning map amendment, it lays out the procedure and what all is required in the steps you have to go through to get a change," he said.

Terry said approval of site plans is one change in the process. Under the current ordinance, a business that wants to make a small expansion must go to the Planning Commission for approval.

However, most site plans under the proposed ordinance would only require administrative approval by the Planning Department, he said.

"There are still instances where large site plans, site plans that would significantly impact traffic or site plans for large developments would still go to the Planning Commission," Terry said.

Terry said the Technical Review Committee will still review all site plans before they can be given administrative approval. Two Planning Commission members serve on this committee and they could have a site plan reviewed by the Planning Commission, he said.

Zoning district names and abbreviations used in the current ordinance, like R-4 and B-2, would be changed to make it clear what the districts actually are, Terry said.

Examples he gave of the new zoning districts would be RSE, residential single-family estate; RS-10, residential single-family 10,000-square-foot lots; and CC, community commercial.

"With R-2 and R-3 (current zoning designations), you can't get a sense of what that district is," Terry said. "This an attempt to make zoning names more intuitive, easier to understand and equate to what the district actually is."

The existing zoning districts don't change except some districts are combined. For example, Ag-1 and Ag-2 would become just AG, agricultural, and B-3, business tourist commercial, and B-3R, riverfront commercial, would move into CN, commercial neighborhood district, or CC, community commercial district.

"For the most part in the residential districts, the lot sizes and other requirements were carried over to the new ordinance," Terry said. "They're just in an easier-to-understand package in the new plan.

"The average homeowner in the residential districts should not notice any difference in the old and new ordinances."

Height limits

Lawrence said the proposed ordinance would no longer allow accessory structures like a detached garage or workshop to be taller than the home, which still could only be 35.5 feet tall in a residential single-family district, and 50 feet tall in an AG district.

An accessory structure up to 12 feet tall would still need a 5-foot setback. If the structure is over 12 feet tall, a 10-foot setback would be required, Lawrence said.

Lawrence said the point is avoid a repeat of 2017 when a resident of the Southwest Decatur neighborhood near Chestnut Grove Elementary built a roughly 20-foot-tall metal storage building in his backyard on Cedarhurst Court Southwest.

The building's height angered residents but the city couldn't do anything about the problem because the structure didn't violate city ordinances.

Lawrence said another change in residential zones would be that an accessory unit can be a residential unit "like a mother-in-law suite." The current ordinance doesn't allow a kitchen in an accessory unit, and the new ordinance would.

"A member of the family could live there but it can't be rented," Lawrence said, under either the existing or proposed ordinance.

However, Lawrence pointed out the Planning Commission is reviewing the city's ordinance on short-term rentals so it's possible such rentals will be allowed in the future.

Terry said another change is in multi-family districts. The current ordinance allows single-family dwellings as well as duplexes and triplexes, town homes and apartments in the districts, "but it's not very clear. We wanted to clean up these zonings and make sure it's clear what's allowed and have specific standards for the different uses allowed in multi-family districts."

Lawrence said the proposed ordinance would also allow for apartments to be built higher than two stories, the current limit, in multi-family and community commercial districts.

Terry said there are more definitions and categories for businesses, making it clearer than the existing zoning ordinance.

Some uses in the business districts may be slightly altered. B-2, general business district, becomes CC, community commercial, he said.

Liquor stores

Package stores and liquor stores, not allowed in the current B-1 (local shopping) district, would be allowed in the proposed ordinance's roughly equivalent Commercial Neighborhood district with a variance. Recently, landowners have sought to rezone their properties on West Moulton Street and Morningside Shopping Center from B-1 to B-2 so they could open liquor stores. They were denied because of concerns that a B-2 district also allows many other uses incompatible with proximity to a residential neighborhood.

Terry said the treatment of storage units has also been revised. Under the proposed ordinance, they're divided into two different types: traditional self-storage units that are all outdoors with just rows of sheds, and a new definition for indoor climate-controlled self-storage that's similar to the U-Haul project that was once planned for Sixth Avenue.

"The indoor units will be allowed in more districts," Terry said. "That's more of a market shift toward this new style of indoor self-storage."

Terry said parking calculations would change with the new ordinance "so they're more reflective of current design standards and how many parking spaces are required for the uses."

Lawrence said the proposed ordinance, like most modern site plans, requires businesses to be built on the front of the lot with parking in the back.

"Stack-up lanes of at least 25 feet will be required so people waiting in drive-thru lanes won't back up into the road like occurs at several current businesses along Sixth Avenue," Lawrence said.

Terry said landscaping requirements "don't change significantly. They're just laid out more plainly with more graphs and charts. We already require a certain amount of trees and bushes per 100 feet. Now it shows you in a graph what that requirement is, so it's easier to interpret and visualize."

There are new buffer standards for when different zoning districts abut each other, specifically commercial or industrial districts touching residential districts, he said.

Terry and Lawrence said the proposed ordinance likely doesn't go as far on trees as some local residents want. Andrea Hoffmeier Wilson, leader of 1DUCK, OneDecatur United Citizens Kaizen, wants developers to be required to inventory trees on a property and present a plan for restoring any trees they remove for a project.

"Inventory of trees is not addressed," Lawrence said. "There are open space set-asides of 5% of the area that's being developed that they can use for landscaping or they can make a feature. They can dress up a retention pond, create a walking trail or a park."

Lawrence said the site plan for the recently approved Quinn Oaks development on Modaus Road Southwest is a good example of the new design features the city wants.

David Richter, vice president of land development for PowerBuild Construction, of Norcross, Georgia, is developing the Quinn Oaks Farms subdivision planned for 80.86 acres off Modaus Road Southwest, across from Jack Allen Sports Complex.

The overall development plan is for 432 homes, including 180 town homes.

Richter is choosing to start the subdivision 90 feet from Modaus Road. This includes leaving 50 feet of right of way and 40 feet of common space.

Richter said in May this is a method he's used before with other subdivisions that he developed, plus he's aware the city is planning to widen Modaus Road.

The common area will be landscaped and have a "golf course-like" berm to provide a more effective buffer from Modaus Road and the traffic generated by nearby Austin High School and the sports complex.

Terry said the landscaping requirements will allow for instances when a developer might "be given relief" from certain requirements if he retains certain vegetation on the property."

The proposed ordinance also includes "green building incentives," for environmentally friendly designs. For example, off-street parking requirements could be reduced by up to 15% by retaining more natural vegetation, Terry said.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.