Livingston zoning overhaul would set 60‑foot minimum in core, add short‑term rental rules and shrink downtown CBD

City planning staff presented a proposed, citywide zoning text amendment to the Consolidated Land Use Board on Sept. 17 that would recast zoning districts, set new building‑height minimums in core commercial areas, add short‑term rentals to the use table and bring the code into alignment with recent state legislation.

The amendment would, among its largest changes, set a 60‑foot minimum height for properties in the Central Business District (CBD), industrial and certain commercial districts; create a new “light mixed‑use” district with a 36‑foot height limit for areas closer to downtown; and expressly add two types of short‑term rentals to the zoning use table, staff said. Jennifer Severson, the planning director presenting the update, told the board: “This is the zoning text amendment that is before you tonight, and it is related to the comprehensive citywide update to the city's zoning ordinance.”

The proposal responds in part to state legislative changes that staff said limit how low local governments may set maximum heights in certain commercial and industrial districts and that alter rules about nonconforming uses. Severson told the board the recent legislation also shifted mapping procedures so map amendments proceed by resolution and become effective immediately at adoption, a change she said has created a legal tension between adopting the map and adopting the text of the ordinance.

Why it matters: The draft would change where higher‑intensity development is allowed in Livingston and how the city regulates conversions of downtown buildings, parking and short‑term rentals — issues that affect property owners, developers and residential neighborhoods. Jennifer Severson said the update is intended to align the zoning code with the city’s 2021 Growth Policy and to…