The Clayton Town Council on a majority vote adopted a series of text amendments to the town's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), a package planning staff described as the fourth round of UDO changes since its November 2023 adoption. The council adopted ordinance 2025-06-2 after a public hearing continued from its June 16 meeting.
The amendments reorganize procedural items into a separate procedures manual, revise use and dimensional standards, remove some density caps in certain districts and update sign, landscaping and mass-grading rules, Planning Director Conrad Almedo told the council. "This is the unified development ordinance, and it is our fourth round of changes since the adoption, of in November '23," Almedo said during the presentation.
The procedures manual will let staff change administrative processes without repeating a text amendment for each minor procedural change, Almedo said. Staff also moved items such as frequently asked questions and concept-plan content into that manual. The changes include new use types (for example, government maintenance facilities and membrane structures), clarified modular-home definitions, and adjustments to temporary-use and signage standards.
Among substantive policy shifts, the town removed density caps for Corridor Commercial, Downtown Core and mixed-use zoning districts and aligned some density provisions with sustainability development incentives. Almedo said mass-grading practices were folded into the sustainability incentives and that staff had added credits and clarifications for tree planting and streetscape buffers. "We're aligning the street tree planting ratio in line with the streetscape buffer," he told the council.
On signage, staff expanded exemptions for governmental traffic-control signs and revised size and placement allowances for flags, ground and wall signs, banners and temporary signs. The UDO also increased the expiration period for improved site plans from one to two years and clarified standards for conditional rezonings, including that use-specific standards may not be waived via conditional rezoning.
Council Member Archer made the motion to adopt the ordinance and the council voted in favor. The adopted ordinance was accompanied by a statement of consistency and reasonableness, as required for legislative UDO amendments.
The changes now move into implementation; Almedo said staff will publish a procedures manual and a plant-recommendation list for use by applicants and developers. He also noted the town will coordinate future updates to the Future Land Use Map to reduce conflicts between the UDO's new provisions and the 2045 growth plan.
Details left to administrative guidance include sign alternative plans for parking, landscaping and signage, which staff said will now be decided by the planning director rather than being elevated to council. The amendments do not change prior performance-guarantee rules and preserve the town's minimum residential driveway depth standard.
The council recorded the ordinance and the planning department said it will post the procedures manual and updated materials online for applicants and the public.