Clayton staff propose replacing lot-coverage caps with minimum green-space ratios in stormwater text amendment

Planning Director Anna Crane presented an update to Clayton’s stormwater and lot-coverage rules at the Board of Aldermen meeting Aug. 26, proposing a text amendment that would replace maximum impervious coverage limits with minimum green-space ratios and add stormwater design standards tied to volume-capture strategies.

Crane said the proposed change separates neighborhood character protections from stormwater performance and would apply different green-space thresholds by zoning district. "For R-1, we want to go from a 45% green space to 55% green space," Crane said, adding that R-2 would move from 45% to 50%. Those thresholds are intended to align with existing development patterns so the city does not create widespread nonconformities.

The issue matters because the city’s small residential lots make traditional peak-flow detention basins difficult to site, Crane told the board. "Stormwater regulations in general tend to go for either addressing peak flow rate or addressing volume," she said, noting the city can more feasibly address volume — the total cubic feet of runoff related to impervious surfaces —…