City hires Desire Line team to update Covington land-development code; outreach to include steering committee and public meetings

Alex Carter, CEO of Desire Line, updated the Covington City Council on a multi-phase project to review and rewrite the city's land-development code to implement recommendations from the 2021 comprehensive plan.

Carter said Desire Line is working in an iterative two-phase approach: an initial set of priority amendments to clarify building and administrative standards and reduce unnecessary variances, followed by a broader phase-two full land-development code update. "A big focus of the project is community engagement," Carter said, and noted the team is coordinating with a local steering committee, planning staff and decision-making boards including the planning and zoning commission, board of adjustments and the historic commission.

Carter said the work will address subdivision regulations, zoning districts and permitted uses, and will include fair-housing-oriented amendments designed to align city code with federal standards. He listed an outreach timeline that includes presentations to the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustments (the team said it would present materials on March 17) and a public community meeting that was discussed during the presentation (the transcript records both March 30 and April 30 on separate references; the presenter said further date and meeting details would be posted on a project website).

Council members welcomed the update and encouraged residents to engage through public meetings and the project's online materials. Carter said draft phase-one amendments will be circulated for feedback before any item goes to planning and zoning or council action.