St. Albans holds first reading on 23-part zoning overhaul to conform with state housing and parking laws

City planning staff gave a first reading of a 23-amendment zoning package intended to bring St. Albans’ zoning into conformance with changes to state statute passed in 2023 and 2024 and to make local clarifications.

Chip, planning staff, told the council the package is a mix of state-mandated updates and local clarifications. “Starting in 2023, the legislature began altering what communities can do with their zoning in terms of controlling density and other aspects related to building housing,” he said, explaining the package includes definitions, district adjustments and procedural changes.

Key elements staff highlighted include:

- Replacing the term “family” with “household” throughout the code to reflect state law that forbids favoring families over unrelated households; single-family homes would be relabeled “single-household” uses. - Adjusting the city’s lowest-density district requirement from 9,500 square feet to 8,700 square feet and inserting a statutory minimum of at least five units per acre in affected districts. - Adding, removing or clarifying defined terms (for example, deleting “congregate housing” and adding “recovery residence” and “emergency shelter” to align with state definitions). - Allowing two- and multi-household dwellings to be permanent uses in the same manner as single-household dwellings. - Incorporating state parking changes for residential development: the code will allow a maximum requirement of 1.5 parking spaces per dwelling unit and permit only one space per unit where a dwelling is within a quarter mile of “adequate public parking” (defined by staff as non-on-street parking like a garage or regularly available surface lot). - Creating a density bonus and an additional allowable floor for projects that qualify as affordable housing under state statute. - Clarifying stormwater and green-infrastructure rules to allow on-lot green stormwater infrastructure and to treat accessory stormwater structures like landscaping, with site-plan review required only if structures or parking are altered. - Adjusting rules for downtown streetscape blocks to limit first-floor residential and restrict front-yard use to commercial or retail functions in core storefront areas. - Consolidating exemptions and limitations (public facilities, farming, forestry, utilities) into one article for clarity and moving certain rules (for example, limitations on planned-unit development) into a renamed “transitional lot development” section.

Council members asked for clarifications on several items. Multiple members expressed concern about a proposed rule that would prevent demolition of buildings for speculative parking development, saying it could limit legitimate business efforts to add parking. One council member argued for a case-based review tied to a conditional-use or demolition-review process rather than an absolute prohibition; staff said they would “come up with a more context based, review approach” and would remove the provision if no workable alternative is found before the second reading.

Other questions covered frontage and setback rules in the R-87 (formerly R-95) district, the removal of the congregate-housing term, and how the city will define “public parking” for the quarter-mile parking exception. Chip said the planning commission will continue to explore ways to mitigate state-driven limits, including whether bedroom or kitchen limits could be used to distinguish certain dwelling arrangements pending a city plan update.

Council members and staff emphasized timing: planning staff noted the city plan could expire before a revised plan is adopted, and that the council may face urgency to pass some zoning updates before that expiration date. The package will return for further review and a second reading, and staff asked council members to read the detailed strikeout/underline text included in the packet before the next session.