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Mayor and council adopt Community Corridors Tool to encourage housing, reduce parking minimums and boost corridor redevelopment
Summary
The mayor and council adopted a Unified Development Code amendment—the Community Corridors Tool—designed to make infill, transit‑oriented mixed‑use and affordable housing easier to build along arterials and collectors, with a two‑year review clause and added neighborhood notice in practice.
The mayor and council voted to adopt a Unified Development Code amendment known as the Community Corridors Tool (CCT). Staff framed the CCT as an optional zoning overlay that gives property owners and developers an alternative set of development standards for eligible sites on arterials and collectors that already have commercial or multifamily zoning.
Interim Planning Director Corinne Manning told council the tool aims to remove barriers to attainable housing, promote transit‑oriented infill, reduce parking footprints and encourage adaptive reuse of underutilized commercial buildings. The CCT establishes a baseline extra story above underlying zoning, with further height incentives for projects that include affordable housing, ground‑floor retail, or historic resource preservation. The code includes requirements for step‑backs and transitions where corridor parcels abut single‑family neighborhoods.
Planning staff said the proposal reflected prior direction from the Commission on Equitable Housing and Development and incorporated Planning Commission recommendations, including provisions to protect historic resources and a two‑year review to assess performance and unintended consequences. Council approved an amendment added in the meeting that requires applicants proposing to use the CCT to send notice to neighborhood associations within one mile, property owners within 400 feet and the ward office 10–60 days before filing, and staff said the ordinance text would be corrected to allow the affordable‑housing height incentive systematically across eligible zones.
Supporters including members of business and housing advocacy organizations told the council the CCT is an incremental, practical tool to unlock privately financed housing and avoid further commercial vacancies along prominent corridors. Neighborhood representatives called for guardrails and public notice; planning staff said the ordinance includes pre‑application conferences and public processes for special exceptions and that R‑2 sites not otherwise eligible can seek a special exception that includes neighborhood notice and a zoning examiner hearing.
Ending: Council adopted the code amendment, instructed staff to make the small text corrections, and agreed to review CCT performance in two years; staff and stakeholders said the tool will be monitored and adjusted as needed.
