Alpine council reviews wide-ranging zoning rewrite, councilmembers press for maps and examples

City planning staff and the city attorney walked the Alpine City Council through a proposed rewrite of Appendix C to the city zoning code on March 18, a 56‑page draft that would update definitions, standards and allowed uses across residential and commercial zones.

Jessica (planning staff) said the draft pulls updated definitions from the city’s adopted building codes, clarifies home-occupation rules, and tests a smaller minimum lot size in residential zones by reducing each residential minimum by about 2,000 square feet as a starting point. "I reduced it by 2,000 square feet in every single residential zone just to see what you guys thought," Jessica said. She said the change is a proposal, not final, and that many older Alpine parcels are smaller than the existing minimums, producing nonconforming lots.

City legal counsel Cynthia Trevino flagged several legal and process matters. She said state law and recent building-code changes require careful wording in several places and recommended that the council and staff treat issues such as the Board of Adjustment and Building Standards Commission as a separate, possibly executive-session, topic. Cynthia also pointed out that recent state law changes limit a city’s ability to regulate building materials; for example, storage containers (Connex boxes) are now listed in recent International Building Code editions as acceptable building materials, which constrains the city’s ability to ban container-based housing outright.

Council discussion focused on practical implications: whether smaller minimum lot sizes would encourage infill and affordable housing or spur unwanted subdivision in older neighborhoods, how accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and accessory living quarters will be regulated, and how the changes would interact with an upcoming comprehensive plan and separate short-term-rental rules. Jessica said some districts (R4) already allow housing built with nonstandard materials and suggested the changes would mostly increase options for owners and small-scale builders. Cynthia recommended the city align zoning changes with the building-code and legal review and to prepare clear public-notice language for required hearings.

Councilmembers asked staff to produce a parcel-level map that shows which lots would become buildable if minimums change (for example, from 7,000 to 5,000 square feet) and to estimate infrastructure and service impacts. Staff said they will run scenarios with the appraisal and utility databases and return with examples before a first reading. Jessica said the planned schedule contemplated a first reading on April 1 and a second reading at a later date, but staff said the ordinance could be delayed if the council wants more analysis.

No final vote was taken; staff and legal counsel will return with edits, legal clean-up and parcel mapping for further council consideration.