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Council adopts zoning text changes to allow attached-home platting and adjusts multifamily height limits
Summary
Council approved zoning-text changes to simplify platting for attached homes (townhomes vs. condos), align subdivision and zoning code provisions, and adjust R-3A multifamily height limits; two council members voted no amid neighborhood concerns about density and height.
The Bloomington City Council on Sept. 8 approved further zoning text amendments intended to clarify subdivision and zoning rules for attached housing (such as townhomes) and to align building-height standards across multifamily zones.
Planning staff said the change resolves inconsistencies that have made it difficult to plat attached homes (where a homeowner owns both house and land) rather than condominium-style ownership. Staff also said the amendment aligns story-and-footage measurements so the table of permitted heights is consistent across code sections: for example, R-3A attached/multi-residential standards were adjusted from 35 feet (2.5 stories) to a higher maximum (48 feet / 4 stories in some contexts), a change staff described as an incremental increase intended to create a mid-range option between lower-intensity housing and taller R-3B multifamily allowances.
Several residents argued the increased height allowance could be imposed in existing subdivisions without neighbor notice because conforming projects would no longer need variances. Opponents told council that neighborhood areas such as Old Farm Lakes Gardens and Harvest Point include attached housing now zoned R-3A and that a blanket change could enable four-story structures near single-family neighborhoods.
Council member Montney voiced specific concern about how the changes would affect R-2 and R-3A pockets inside otherwise single-family areas. Planning staff responded that the changes were intended to create an incremental height scale, not to push tall buildings adjacent to single-family homes, and that other code safeguards and setbacks apply.
At a vote, the ordinance passed; the clerk announced two nays (Council members Montney and Lee).
What’s next: Staff will update zoning maps and development guidance to reflect the clarified platting rules and adjusted height limits and will process development applications under the amended code; projects that fully conform to the new standards will be eligible to proceed without variance.
