Council holds first reading of major land‑development regulation (LDR) package; debate continues over heights and city‑center open space

The South Burlington City Council on July 21 received a first reading of proposed amendments to the city’s land development regulations (LDRs), plus changes to the official map and form‑based code for the city center. Staff and the Planning Commission presented a package of edits that cover building form and heights, transect zone map changes, an updated official map showing primary/secondary/tertiary streets, a consolidated table of uses, new rules on bedrock removal during construction, and standards for calculating building height. Jessica Luisos, Planning Commission chair, and Paul Connor, director of planning and zoning, said the package is intended to add design flexibility in the city center, simplify use categories across the city and provide clearer review paths for new commercial uses. The presentation included visualizations of increased allowable building heights in the transect‑5 and transect‑4 districts: the draft would raise some maximum story counts (T4 up to 12 stories in places; T5 up to 14 stories in core areas) and establish a three‑story minimum in certain transects to encourage denser development where…