Commission recommends deleting sustainability and commercial‑industrial overlays from Zoning Code

The Leon Valley Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that City Council adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 15 of the City Code to delete the sustainability and commercial‑industrial overlay districts and to consolidate selected standards into the base commercial and industrial zoning districts.

Planning staff presented a comprehensive amendment package that updates definitions, deletes the two overlay districts (sustainability and commercial‑industrial), retains the Gateway overlay, adds an R‑7 medium‑density single‑family district, and relocates landscaping, parking and lighting requirements from the deleted overlays into the O‑1, B‑1, B‑2, B‑3 and I‑1 district regulations. The changes also delete masonry requirements to conform with a 2019 state law limiting municipal regulation of exterior building materials.

"The purpose [of the amendments] is to make the zoning regulations more user friendly for the development community and for staff," Ms. Huerta said. She told commissioners the revisions are mostly housekeeping and that the city engineer and staff worked to move overlay standards into the underlying districts where appropriate.

Staff said it mailed about 1,100 notices, receiving one letter in favor, 10 in opposition and roughly 54 returned as undeliverable. Huerta told commissioners many of the opposed respondents appeared to have misunderstood the proposal as a request to approve a specific development rather than a code rewrite.

During the public comment period, several speakers raised confusion about notices and about unrelated property concerns. Mike Krissak, who identified himself as a property owner in the area near the silos, asked whether the amendment concerned a specific development; staff clarified the item was a code amendment and not a development application.

Commissioners discussed the ordinance's history and intent. Huerta said the overlay approach dated to about 2010 and, while intended to improve aesthetics, created nonconforming situations and regulatory complexity. The proposed amendments preserve many design expectations by shifting landscaping and lighting standards into the underlying commercial and industrial district rules rather than in separate overlays.

After discussion the commission opened and closed the public hearing and moved to recommend approval of the ordinance amendment as presented; the motion passed unanimously. The commission's vote is a recommendation to the City Council, which will consider final adoption.