Mount Pleasant board adopts comprehensive rewrite of residential zoning code

The Village of Mount Pleasant board voted to approve Ordinance 9-2025 on June 23, 2025, revising the village's residential zoning rules to consolidate several district categories, move from lot-coverage to impervious-surface limits and generally require that individual residential buildings be placed on separate lots.

The change is intended to simplify district definitions, reduce repeated variance requests and give village planners more oversight of multi-building residential projects, staff said. Robin (Village planner, filling in for Community Development Director Sam Schultz) told the board the rewrite "merges RH 1 and 2" and creates a new neighborhood-residential (RN) category aimed at small-lot and missing-middle housing. She said the update also addresses recent developer requests and state law changes by encouraging "one building, one lot," which staff said would make future conversions to for-sale housing easier.

The ordinance drew public comment at the hearing. Tony Martino, a Braun Road resident who asked the board to delay the change, said, "I stand tonight in opposition to the ordinance 9 20 25 as it is written," arguing that automatic reassignment of old zoning to new categories could allow taller buildings than neighbors expected. He asked the board to "table ordinance 9 20 25 until further discussion and clarification." Board members on the planning commission and trustees responded that the rewrite had been discussed over multiple meetings and laid over for review; Trustee Washburn said the code change was intended to reduce frequent variance requests and give clearer guidance to developers.

Board members and planning staff described specific points in the ordinance intended to limit unintended outcomes: the current RH 1 height allowance (up to about 60 feet) remains clarified, and the previous RH 2 90-foot allowance is being removed; buildings that exceed basic zoning limits would still require separate master-plan approvals. Robin also explained that the code replaces simple lot-coverage limits with impervious-surface measures tied to stormwater controls.

The motion to approve passed on roll call (Karas: aye; Ventrini: aye; Washburn: aye; Doxey: aye; Anastasio: aye; Bhatia: aye). The board and planning staff said they expect continued refinements to the code based on implementation experience, and that most existing single-family homeowners would not see immediate changes to their property rights.

Discussion points: how automatic reassignment of legacy parcels to the new categories will be applied; the one-building-per-lot rule for multiunit projects; transition rules for undeveloped parcels; and stronger stormwater-based impervious-surface standards. Decision: ordinance approved; further site-specific rezones and major projects will continue to come through the planning commission and public hearings.

The board's approval implements the consolidated residential table staff prepared and begins the transition to the new district labels and standards; planners said they will continue public outreach as projects advance.