Council amends unified development ordinance to restrict outward‑swinging privacy gates, clarify garage and masonry rules and add water‑recycling requirementfor

The Greenwood Common Council voted unanimously to amend Ordinance 25‑13, a text amendment to the city’s Unified Development Ordinance, adopting several clarifications and new requirements affecting fences, residential design standards and special exceptions for data centers.

A staff presenter described two proposed amendments the council considered: one requiring private fence gates “must not swing outward across pedestrian or cycling infrastructure,” and another reinserting the word “trim” into a residential building design standard. The staff member said the advisory planning commission recommended the changes.

Councilmembers discussed several parts of the draft text. On garage prominence, staff explained the ordinance separates two measurements: the portion of the front elevation counted as garage area and the width of the garage door relative to the front elevation. Staff noted the ordinance “advocates for less prominent garages” while keeping requirements consistent with prior standards.

On masonry requirements for residential elevations, the presenter said that in the most masonry‑intensive “path 1” the city should require masonry on side elevations if side elevation masonry is required, and councilmembers moved to clarify that rear elevations required to have masonry must also have masonry on both side elevations. That amendment passed on a 7‑0 roll call.

Councilmembers also discussed materials, such as fiber‑cement panels and how those panels are used as siding. The staff member said the amendments reorganize and clarify standards developers had previously missed or that were placed late in the ordinance text.

Data centers: the council added data centers as a special‑exception use under industrial‑large and debated environmental controls. A council motion to require that “low impact development” features for data centers include water recycling passed after a staff discussion in which staff said data centers can use “millions of gallons” of water and that some firms recycle water for cooling. A councilmember moved and the council approved an amendment specifying water recycling as a required low‑impact development feature for data centers.

Nut Graf: Ordinance 25‑13 bundles a set of technical corrections and new standards for the Unified Development Ordinance — including pedestrian safety around privacy gates, clarified garage and masonry metrics, and a new requirement that data centers include water‑recycling measures — and the council approved the amendments by unanimous vote.

Votes and outcome: The transcript records two separate amendment votes and a final roll call. The council amended Ordinance 25‑13 twice, each time on recorded roll calls, and Ordinance 25‑13 as amended passed first reading on a 7‑0 vote.

Key practical clarifications recorded in the meeting: staff explained that the fence‑gate rule applies only to gates that would interfere with pedestrian or cycling infrastructure; the ordinance already requires front‑yard fences adjacent to sidewalks to be set back (staff cited a typical 2‑foot setback and a 4‑foot height/50 percent transparency standard for front‑yard fences); and path categories (path 1 and path 2) use different masonry thresholds and the amendment narrows ambiguity for when masonry must wrap all sides of a dwelling.

Ending: Councilmembers asked staff to continue refining garage‑door and material standards as part of a broader rewrite with consultants. The transcript records unanimous approval of the ordinance amendments at first reading.