Stow officials debate whether to repeal-and-replace city zoning code or adopt chapter-by-chapter

Stow City planning staff and council members on May 8 debated whether to repeal the existing zoning code and replace it in full or to advance the rewrite chapter by chapter, with staff recommending repeal-and-replace while some councilmembers said incremental review would help them track impacts.

The discussion matters because the rewrite affects property rules, numbering and structure across the code and could change how future development and variances are reviewed.

Planning Director Mr. Cowan told the committee that the project team has been holding public outreach and steering‑committee meetings and that consultants have suggested two paths: a single repeal-and-replace or chapter-by-chapter adoption by resolution. "It's best practice to do it all in 1, but the consultant, they let us know that they've worked with some other communities that have done it by resolution," he said.

Councilmember McIntyre questioned the process for council adoption, noting that "anytime we've made a change to the zoning, it's always been through ordinance" and asked whether resolutions would satisfy legal requirements for zoning changes. Cowan explained the practical difference: a chapter-by-chapter resolution would express council support for the intent of individual chapters while the final implementation would still require formal action later. "So in this case ... the whole intent is to repeal and replace," Cowan said, adding the rewrite will renumber and reorganize many sections.

Committee Chair Herman said his preference is a full repeal-and-replace, citing a 2022 diagnostic report that recommended a total rewrite because the current code is "so convoluted and contradictory." "My understanding and my preference, would be for us to repeal the current code in its entirety and then to, replace it by passing the new code in its entirety," he said.

Other council members urged more drafts and clearer redlines so they can evaluate impacts on specific sections before final adoption. Councilmember Coffey supported chapter‑by‑chapter editing to avoid confronting a large packet at the end: "I think if we tackle it by chapter and then edit the drafts, I think that's a better way to go than doing it cumulatively at the end."

What happens next: staff said the steering committee will continue to meet and that staff plans to provide council with draft resolutions and chapter redlines. Cowan said the team will begin presenting a few chapters at a time to council starting in June, and that the process will include public hearings and planning‑commission review before any formal ordinance adoption.

For now the committee did not take formal action to adopt a specific legislative path; the item will continue through the steering committee, planning commission and future council meetings so members can review changes as they are drafted.