Berkley council advances comprehensive zoning rewrite after extended debate over signs and parking

The Berkley City Council on Feb. 24 approved first reading of a comprehensive zoning ordinance intended to replace the city's zoning code and map, adopt contemporary standards and implement the city's master plan.

Council members and staff argued the rewrite modernizes rules that had not been fully updated since 1993 and resolves internal inconsistencies; the Planning Commission had given the draft a unanimous recommendation after edits earlier this year.

The ordinance overhaul covers where uses can be sited, building setbacks, parking standards, performance standards, and a rewritten sign code. Council deliberations centered on two politically sensitive items: limits on temporary yard signs and the amount of required parking for multifamily developments. Council also discussed a new parking-overlay mapping approach intended to make certain small parcels eligible for parking uses subject to a special-land-use process rather than creating forced rezonings.

Community Development Director Kaplansky and consultant Megan Massiminoch of Carlisle/Wortman Associates described the package as a near two-year effort to align the zoning text with the master plan, design guidelines and modern legal…