Redmond planners recap 'Redmond 2050' zoning overhaul; council to review ordinance ahead of June adoption

City planning staff presented a consolidated zoning and incentives package tied to Redmond 2050 at the Redmond City Council study session Tuesday, asking council for direction so staff can prepare an ordinance for final consideration and adoption later this spring.

The package shrinks the city's zoning table from about 50 zones to 20, rewrites Article 1 of the zoning code, establishes a unified incentives chapter and updates affordable-housing parameters tied to specific new zones. Carol Helland, Director of Planning and Community Development, told the council the Planning Commission finalized and transmitted a recommendation on Feb. 12 and that staff placed responses to council discussion items in the packet. "Our counsel, ask for tonight is to provide direction on these discussion items so that the staff can prepare an ordinance for final consideration and passage by the council later this spring," Helland said.

Planning staff said the package reorganizes use regulations into a single chapter (21.04) and collapses numerous use tables. "This consolidates over a 50 use tables into two," Becky Frey said in her recap, adding that consolidation is intended to make it easier for staff and the community to see…