Council debates planned developments, nonconformities and design exceptions as staff begins text‑amendment cycle

A broad workshop discussion on January 28 focused on the city’s use of planned developments (PDs), repeated requests for exceptions to zoning and the ongoing rewrite of the Land Development Code. Council members, staff, developers and neighborhood speakers debated whether the PD process has become the default mechanism to secure relief from multiple code standards and what changes the forthcoming code rewrite should deliver.

Councilmember Clendenin opened the item by saying she believed PDs were now too often used as a way to obtain broad waivers and higher density in otherwise stable neighborhoods. “A PD was originally intended to be more larger scale, more transformational projects,” she said. “But instead they go through this because this is the path of least resistance.” Several council members echoed concerns about predictability for homeowners and whether PD approvals had produced massing and stormwater…