Flagstaff staff outline three zoning-code scenarios to boost housing and lower emissions

Michelle McNulty, Flagstaff planning director, and Tiffany Antold, zoning code manager, presented conceptual zoning-code changes and modeling the city could use to increase housing supply and advance sustainability goals.

The presentation laid out three high-level strategies: (1) optimize existing incentives for sustainability and affordable housing, (2) make sustainability standards part of the base code while increasing by-right density and adding a floor-area-ratio (FAR) intensity cap, and (3) maximize housing production by raising base density and reducing parking without requiring additional sustainability standards. Genevieve from the sustainability team summarized the consultant carbon modeling, which found scenario 2 (sustainability-by-right with offsets) produced the lowest projected emissions over a 30-year timeframe.

The proposals were presented as concept-level options rather than adopted policy. McNulty described the project as a step in a multi-phase process: a land-availability and suitability study, a code diagnosis report identifying barriers, and the current code-concepts phase that will feed into a final draft of code language for public review and eventual council consideration.

Why it matters: Flagstaff staff said zoning and…