Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Urban Design Overlay topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Meridian council backs exploring overlay, design standards to shape ‘Destination Downtown’
Summary
Council members signaled support for developing an overlay district and design standards for the Destination Downtown area, directing staff and consultants to return with a scope, timeline and implementation options. Staff estimated roughly a year to develop standards and noted thresholds and relief processes are still to be decided.
Meridian City Council members on Sept. 23 signaled support for further work toward an overlay district and design standards to implement the Destination Downtown vision, directing staff and consultant partners to produce a scope and timeline for next steps.
The council discussion — a follow-up to prior workshops on downtown design — focused on three core implementation elements: establishing an overlay geographic boundary, drafting design standards or guidance, and producing an architectural standards manual (ASM) for the downtown area. MDC consultants and city staff framed the overlay as the mechanism that would allow the city to apply consistent standards across downtown rather than relying solely on underlying zoning.
“We had a very good dialogue and ... came to, I think, at least the framework at this point of how can this move forward,” consultant Chris Danley said, summarizing the staff-consultant memorandum. City staff estimated the technical work to develop standards and code amendments would take roughly a year. “If I'm ballparking something, probably a year ish, I would think,” a staff member said.
Staff and consultants described options — standards that are prescriptive and measurable, guidelines that are advisory, or a hybrid with relief processes and a design-review body to hear exceptions. Aaron Qualsey, an online consultant, said the draft standards aimed to increase predictability for developers while including “relief valves” where projects cannot meet a strict requirement. “Predictability is, really important,” Qualsey said.
Councilmembers raised trade-offs. Councilman Kavanagh asked whether stricter standards would curb downtown redevelopment or “trade away the ability for the free market to kind of drive development.” Consultants and staff replied that standards can be paired with incentives and that an overlay would aim for consistency rather than being unduly onerous. Several councilmembers suggested a design-review committee and recommended involving historic-preservation stakeholders.
Staff also floated a possible threshold for existing buildings: requiring compliance when a structural expansion exceeds a defined measure (consultants suggested as an example bringing a building into compliance when proposed cubic volume increases by 50 percent). That type of threshold would be part of the standards package to be refined during public outreach and planning‑commission review.
The council did not adopt code changes at the Sept. 23 meeting. Instead, members asked staff and the consultant team to draft a scope, timeline and outreach plan for the overlay and standards and to report back; several members emphasized doing additional stakeholder engagement and maintaining flexibility in whether elements are mandatory standards or advisory guidelines.
Next steps: staff will prepare and distribute a scope/timeline and proposed process for council review; subsequent steps would include planning‑commission review, public engagement, and formal public hearings if council moves to adopt an overlay and code amendments.
