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Staff outlines schedule for zoning-code rewrite; commission requests stakeholder outreach and work sessions
Summary
City planning staff told the Planning Commission they expect draft chapters of the zoning-code rewrite by the end of the year and the commission asked for work sessions and stakeholder outreach (downtown property owners, industrial and residential stakeholders) in January to build consensus on downtown height and other standards.
City planning staff told the Port Washington Planning Commission on Sept. 18 that draft chapters for a comprehensive zoning-code rewrite will be completed by the end of the year and proposed a schedule for commission work sessions and stakeholder outreach.
Staff said the remaining chapters include dimensional standards, architectural and site standards, landscaping, signs and a downtown overlay. The goal is to circulate draft chapters for public review and to pursue a final draft this winter, then present recommended ordinance language to the Common Council. Staff said Graef and CivicTech (consultants) are assisting to make up for schedule delays over the summer.
Commissioners requested dedicated work sessions to review executive summaries of draft chapters rather than being asked to read entire draft chapters ahead of meetings. They also asked staff to hold targeted stakeholder sessions in January for downtown property owners, industrial property owners and residential/development stakeholders so that the council and commission would have stakeholder input before final adoption. Commissioners expressed concern about height standards outside downtown (RM-4) and suggested the rewrite could include separate, clear height standards for downtown and other districts to avoid ad hoc variance requests.
Staff said draft chapters will be produced between September and early December and that the downtown design chapter will be part of that package. The commission discussed using block-by-block standards and a downtown overlay to better tailor height and design rules and staff said they would organize work sessions and stakeholder outreach in the coming months.
Next steps: staff will circulate draft chapters for review by the end of the year and schedule commission work sessions and targeted stakeholder meetings in January; the commission and staff said they intend to build consensus before forwarding final code amendments to the Common Council.
