Troy Planning Commission discusses major rewrite of neighborhood-node zoning (file 258); removes auto-oriented uses, adds small-site category

The City of Troy Planning Commission spent the bulk of its July 22 meeting discussing a proposed zoning ordinance text amendment (file 258) that would recodify “neighborhood nodes” in Troy’s zoning code, add a new small-site category, and remove automobile-oriented uses such as drive-throughs and gas stations from those nodes.

Why it matters: The commission’s steering committee and planning staff said the changes are intended to better align the city’s zoning with the master plan, promote walkable, mixed-use neighborhood nodes, limit negative impacts on adjacent single-family properties and create a specific set of permitted uses for small, transitional parcels.

Ben Carlisle, planning consultant with Carlisle Boardman Associates, told the commission the draft focuses first on updating the neighborhood-node intent statement, then on recoding allowed uses by site type. “We add a third site type — site type C — to provide more flexibility,” Carlisle said, explaining that site type C is intended for smaller parcels typically improved with a single-family home and that single-family detached construction could be permitted by special use in some circumstances. Carlisle said the amendment also removes the prior “street type” regulator and creates a use table just for neighborhood nodes so that uses appropriate to Big Beaver or Maple Road districts do not automatically carry into neighborhood nodes.

The draft separates site types this way: site type A for larger corner parcels allowing higher intensity and mixed-use; site type B for intermediate, transitional sites; and site type C for smaller parcels adjacent to single-family neighborhoods where single-family and duplex forms are permitted and multifamily could be allowed by special use. Carlisle added that certain building forms (labeled D, E and F…