City planners preview land-use code changes: missing-middle housing, neighborhood-serving businesses, parking and natural-resource protections

City planners and Clarion Associates presented a progress report May 20 on Lafayette’s multi-year land-use code update — a rewrite intended to implement the 2021 Legacy Lafayette Comprehensive Plan, clarify development standards and reduce uncertainty in the city’s development-review process.

Elizabeth Garvin of Clarion Associates told council the update is drafting regulations in modules. Recent working-group discussions focused on two high-profile ideas: allowing “missing middle” housing (duplexes, triplexes and townhomes) in R-1/R-2 neighborhoods, and permitting small, neighborhood-serving commercial uses such as coffee shops or personal services within residential areas. Garvin said: “Assuming standards address impacts, do you support allowing duplexes, triplexes and townhomes in existing neighborhoods?… This is not a definitive decision — it’s a vetting step to take ideas to the community.”

The working group’s feedback emphasized three core issues for missing-middle…