Planning commission adopts Downtown Columbia strategic plan and approves Downtown Columbia design overlay and guidelines

The City of Columbia Planning Commission voted to adopt the Downtown Columbia strategic plan and to create a single Downtown Columbia design overlay with new design guidelines intended to guide future development and public improvements in the downtown study area.

Planning staff described the two-part action as the culmination of a planning process that began in early 2024. Staff said the consultant-led outreach reached more than 1,100 participants through stakeholder roundtables, mobile workshops, public open houses and an online survey. “We heard from over 1,100 folks about this plan,” planning staff told the commission.

The strategic plan lays out six “big ideas” that staff summarized for commissioners: create two trail loops through downtown to improve connectivity; refresh and expand downtown’s tree canopy and green spaces; make immediate intersection-safety improvements; reclaim excess roadway width to reallocate space for pedestrians and cyclists; establish dedicated stewardship for downtown public spaces; and adopt user- and business-friendly design guidelines to support long-term competitiveness.

As part of the design-overlay approval, the commission agreed to replace the former City Center and Innovista overlays with a single Downtown Columbia overlay. The accompanying design guidelines prioritize where buildings meet the public realm, establish flexible means of meeting intent-based standards, and lay out recommended pedestrian-zone widths, streetscape elements, and street-tree guidance. Staff also proposed and the commission approved new thresholds for Design and Development Review Commission (DDRC) review that are intended to be impact-based rather than strictly monetary: a project becomes a major DDRC application if it meets at least one of the listed thresholds (for example, 50 feet of street frontage, 26 or more residential units, a building 50 feet or taller, or 25,000 gross square feet of building area).

The commission also heard staff’s recommendation to discourage clustering of auto-oriented uses in the overlay through spacing requirements; staff cited a proposed 1,000-foot separation standard for certain vehicle-sales and service uses to limit continuous stretches of auto-related businesses downtown.

Commissioners praised the public outreach and the clarity of the guidelines and voted to recommend adoption of the strategic plan as an amendment to the comprehensive plan and to approve the design overlay and related UDO text changes. Staff noted the plan and guidelines are policy and design guidance that will inform future infrastructure, funding and regulatory decisions.

Next steps: the commission’s recommendations will be forwarded to City Council for adoption of the plan as an amendment to the comprehensive plan and for ordinance updates needed to implement the new overlay and UDO text changes.