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Commission discusses senior-housing overlay option after survey of regional models
Summary
Planning commissioners reviewed examples of senior-citizen PUDs from nearby cities and discussed creating an overlay or revised PUD standard for 55+ housing in River Heights; staff will draft language and options.
River Heights planning commissioners on April 8 discussed creating a senior-citizen overlay or a reworked planned-unit development (PUD) standard to accommodate 55-and-older housing options.
Commissioners reviewed examples from nearby jurisdictions, including a Hyde Park "senior citizen PUD" and cluster developments in Providence and North Logan. Commissioners said many retirement communities in the valley are produced by developers who use a standard PUD and then record an HOA with age restrictions rather than a stand-alone municipal zone.
Why it matters: Commissioners said a city-level overlay could give property owners and developers a clear pathway to propose 55+ neighborhoods while preserving design standards and open-space requirements. An overlay avoids changing the base zoning map and allows the city to require standards for street width, setbacks, open space and HOA registration.
Details discussed: Commissioners and staff noted features to consider in a River Heights overlay: minimum parcel and overall-development acreage, maximum units per acre (Hyde Park' documents cited a "not to exceed 5 units per acre" standard), an 80% occupancy threshold for at least one resident aged 55 or older in units, maximum occupancy per unit language, public versus private-street design (commissioners favored public streets), required open space (a 30% open-space standard was referenced in Hyde Park examples), and maximum building heights to preserve the appearance of single-level homes while permitting bonus spaces above garages.
Process: Commissioners asked staff to draft overlay language adapted from the regional examples for the commission to review. Chairman Noel Cooley and other commissioners suggested renaming the RPUD or creating an overlay so the city would have a reusable standard that does not tie the designation to a single developer.
Next steps: Staff will model potential standards from the Hyde Park example and other PUDs and prepare proposed text and a draft ordinance or overlay document for commission review at a future meeting.
