Garden City adopts major PUD code rewrite, clears funding path for four Greenbelt pocket parks

The Garden City City Council on Monday adopted a comprehensive rewrite of the city's planned unit development (PUD) code and authorized staff to continue developing a proposed set of four pocket parks linking the Greenbelt to downtown.

City attorney Charles Wadhams summarized Ordinance 10-56-25 before the council, calling it "a pretty extensive rewrite" of Title 8 development code and recommending a third reading and adoption as amended. The ordinance repeals and replaces the city's existing PUD and minor PUD provisions and consolidates changes across chapters addressing property maintenance, accessory dwelling units, multifamily and mixed-use development standards, definitions and design-review criteria.

The PUD rewrite narrows required findings for approval to five objective tests, Wadhams said, and adds provisions staff recommended after stakeholder input. He told the council some specific limits are now explicit in the code: the PUD process "shall not be used solely for obtaining variances," and standards required…