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Suffolk staff outline proposed changes to mixed-use zoning, suggest 2/3 consent rule and updated jobs-housing metrics
Summary
Planning staff presented concepts to revise the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to better align mixed-use development overlays with the 2045 comprehensive plan, including a proposed two-thirds consent threshold for modifying existing master-planned MUDs, adjustments to the jobs-to-housing ratio, and incentives for design and community space.
Kevin Wan, director of Planning and Community Development, presented the council with concepts to align the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and the Mixed Use Development (MUD) overlay with the goals of the 2045 comprehensive plan.
Wan said the comprehensive plan emphasizes master-planned communities and traditional neighborhood design and identified six guiding principles including coordinated transportation and land use, protection of natural resources, and fiscally sustainable land-use choices. He said staff will use those principles to pursue code changes that encourage mixed-use, master-planned developments.
On modifications to existing MUDs, Wan said staff propose allowing a property owner to pursue a modification to a MUD’s master plan or design guidelines provided two-thirds of property owners within the MUD sign the application or the property owners association consents. Wan said proffers that apply to parcels without owner consent could not be changed for those parcels, and that two sets of proffers might therefore coexist if full consent is not obtained.
For future MUD rezonings, Wan said applicants should state how extraction or modification rules will work in the submitted design guidelines so the issue is settled at rezoning rather than afterward.
Wan also identified specific technical items the city plans to revisit: the MUD overlay currently requires a jobs-to-housing ratio of 1:1 (one job per housing unit), and staff said that ratio has proven difficult to achieve and enforce locally because development phasing tends to bring housing online before commercial uses and because market changes (including shifts in retail and office) have reduced traditional commercial density. Current credit rules, Wan said, count one employee per 400 square feet of retail and one employee per 250 square feet of office; he said those measures do not capture newer uses such as entertainment, small-scale makerspaces or craft manufacturing.
Wan proposed exploring a lower, Suffolk-tailored jobs-to-housing ratio, more robust incentives for community spaces and affordable housing, density bonuses, and tighter design criteria in the UDO to ensure MUDs do not simply produce disconnected “pods” of uses. He noted the MUD overlay dates to 2005 and that minimum acreage rules vary by context: suburban sites must be 20 acres or greater to qualify, while urban infill sites within the 58 bypass ring can qualify with a minimum of 5 acres.
Council members asked clarifying questions. Council member Richter confirmed that mixed-use dwellings are permitted by-right in some zones and that the MUD overlay is a rezoning option that lets applicants propose their own design guidelines. Council members and staff discussed incentives, geographies where the city might emphasize incentives, and the practical challenges of meeting the 1:1 jobs-to-housing ratio in Suffolk.
Wan said next steps include further research, conversations with the Planning Commission and draft ordinance language to amend the UDO. No formal ordinance or rezoning was presented or voted on at the session.
