Planning staff brief council on zoning code refresh; recommends overlay approach for higher-density near corridors

Assistant Planning Director Boss told the Housing Plan Development Committee that the city’s zoning refresh is midstream and that staff and consultants are about 50% complete on draft standards. The update aims to reconcile existing nonconformities, modernize use definitions, and create clearer processes for plan development and adaptive reuse.

Boss said the team is proposing a set of residential districts (RS1–RS3 and an RM1 that corresponds to much of today’s R2) with stepped lot-size and frontage standards intended to reduce nonconforming parcels. Under the draft approach, RM1 would allow single-family and two-family dwellings by right and permit three-unit dwellings on larger lots; staff proposed a separate mechanism — a transit-oriented overlay (characterized in consultant materials as "RM2") — to allow higher density near transit corridors such as Detroit and Madison. "We feel like that's a lot more appropriate than changing the map, which is much more permanent, and much more difficult," Boss said, explaining that an overlay would be an application-driven tool with public-review steps.

The presentation also covered a proposed municipal district for parks, schools and libraries, an adaptive-reuse overlay to encourage rehabilitation of older structures rather than demolition, and reforms to the PD (plan development) process to distinguish between major and minor projects and to create procedural efficiencies (for example, joint PC/ABR review for major PDs). Staff said the industrial district is underused and that adaptive-reuse provisions could enable more creative, mixed uses in those areas. Boss said staff would continue to refine standards, graphics and the zoning map and return with updated drafts.

Committee members asked about notice to neighbors, the balance between preserving neighborhood character and allowing additional units, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), parking rules and how proposed changes would affect existing nonconforming multiunit structures. Boss said many changes are intended to bring existing buildings into conformity or to enable modest, context-sensitive increases in density with clear dimensional and design standards.