Council reopens debate on duplex standards as planning director seeks to restore dimensional table

Council committees reopened a zoning amendment (PCO27‑25) affecting fences, drive‑through canopy heights and dimensional standards for duplexes citywide. Tom Kravitz, City Planning Director, told the Public Properties, Land Use and Community Affairs Committee that staff wants to reinstate a table that sets minimum lot sizes for duplexes in each zone district. The table was removed inadvertently during a previous zoning rewrite; planners say re‑adding it would restore a tool that lets the planning board deny over‑dense duplex proposals in established single‑family neighborhoods.

The proposal keeps duplexes subject to special‑use permit review rather than automatically allowed by right; the director said that approach preserves neighborhood notice and planning‑board discretion. Council members split in debate: Councilman Ricks championed property rights and favored allowing duplexes by right to increase the housing supply, while other councilors and several residents from Ward 6 said the table is needed to prevent conversion of small lots into multiple units that change neighborhood character and strain infrastructure like sewers and septic systems.

Public testimony included residents Michelle Comer and Roberta Iodoni describing recent proposals that replaced single‑family houses with two duplexes on a single oversized lot, producing four families on a parcel that had been one house. Council took procedural votes (grammatical fixes and moving the item to the floor for public hearing) and considered an amendment to convert duplex allowances to by‑right; that amendment failed in a roll call. The council asked staff to update the table and continue deliberations; the matter will proceed to further floor consideration and any required public hearings.