Richardson council opens broad conversation on rewriting 1956 zoning ordinance to reduce special-permit backlog
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Summary
City staff briefed council on how an outdated 1956 zoning ordinance has produced frequent special-permit and planned-development requests; staff asked whether council supports preparing a rewrite with clear 'goalposts' so routine uses can be approved administratively and more complex proposals come to council.
City planning staff told the council the city’s zoning ordinance (originally adopted in 1956) has not kept pace with modern development patterns, leaving staff and the council reliant on special permits and plan development districts to address many contemporary projects.
"When we're defaulting and relying upon those methods, that tells us that our zoning ordinance is broken," Director of Development Services Tina Fergens said, outlining how the city uses special permits, plan development districts and special development plans to manage uses that don’t fit the current code.
Fergens and other staff described three broad columns of uses: those that currently require a special permit under the code; uses the ordinance is silent on (requiring ad hoc treatment); and uses that routinely require creation of a plan development district. Staff asked whether council members would be comfortable allowing some of those uses by right if the council and staff establish performance-based "goalposts" (for example, queuing and escape lanes for drive-throughs, minimum separation distances, or other performance metrics).
Council members broadly supported starting the effort, while emphasizing the need for careful calibration: some members urged regular updates and a living-document approach to avoid a 50-year gap between rewrites; others asked staff to propose practical timelines and benchmarks and to compare model codes from other North Texas cities. Comments from council emphasized balancing strict compliance with adopted regulations against economic development opportunities and the need to protect neighborhoods.
Staff said they will take the council’s feedback and return with a proposed plan to update the city zoning ordinance, likely in phased pieces, and will aim to bring a more detailed proposal back in March.
Key takeaways: council signaled support for staff to move forward with a code-update plan; staff will prepare draft approaches and sample goalposts for council review, and will benchmark other municipalities’ codes for options.
