Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Udo topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning department launches targeted UDO review to address housing attainability
Summary
The Planning & Transportation Department outlined a city-led project to develop targeted Unified Development Ordinance amendments — covering parking minimums, ADUs, lot sizes, missing-middle housing and short-term rental rules — with a heavy public engagement component and a tentative goal to return recommendations by year-end.
David Hill, director of the Department of Planning and Transportation, told the Common Council the city will pursue a focused project to examine regulatory changes that could improve housing attainability.
Hill said the project will examine a limited set of UDO items — minimum parking requirements, accessory dwelling units, required lot size, missing-middle housing types (duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes), sustainable building practices and short-term rental regulation — and will emphasize public engagement and peer-city research. He described the approach as “listening-first,” with targeted outreach to neighborhood associations, major employers, Indiana University and the development community.
Council members pressed for clearer timelines and inclusion of renters in outreach; Hill said staff aims to deliver plan commission recommendations by January and that the end-of-year council review is an ambitious but reasonable target. He also said the city will commission a third-party audit of permitting and permitting-related processes with Bloomington Utilities to identify streamlining opportunities.
The presentation reinforced that the UDO review is intended to be surgical rather than an overhaul. Hill said the project will focus on residential typologies and neighborhood-specific impacts to avoid unintended consequences in the city’s town-gown context.
