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Regional COG warns House Bill 8,002 could force rapid zoning changes, offers to help draft fixes
Summary
RiverCOG members said House Bill 8,002, passed in a special session, requires municipal and regional housing plans and allows by-right residential development in commercial districts; members urged corrections to unclear provisions and accepted $200,000 in state funding to support regional planning work.
RiverCOG officials spent the bulk of their meeting discussing House Bill 8,002, which the board said replaces municipal affordable-housing-plan mandates with a new municipal housing-growth-plan framework and requires regions to adopt complementary plans.
Susie Beckman, RiverCOG regional planner, told the board the bill directs the state to produce a housing-needs analysis that will be apportioned to regions and then to towns. "The COG would be required to do a regional plan," Beckman said, adding towns could opt out and prepare municipal annexes. She said the state is offering RiverCOG $200,000 to support the work.
Beckman and other members flagged a separate provision that allows by-right residential development in commercial zones through a summary-review process. "This process, applying it to a very different change in use, I think might run into some issues," Beckman said, noting towns will have only until July 1 to update zoning regulations to set standards for the new residential uses. Board members warned that many small towns lack staff capacity to write and administer detailed by-right standards.
Members also criticized language in the bill that they said could be unworkable — citing a section aimed at banning "hostile architectural" features that could, as written, produce impractical outcomes. Beckman said the bill was sloppy in parts and that RiverCOG and other COGs will work to produce model regulations and a list of corrections to present to co-chairs in the next session.
The board discussed next steps: Susie Beckman said the RPC (Regional Planning Committee) will review the bill in detail and RiverCOG staff will coordinate with other regional COGs. Board members asked staff to circulate a draft corrections list and prepare outreach to the legislature; one member said they were considering whether their municipality should submit an official statement opposing parts of the bill.
The meeting closed the discussion with a plan to host legislators at the December meeting to present RiverCOG’s draft legislative agenda and suggested corrections.
The most immediate procedural development: RiverCOG accepted the state funding and will use the $200,000 to support regional plan development and consultant or staff work needed to meet the statute’s requirements.
