County presents ZDO diagnostic report, proposes streamlined zoning code and form‑based approaches

County planning staff presented the Zoning and Development Ordinance (ZDO) 289 diagnostic report — a grant‑funded assessment of the county’s urban zoning code intended to identify ways to improve clarity, speed permitting and align with state mandates.

Karen Burig, long‑range planning manager, said the project includes a final report and an action plan. Martha Fritzi, principal planner and project manager, summarized consultant findings and grouped recommendations into four main buckets: (1) usability and clarity (including creating a measurement section and a "road map" to use the code); (2) housing (consolidating many similar urban residential zones and exploring form‑based code to focus on form and scale rather than long lists of uses); (3) employment lands and commercial zone consolidation; and (4) neighborhood connectivity and clearer triggers for transportation improvements.

Fritzi said the diagnostic identified fragmented organization and inconsistent design standards that complicate implementation and slow projects. Staff said the final report (about 100+ pages) would be distributed soon and that implementation would likely come in several code‑amendment packages over the next couple of years; the diagnostic itself is informational and does not rezone areas.

Commissioners asked whether the diagnostic will rezone land (staff said no, not as part of the diagnostic), how form‑based code could enable neighborhood mixed‑use nodes, and requested clearer sequencing and budgeting when code packages return for board consideration.